Sunday, March 22, 2009

JP goes Caracas!

Hola de Caracas!

Si .... no, can't keep this up any more: my Spanish is most certainly not up to it. Yes, JP is off on his travels, forsaking London in the Spring for business in Venezuela.

So here I am in the bustling capital city that was home for the legendary Simon Bolivar and now the dramatic Hugo Chavez.

Just spent the day exploring and above is the first pic, which is taken from the Teleferico, the cable car that climbs to the peak of El Avila at 2,175m above sea level, which today meant just above the cloud level.

More to come (hopefully).....

5 comments:

The O'Sheas said...

Beautiful. Wish I was there to quaff a cold one with you. Alas, someone has to hold down the fort here in orygun. Bleah.

O Docker said...

Hmm, putting these last two posts together, you'd be crackers to go to Caracas.

Is that the subliminal message you're trying to get past the Chavez censors?

Katinka said...

JP, you have a thing for heights, don't you!! (That picture is giving me serious vertigo :P)

Hope you're having a great time and looking forward to hearing more of your adventures!

JP said...

Greg: the beer is very cheap so you would enjoy it, and its a good climate for a cold one too :)

O'Docker: it was more a comment about how Caracas might not be everyone's first choice for holiday (though did meet a Danish engineer who is spending his holiday travelling in Ven).

Note there is quite a free press here. There was an interesting analysis of press coverage of the recent referendum on Al Jazeera TV, which had as its starting the assumption in the US MSM about government tv being pro-Chavez. That is true, but there is a large private tv and paper media too, which actually has the greater coverage in terms of channels and population, and these are all owned by the rich elite who are anti-Chavez. Hence there was a real range of opinions published.

I'm afraid often I don't see that in the US MSM, in particular of foreign news stories. On some subjects you can say there is a wider range of opinions in Ven than in the US MSM e.g. (say) on Israel - Palestine, where in the US there is no real discussion.

Kat: Yes, I do! The views were great, and really enjoyed it, even when the wind made the car swing from side to side (fab)

O Docker said...

Afraid you're right about a lack of diversity of opinion on world stories on US TV. I think the Beeb does a better job there, more often than not, and I like their take on domestic US stories, too.

Planning a Caribbean layover on the way home?