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an end to them for the time being. They do drive on the same side
of the road as us, but nobody seems to get upset if you cut them off. Drinking and driving is not enforced because you can buy your way out of anything. There is a saying that “no” never seems to mean no, if you are willing to pay. It is very corrupt because of the way of life and soaring inflation. As a tourist, you do not walk around with lots of jewelry, expensive watches, or flash a lot of cash. While I was there, there was a German couple that were warned about this, but continued to get dressed to the nines and go out for dinner. Supposedly, they were in a cab where the driver texted some friends as to their destination and, when they got out of the cab, they were robbed at gunpoint. You also do not walk alone at night - you take a cab. This is common knowledge, but a friend of ours decided to walk home and 2 guys drove up on a motorcycle, pulled a gun on him, and demanded his cash. He handed it over and was not harmed. Anybody I spoke with says this has been going on for 5 years or more. Now, even though I am 6’3”, white, and stick out like a sore thumb, I followed the rules and felt quite safe. It is my hope that, since there are fewer tourists in the area, the banditos will also go to other areas where their odds are higher of robbing people. Once I arrived at Playa El Agua
I went to the same hotel as last year, “The Flamboyant”, an all-inclusive resort where Paul joined me 4 days later. Paul had some interesting stories from his side trip to Columbia. The funny thing was that everyone there told him not to go to Venezuela “it’s dangerous there”. A caution to everyone: aggressive behaviour is not tolerated in Venezuela, so my run-in with a snooty receptionist caused us to move to the Hisperia Hotel, the largest on the beach with about 1100 rooms, but there may have
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been no more than 200 guests. They also have another hotel about 20 minutes away with a golf course that could handle 400 guests and I’d be surprised if we saw 30 people. Both the hotel, food and golf course were the worst and most expensive we stayed in. Do not even think of going there. We finally found our Garden
of Eden at Costa Linda, a quiet 50 room resort about 2 blocks off the beach with an excellent German chef, swimming pool, and no booming music. We stayed on the top floor, with view of the ocean, hammock on the balcony, a/c that worked, and clean rooms. If you booked through your travel agent in Canada, you would pay about $75 Canadian a night. With the black-market bolivar, it was $10 US. I cannot say enough about how great the food was, the friendly staff and how relaxing it was. The cost of things is amazingly
inexpensive, gas is 2-3 cents per liter
but, in fact, there is an attendant at each pump, the gas is free, you are paying the attendant’s wage. Beer is $5 US for a case of 24 cans (bottles are cheaper), smokes 50 cents a pack of 20, a really nice steak dinner with wine, salad and tip $5-7 US. Yes, when I first heard about the gas prices, I thought it was bull too. The highlight of the whole trip
was realizing that I stayed on the island for six weeks, food, drinks (lots), accommodation, gifts for the whole family, for less than $1000 US. You can’t afford to stay home for that. `
BIGGER & BETTER in 2017
Thursday July 20, 2017 - Sunday 23, 2017
kemptvillelivemusicfestival.com BOUNDER MAGAZINE 61
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