|
|
 |
|
February 2000- I was excited to go to Los Roques for the weekend with Mike and Michelle. It had been too long since I had last been out of town. Mike's a guy from Houston who was is in town for just a few weeks to help Michelle with a project she was working on. He ended up being a really cool guy with a great sense of humor. It was just the three of us because Daniel was in Buenos Aires on business and Tom was going to the Llanos for the weekend. Los Roques is a national park 60 miles offshore from Caracas and one of my favorite weekend destinations. Our trip to paradise did not get off to a good start when our flight was two hours late and the airline kept giving us the run-around. Michelle was not happy with the service that we were getting, especially considering that we had paid a large sum of money and only had a short amount of time to spend in Los Roques. |
 |
 |
|
Once arriving in Los Roques at 11:45 AM our situation did not look any better, it was overcast and raining. I was excited about our accommodations because Michelle had arranged for us to stay on a sailboat instead of in a typical posada. Unfortunately the 55-foot sailboat we were scheduled to stay on was being repaired. Instead we were ushered to a 30-foot sailboat for the weekend. At this point I was wondering where the hell my $300 went (Harry trademark hostility). As luck would have it neither Tom nor Rob was around to yell out so I had to cope with the situation. Things got better once we were onboard and set sail. Our captain was a really cool Spaniard and the entire crew consisted of him and his wife. We set out for Crasqui before dropping anchor and eating a late lunch. After that Mike, Michelle, and I went snorkeling and lounged around on the beach for the rest of the afternoon. The skies had cleared somewhat but it was still overcast. We went back to the boat for dinner before returning to the island to watch the sunset. The mosquitoes were out in full force on the island so it was back to the sailboat for us. Michelle and Mike started drinking while we sat around talking. It was so relaxing and overdue. Most of our conversation focused on the dream of how we could live the Caribbean lifestyle every day and yet still have a steady income. The stars were the brightest I had seen since camping in the Sierra Nevada range in California years before. You could clearly see all of Orion, as well as Taurus, the Southern Cross, Hades, and numerous other constellations. There were a few spectacular shooting stars too. We only stayed up until midnight but it seemed much later since we weren't doing anything. |
 |
 |
|
Sunday morning we all awoke early since the sun was shining down on us. We ate breakfast where we were anchored before setting sail for Francisqui. We sailed around the keys for over three hours; it was great! Once at Francisqui Michelle, Mike, and I alternated between sunbathing and snorkeling. After that it was back to the boat for lunch before we started gathering up our belongings. Finally we sailed back to Gran Roque to catch out flight home. The airlines tried to bump us to the 5:00 PM flight, which would have been fine if we knew ahead of time. As it was the sailboat had already left so we did not have anything to do. We ended up taking the 4:00 PM flight and got to spend an hour and a half in traffic on the drive back to Caracas. The roads were still being repaired following the mudslides in December. Once home it was just the familiar routine of cleaning off the salt and nursing sunburns. |
 |
|
|