We landed in Margarita around 11:30am. Chris arranged for a Taxi to pick us up and the driver was waiting for us as soon as we walked out. It was about a 45 minute drive from the airport to our resort, but it went by really fast...there was so much to see. The scenery in Margarita is a lot different than Caracas. It felt more like a desert with bare hills and cactus. We drove through two or three small towns along the way....they were so authentic with street front restaurants, fruit vendors, and small streets. When we pulled up to our resort, we were impressed! It was right on the water, had beautiful buildings and it was completely decorated for Christmas!
The resort was all-inclusive with all food, drink and cocktails included. It had 7 pools, 3 restaurants, three bar locations, a snack shack and beach side chairs. We checked into the hotel, dropped our stuff off at the room and went straight to the beach. We grabbed chairs, pina coladas from the beach bar and laid there for a couple hours. The people watching was great...people are not modest here and there were people of all shapes and sizes wearing thong bikinis and speedos! There were a lot of vendors that came around selling everything...bracelets, dresses, boogie boards, sunglasses, fresh oysters, shrimp, crab and even ocean side massages. :) Chris bought a pair of fake Oakley sunglasses for $10! He forgot his at home and was very proud of his purchase! It was the first time he has ever bartered with a vendor!
Chris and I got daring the second day and tried the fresh shrimp. We ordered from a little boy who looked to be about 10-years-old. His box was still full...so we figured the shrimp was still cold and fresh. He mixed the shrimp with some cocktail sauce, something like ranch dressing, lime juice and onions. They were delicious! The boy also recognized that Chris played with Los Leones! He wasn't the only one Chris got asked for autographs and pictures the whole time we were there. The Venezuelans really like their baseball! :)
I mentioned massages....you could get a massage right on the beach. There were girls that would walk around with buckets of baby oil and would massage you right on your chair. There was also a local that we met named Maria that set up in the same spot on the beach everyday. She was a little overweight with sun-bleached blond hair and really tan skin....and everyday she came to the beach wearing a different thong bikini! You can see her whole set up in the pic below... LOL! She brought her own chair, towels, a little sign, fresh aloe stems, and 4 buckets. Before every massage she would do a little prayer, wash off her lounge chair, cover with a fresh blanket, fill the buckets full of salt water and then open a stem of the aloe to use. It was so hilarious to watch!! But she made $50 Bolivars a massage...and in a country where the minimum wage is $200 Bolivars a week...its a really good living.
The resort was all-inclusive so we definitely relaxed with MANY pina coladas. They were so good! We spent most of our time at the beach or at one of the pools. The first night we were there was Christmas Eve and the dinner was amazing! We got turkey, mashed potatoes and gravy and fresh steamed vegetables! We were in heaven and it was definitely the best dinner we have had since we got to Venezuela! There other two nights the food was more authentic with rice, beans, avocado salad, meat and lots of desserts. On Christmas Day, when were at the beach we met a really nice couple from London. They were taking a three week vacation in Venezuela over Christmas. They were so much fun...and they're accents and slang words were hilarious! We ended up meeting them for drinks eating our Christmas dinner with them! It was great!
We will actually be heading back to Margarita soon too! Their baseball team made it into the Round Robin...so later this week we will be on a plane back! The team is going to let me travel with Chris...so I'm really excited about that! The Round Robin starts tonight....Los Leones are playing at home vs. the other Caracas team Los Tiburones. It should be really packed tonight because they're both the home teams (they both play from the same Stadium!) Good luck Leos!
Day 30 done...18 more to go!! :)
No comments:
Post a Comment