Re-entry is hard, especially after such a fantastic vacation.
We spent the first 3 days in Caracas with Linsey and Kenny. Caracas is beautiful and they are the best hosts ever, but "Chavezland" has debilitating traffic and much of downtown and public transportation is dangerous, so our sight seeing was limited.
We then all headed to Curacao, and since there wasn't much to do in Caracas Mario and I added on two days in Aruba before heading back to Caracas.
Now, after I have spent hours uploading all these pictures, I realize that I should have just made a slide show so I don't torture the minimally-interested. But now that I've already invested all this time Gabe will be waking up from his nap any minute now so I just need to get this done. Thus, these are in no particular order:
The amazing view from Linsey & Kenny's apartment in Caracas. But seriously, so hilly Mario was practically carsick any time we had to leave the house.
The cablecar we took to the top of El Avila National Park. Much faster than driving through the insane traffic!
mimicking the airplanes on the trip back from Aruba
Our amazing dinner in a little hut on the beach in Aruba. It was one of those "is this my life or am I dreaming" kind of moments.
Mario playing beach voleyball
Gabe and I playing in the pool waterfall
Mario and the amazing white sand beaches in Aruba.
Relaxing in the hotel pool while Gabe napped.
Gabe playing in the sand at Baby Beach. It was super shallow for quite a distance, and so I would walk out with him and he would call "fishy fishy" and with the help of a few bread crumbs, colorful fish would start swirling all around our legs. He loved it.
Relaxing on the amazing bed at our B&B in Aruba.
Checking out the Marriott beach in Curacao.
Great Indonesian food for dinner in Curacao.
Gabe having a great time throwing seaweed.
Mario at Mambo beach, with the final stages of facial hair before it all came off. (He wanted to grow a beard, but the hair broke the seal on the snorkeling mask so water kept leaking in.)
Gabe throwing rocks in his little european-style swimsuit.
The snorkeling was amazing.
The aquarium in Curacao wasn't as nice as Monterey, but we got to touch sharks,
sea anemones
sea slugs
tortoises
and sting rays. We were stinky when we left.
Mario at Jan Theil beach in Curacao.
The beach is so much more enjoyable when you get a little cabana/bed to rest on!
Mario and Gabe playing in the kids play area with water pumped in from the sea.
Enjoying the private beach by our villa in Curacao.
As soon as we arrived we could smell the ocean.
Feeding the geese at the Parque del Este in Caracas.
Who's scarier - me or the lizard??
Crazy propaganda all over the city that is part of Chavez's path to totalitarian dictator. Read Linsey's post
here for more explanation.
Gabe and Isaac demonstrating "parallel play". Gabe loved Isaac and Caleb and their amazing "play room".
Checking out the birds at the artisan market in El Hatillo.
Colorful colonial architecture in El Hatillo.
more artisan market
crazy poor "barrios" that literally cover the hills around Caracas. The level of poverty was astounding, even for us.
The view from the top of El Avila wasn't so great due to the clouds...
Linsey and I checking out a little market.
Gabe is modeling some great black peep-toes that he finds very stylish and comfortable.
And these quasi-biker boots will hopefully help me be stylish this winter. Now that the trend is 4 seasons old, I am feeling significant pressure to wear my jeans tucked into my boots. All my other boots had too skinny of legs to allow for jeans to be inside. These have wider legs and comfy wedge heels. I am a big fan of wedge heels. I walk a lot and kids are heavy.
Happy shoes to you! May you all have friends in life like Tammy!
