Green Smoothies?!?

118 188 recently launched a service in the UK whereby you can ask any question by text message and they will send you an answer. Any Question Answered (63336) have been doing this for years.

Today, I had a question. (I have been experimenting with alternatives to coffee in the morning)

I just bought a freshly-made smoothie this morning. It contained red berries, juice, yoghurt and an energy shot. It was pink/red but now it has changed green. Why?

Both sent me an answer within a few minutes, but you can see the quality of the answers really varies:

118 118: If you refrigerated the smoothie, the color might not change but if it does, that indicates that it already passed out. Thank you!

63336: Fresh cut or mashed fruit oxidise rapidly in the air. Depending on the initial mixture can go brown or greenish colour. Lemon juice would slow the rot.

Passed out??? That's not even proper English! (neither is color). Dubious.

Very impressed with 63336's answer though. Explained the problem, and gave a solution. I'm off to tell Pure California to put some lemon juice in their smoothies...

Bit of a random blog, I know. Have been enjoying things far too much to blog :-)

I built an awesome path (challenging and rewarding, painful afterwards), went on my first stag do (crazy and great times with old friends) and may or may not have participated in a "very irresponsible" party on the tube ahead of "them" banning alcohol on it (one of the most random nights of my life). Tomorrow I'm going back to school.

Yes, I am working too :-)

Maybe the smoothie was going green to celebrate World Environment Day.

London, Induction Week, Roundabouts, Barcelona and Urban Golf

Wow, it's been quite some time. How things have changed.

This is going to be one of those "compress everything into one big post" things, just to warn you!

A joyous train journey – with all my valued possessions crammed into two very large suitcases – saw me make the move to London on March 7th to embark on the great career.

And it started off pretty great, with a week-long induction welcoming the ten of us into the Business Technology Consultants programme. There was lots of corporate branding, several Vice-Presidents, lots of chocolate and coffee to fuel us and (of course) some great team-building activities. By the end of the week I knew I was in the right place – a very valued business unit and intimate community within Capgemini with loads of opportunity to develop and find my place in a company that is innovating, progressing, growing and leading.

Then the shock of the first assignment as all of us were whisked away to the small town of Telford – roundabout capital of the world – for our first taste of the consultant lifestyle of long train journeys and living in generic hotels… and working long hours on a high profile and very time-critical project for a very big client. It was a lot of fun, and a good chance for us to bond further as a group, within the confines of our generic hotel in our generic business park of course. Although we did make a few notable forays outside, including one to marvel at the very first iron bridge in the world (in a town coincidentally called Ironbridge) and enjoy some fantastic Thai food.

And I spontaneously spent a weekend in or near Barcelona, mainly to piss someone off by missing their phenomenal party, but also to see a whole load of AIESECers who’d come over for Iberoamerica's regional conference. Best moment was arriving at the hotel at midnight and being greeted very loudly by 20 Venezuelans most of whom didn’t know I was coming :-) Great stuff.

They've come a long way. Last year we were less than half that number at the conference, and the AIESEC Venezuela was officially "on alert". So I felt very proud that those two things had turned around and the country is now a full member once again, and to hear about the successes of some of the accounts that I had started. It was really great to be in that atmosphere again, but I also know it was the right decision and it was time to move on.

It was really fun exploring Barcelona – it's a really vibrant city with a very nice lifestyle. I do miss the adventure of life in another country a little. I think it's the uncertainly, not knowing quite what to expect, being surprised by things. That happens less in London.

But it does feel good to be living here. There's a lot going on. I've had a lot of fun doing all those typical touristy things with various visitors from around the world. Last weekend Drew and Lina came to visit. The highlight was definitely Urban Golf. What an idea! Right in the middle of Soho, you can find yourself anywhere in the world playing golf. Naturally, we chose Pebble Beach, California. The idea is you have a big projector screen, and a set of very nice (and real) golf clubs and a bunch of balls to whack right into the screen, where they magically turn into virtual balls in a kind of Wii-like experience but on a much grander and more realistic scale.

At one point Drew did manage to get a ball to rebound off the roof and hurtle towards our table – where it could have caused havoc and only narrowly missed about three glasses. Apparently nobody's been injured "yet". I'd certainly feel much safer if they provided helmets. They should also give you 3D glasses and have a small fan to simulate the fresh air that I think is quite an integral part of the golfing experience. Golf carts would be a plus too. Man, it could be so much better! Anyone else have experiences with unusual sporting locations or novel simulation ideas? Or slightly crazy things to do in London?

Adventuring into 2008

Welcome to the new look life of dan!

As well as writing about the day-to-day adventuring that my life occasionally entails, the intention this year is to throw in some slightly more regular posts about a few things that are important to me: 1. technology, 2. how I see the world changing and 3. things that inspire me.

I hope you will enjoy!

The end of 2007...

Although I did slightly miss the giant exploding firework-filled puppets of Venezuelan Nuevo Año, it was great to be in Edinburgh again for both Hogmanay and Hoghogmanay. Highlights included almost being trampled by the Alloa Pipe Band as I turned a corner off George Street, mass 3-step line-dancing lessons, seeing people I hadn't seen in ages, balloon-related merriment on Princes Street and the obligatory waking up in a room full of about 20 other people. That's what New Year is all about in Edinburgh, and I do enjoy it.

And the start of 2008...

Anyway, what will 2008 bring? Potatoes, yes, hopefully the chance to meet up with a couple good friends "from" Venezuela in Europe in February/March and the great mission of finding an awesome place to live then living there, either in London or Woking (one being more likely to be awesome, the other being more likely to be a sensible decision - hmm, which sounds more like me?)

In the meantime, I'm just waiting for a sunny but non-windy day for the debut launch of my giant solar airship. Sisters choose the best gifts.

Happy New Year everyone! Hope to share many adventures with lots of you in 2008!

Winter, and the next phase

Crunch crunch crunch.

The satisfying feel of frosty grass under my feat. The beams of sunlight filtering through icy tree branches. Cold air nipping at my face. Bursts of condensation following my dog Sadie as she sprints around the white scene before me with a bright pink toy.

Winter is here!

I've missed it. It feels Christmassy.

And I've already received one great Christmas present - a job with Capgemini which I accepted on Friday. I'll be starting as a Graduate Technologist on March 10th, the week of my 25th birthday :-)

So I've got 3 months to find my ideal flat in London. Any advice from Londoners on how to approach this would be very much appreciated!

The Cowboy Poet

The Cowboy Poet

What exactly is a cowboy poet was a question I was asking myself on Saturday evening. Andreas - my flatmate and good friend from Venezuela/Germany - and I were cycling across Scotland (mainly in the rain) and were in a youth hostel about half way across, at the foot of Loch Ness, in a room with two of the most typical Texans you will ever see.

Lanny Joe Burnett, the Cowboy Poet, sported one of the best moustaches I have ever seen, and his wife Cindy was an very smiley air hostess. They were of course Scottish themselves, Lanny Joe being only a fifth-generation Texan with family roots in this country.

This is one of the greatest things about travelling I think, even in your own country - the wonderful and crazy people you meet. Lanny and Cindy helped us make some Hallowe'en costumes for a party that night at the Fort Augustus youth hostel which featured a cast of Americans newly unleashed upon the concept of drinking and Australians telling us stories about "Drop Bears" and killer penguins. Makes the Loch Ness monster sound pretty believable.

Anyway, as a Cowboy Poet, Lanny grew up on a ranch, with a horse named Goldie, and now writes and performs poems about cowboy life in places as far away as South East Asia and West Texas!!

I think we know who to book for the entertainment at Get Golden 2008.

Hugs!

Well, Edinburgh was quite a hug-filled place today.

Why?

Well, this was the basic idea:



That was a guy called Juan Mann who had a very simple idea. That sometimes a hug is all that we need. Now, September 10th has been unofficially declared as International Free Hugs Day all over the world. That video has been viewed over 17 million times, the Facebook event today had over 850 thousand people attending. People just going out and offering free hugs to the world.

What a great idea.

Of course I had to do it.

So I was out in Edinburgh today, with my excellently-engineered "FREE HUGS" sign (thanks Patrick for the help, and Thom/Susie/Adam for the materials) and a warm smile upon my face. And it actually works! After two hours and 161 hugs I definitely felt good inside knowing that I'd brightened up the days of 161 of my fellow human beings.

It was amazing!

First hug was a little schoolboy, then many many students and sun-enjoying-people on the meadows, and some old ladies who loved the idea. Then tourists on the Royal Mile and my 100th "abrazo" somewhere amongst a group from Spain in Princes Street gardens.

There were family hugs, running leaping hugs, hugs verging on acrobatics, group hugs, over-energetic hugs, hugs that were needed, hugs that were funny, hugs from people at work, hugs from people in suits, hugs across barriers, hugs from hastily-opened car doors, hugs from friends, hugs from family and many, many hugs from strangers :-)

A hug. A very simple thing that just makes people feel good.

The world needs more of them.

"Explosive end to Latin posting"

Well, we always knew the taxi story was newsworthy and now it's been officially covered by my local paper, the East Lothian Courier.

"STUDENT leader Daniel Cunningham survived an explosive end to a 13-month dream posting in Venezuela when the taxi he was travelling in suddenly ignited." (more...)

Of course this was the part of the story they'd focus on, but they do certainly get plus points for "world's largest student organisation", "helps develop leadership skills in young people", "learning experience", "dealing confidently in Spanish with business executives" and "the potential to make a difference to people's lives". That's AIESEC folks!

Of course all that is a bit redundant when they miss out one of the Es in AIESEC. Still, let's hope some other Haddingtonions are inspired by the story and make the link when they see the recruitment campaign as they return to / start university!

The Bay Area

The blogging spree continues as I wait around in Las Vegas airport for my delayed flight to London.

The last week has really been quite great. Of course the big reason has been seeing so so many people who I haven't seen in years. It has been really cool catching up. Thanks so much Cristina, Karthik (and family), Laura (and family) and Helen (and family) and everyone else I saw for making it such a great few days!

But also - here we go - things that I love about the Bay Area, in no particular order other than that of my mind:

1. The climate that is just nice. Well, it was sunny the whole time I was there, a nice dry heat.
   
   
2. Great restaurants of all types packed into San Francisco.
   
   
3. Everything is just so clean - the streets, houses, cars, countryside, everything!
   
   
4. San Francisco is the perfect size. You can easily walk from one place to another, it's not overwhelming yet there are always new places you haven't explored.
   
   
5. People are all so nice and friendly (maybe some too much!)
   
   
6. Not being able to go more than a few miles without bumping into the HQ of a big tech company.
   
   
7. Sitting around in Dolores Park and such places with a great sandwich and smoothie.
   
   
8. Fun fun places are within reach - beaches, snowboarding, national parks, hiking, the rest of California
   
   
9. The possibility to eat both traditional home-cooked Indian food and traditional home-cooked Chinese/Taiwanese food at friends' houses within a few days of each other.
   
   
10. There's just a wee bit of Spanish here that I can enjoy reading and feeling special :-) And there is certainly a bit of a Latin vibe to some places, which I of course now need.

Dan wants a plan.

London and Edinburgh up next. I wonder how it will feel being back there?

US perception of Venezuela

I got a good insight into the perception towards Chavez and Venezuela in the United States watching The Daily Show yesterday. Or perhaps an insight to the big problem with the US media.

There was an interview with a US American who has just released a book about Hugo Chavez.

It seems there is a huge amount of ignorance due to the tendency to really just jump for the quick, easy, simplified and dramatised story. That story is of a slightly rebellious but not-to-be-taken-seriously South American leader with a "big personality" who is doing a great deal of good for the poor in Venezuela, but with the sole bad point that he likes to irritate the US with random unfounded insults.

There doesn't seem to be any willingness to go beyond those cliches, and it really seemed Jon Stewart just wanted those to be reinforced rather than letting the author really explain anything deeper. The author looked quite unsatisfied as I'm sure he had a bigger story to tell.

Yes, it's only The Daily Show and it is there for comedy, but would it do any harm to at least reveal something insightful and that people haven't already had implanted into their minds?

Is this typical of the media coverage of Venezuela even in the "serious" media here?

I'm sure the book paints a more rounded and complete picture, but what proportion of Americans are going to read it? I would certainly be interested in reading it - especially if it goes beyond the simplified cliches of crazy South American socialist leader trying to save the poor and bring down the US.

Because it's certainly not that simple in Venezuela. I think it is questionable to many Venezuelans whether what Chavez is doing is really going to help the people and advance the country in the long-term.
Because that is really what is important.

-

I've been very much enjoying the American attitude to service and the efficiency of everything around here - two things that are quite contrasting with the way things often are in Venezuela.

So something that really irritated me the other day was while queuing in Oakland airport - with only maybe ten people in the line - this woman behind me started complaining about how busy the airport was now, and how some airports in the US were now "like a third-world country" with their lines. I just thought, no, this isn't like a third-world country. Maybe you should try visiting one.

And, I don't know, I only have the experience of Venezuela, but really Caracas airport was pretty modern, clean and efficient. The thing about Venezuela is only a part of it is "like a third world country", the rest is really much like the US (except with slightly more inconvenient airport taxes). I guess many developing countries are like that now (that's why they're called developing and not simply undeveloped). Of course some are not. But certainly queueing in Oakland airport is nothing like the hellish 6-hour wait I once had at the bus terminal in Caracas, with stifling heat, constant shouting and just too too many people crammed together. If that's what she meant by "like a third-world country", then I think some perspective is needed.

If only everyone spent a year living in a completely different country from their own.

Total extravagence

Oh my gosh.

This is the best hotel room ever.

I’m currently relaxing in the JW Marriott Resort & Spa in Las Vegas. In a top-floor suite :-)

It’s rather good and just huge. I have two bathrooms and two balconies! Wine and ice cream was just delivered and I’m listening to loud rock music on the CD jukebox which includes speakers in one of my bathrooms.

Next up I’m going to finish my wine in the hot tub, then don my bath robe and enjoy some Haagan Daaz.

Oh, it’s a far cry from Venezuela indeed.

All free too. Gracias a Marriott.

Tomorrow free breakfast and day at the spa, apparently.

It’s really a big shame to be enjoying this all on my own. I’ll do it right next time!

Basic plan throughout all the relaxing is to figure out how to shape my career path to end up in California, because I’ve realised over the last few days that I REALLY really do like it.

And Vegas also is just an awesome concept all-round.

Ooh, there's a new feature at all Marriott hotels to have environmentally sound rooms. That means it's impossible to leave the A/C at 62F (aka "McKenzie Baltic") all day, for instance. That's good. I felt a bit bad about the environmental impact of a year in that hotel room in Newark. Now they've got it sorted.

Other good news - the employees have been "empowered to serve". And they certainly have got service down to a tee in every Marriott I've stayed in :-) Recommended!

Dan and AIESEC. The story.

I'm just about to leave Venezuela. But what was my path in getting here?

Well, in my own words compiled from genuine blog posts over the last 2 years...

Feb 18, 2005 - It all began with an internship (in California)

"YES! Drew and I were on an AIESEC conference call last night to discuss the program of events in the Bay Area. [Get Golden in Yosemite was the best]. So we're doing it. It's going to happen in April. And it's going to be awesome. Really awesome. We're going to invite AIESECers from all over the States - this will be a national event."

Sep 23, 2005 - My first Information Session (in Edinburgh)

"So hopefully will get past the screening process and allowed to join in on all the fun! I hope I can play my part in developing the LC and being part of the AIESEC experience."

Nov 25, 2005 - My first ever conference

"Just back from an thoroughly fun AIESEC conference in Belfast.

The vision is that by giving people the opportunity to work abroad, people understand more about different cultures and turn into lovely well-rounded individuals with all the neccessary skills for today's global marketplace.

Yes, it's quite idealistic but I think it is a great concept and you get to meet loads of people, develop professional skills and learn about all sorts of different cultures.

There was also a great deal of dancing (AIESEC has a thing about dancing)"

Feb 12, 2006 - Leadership Development Seminar

"They were a fantastic 4 days. 4 days of intense AIESEC experience. Motivation, emotion, learning, meeting new people and voting in the new national committee.

I am going to raise a traineeship. And change one person's life. And in turn, even in just a small way, the lives of everyone they know and meet. That is what makes AIESEC worth doing. That is why I am doing it and love it.

But I really think I want more than that. All this needs thought. A few days for things to settle in. So we'll leave it at that for now."

Mar 30, 2006 - I wanted more

"Still no idea what I'm doing next year - got lots of international AIESEC positions to take a look at."

Jun 5, 2006 - And I'm on an MC!

"So, what's next? Well, as Declan is constantly keen to put it, "they've shipped me off to a charity". Yes, I'm off to work for AIESEC for a year. After several applications to different countries (many of them possibly a bit last minute) I finally spent a good amount of time on one of them, got some amazing references together and got the job of MCVP External Relations in AIESEC Venezuela.

The job will be excellent - leading an entire country's AIESEC presence within the national team - big national accounts, organising events, managing strategies for marketing, branding, alumni relations, etc. The country looks absolutely stunning. Yes, it's a bit politically and economically unstable (it's ok, I excel at staying out of trouble!) but it will be such an incredible cultural experience, such a difference from here.

It will be challenging, it is a bit scary and I'm still not quite sure what to expect but I am sure it will be a fun and very experience-filled year!

You've sometimes just got to jump into these things, and this is the time for it!"

---

I quite like that line in the last post "it's ok, I excel at staying out of trouble!" - I think I did actually know what to expect in Venezuela :-)

And were the rest of my expectations met?

• big national accounts - Yep!
• organising events - Too many!
• managing strategies for marketing, branding, alumni relations - some
• country looks absolutely stunning - Absolutely. More than words can say!
• politically and economically unstable - Oh yes :-)
• incredible cultural experience - certainly, and very difficult at times
• such a difference from here - In so many ways I'm just a bit scared of going back now
• challenging - Extremely
• scary - Petrifying at times
• fun - Lots of
• experience-filled - More than I EVER could have imagined

So - sad to be leaving amazing people, friends, projects, things-not-done behind...

... but overall extremely happy with the whole experience and very excited about seeing lots of old friends and moving on to the next phase of my life!

Thanks so so much to all the special people who were part of this incredible year!

P.S. Join me in El Leon on Tuesday at 8pm to arrange your next trip to Europe, and mine to Venezuela, and help me say "goodbye for now" to Venezuela!

Angel Falls Top 2

And of course Steve brought his flag...

Angel Falls conquered

Strong currents and bloody freezing under the falls

Thanks Lina for the great photos!

Going home(s)

San Francisco

Well after over one year in Caracas - a city of chaos and music, traffic and street food, marches and protests, poverty and excess, hard times and great times, and meeting so many amazing inspiring people - I am making the long journey home to the UK.

It feels very strange. A big part of me wants to stay but a big part of me wants to go. Life is about change, and it is time for change again. I'm ready to embrace it!

In order to make the most of air miles and various cheap flights (and to see lots of people), my meandering journey home looks like this:

Tuesday 14 August
Leaving party / Risho's birthday party / Packing party in Caracas

Wednesday 15 August - Caracas to Mexico City to Miami
One night in Miami!

Thursday 16 August - Miami to LA to Oakland
Five days & nights in San Francisco!

Tuesday 21 August - Oakland to LA to Las Vegas
One night in Las Vegas!

Wednesday 22 August - Las Vegas to London
Two nights in London!

Friday 24 August - London to Edinburgh
...and to Haddington where I look forward most of all to relaxing at home with my family who I really do miss lots

That's almost 30 hours on planes spread between 8 flights in a single week. If anything, there should be lots of free mediocre-quality in-flight lunches at silly times of day.

The idea of this quite epic and ridiculous journey is to see as many people as possible.

In San Francisco, there's already quite a reunion planned featuring my good friend Declan, two excellent friends from California who never quite made it to visit me in Venezuela - Helen and Laura, the legendry sea-god Aaron (first person I ever met in AIESEC), Karthik and Tina from the current generation of AIESEC San Jose and various other people who I knew from my year in the Bay Area.

Needless to say I'm excited about being with all these folks in this other city where I also spent a great - in a very different way - year of my life.

All sorts of goodness is being planned - yummy eateries, dreaming about silly expensive champagne in Bubble lounge, some kind of paintballing adventure, and BBQing at the (cold) beach. If you can get to the Bay Area for any of that (especially the meal on Saturday 18th) I would love to see you there!

Equally I'm looking for people to see and things to do in London and I'm looking forward to kicking up Edinburgh during the final days of festival time.

Mark your calendars!

A fuego lento

In Venezuela almost anything passes for a taxi.

It was a very bad decision to get into this one.

Drew and I felt we needed to make a slightly comical video to document what happened, then I added a slideshow of my year in Venezuela.



Here is the sequence of events:

1. We cram 6 people into the worst-looking vehicle in Caracas (me, Drew and Steve from Scotland, Risho from Slovakia and Branko from Maracaibo / Serbia).

2. The very dodgily wired-up radio starts to make strange crackling sounds and generally fail

3. The driver pulls off the freeway as the car begins to fill with smoke

4. We discover that none of the doors except the drivers can be opened from the inside

This is the fucking scary I'm moments from death moment.

5. Steve (in the front) manages to open his door and him and Branko escape, Drew climbs out the window and the driver opens my door to start putting the fire under his seat in front of me out.

6. Risho and I push past him as he's taking his t-shirt off to put out the fire.

All this time there's a fucking police man standing across the road by his car talking on his mobile phone to his girlfriend or something. Risho and I shout that the car's on fire and we need help. He doesn't seem at all concerned. Then the taxi driver - quite nastily burned by now - runs over to get his help.

But by now the car is fully on fire and it's too late. We stay and watch as liquid burning oil drips under the car, the windows shatter and the gas tank explodes. All minutes after we'd escaped.

It is extremely sobering to realise just how easy it is to die.

As you can see, I was very happy to be alive!

And from now on, I'm checking the doors of EVERY car I even think about getting in. And I am only using taxis built in the last ten years.

What an end to Steve and Drew's trip, and my year in Venezuela.

Gran Sabana and Angel Falls

Steve, Drew and Lina (Drew's girlfriend from Sweden) just left yesterday after two very eventful and mostly enjoyable weeks touring around Venezuela.

After almost two days of general chaos in Caracas, it was Friday morning and we were stuck getting eaten by mozzies and waiting for Lina's bag to possibly be delivered by American airlines. The rest of us were all packed for a long holiday beach weekend, complete with mosquito nets that had been bought by Steve and Drew amongst much amusement and confusion in a small shop in the biggest mall in South America.

Canaima Lagoon (photo by Arnoldo)

It was now getting a bit late in the day for the beach, so we decided
- heck with it lets just go for the best first. What's on the cover of
Lonely Planet? Canaima and Angel Falls. OK.

Malaria Pills with lunch, quick internet research, some Spanish phone calls, a few black market international currency exchanges and by 9pm we're on an executive bus direct to the Gran Sabana!

The journey was great. After the bus we caught a TINY plane - just 6 seats. Apparently though the instruments don't work above the clouds and a back-up silver briefcase needs to be brought out to scare tourists :-) That was fun.

Then spectacular views of table mountains, waterfalls, planes, palms, forest and small thatched native settlements as we landed in the inaccessible town of Canaima, from where we were led by a native indian up river in a bumpy wooden canoe along with a misfit group of tourists from Norway, Denmark, Sweden, USA, Germany and the Netherlands.

Steve by this time was in full sun and mosquito protection mode with several layers of sunblock and quite a percentage of DEET in his blood. Drew wasn't as successful having put his possibly illegal 80% DEET insect repellant in a blue plastic bag. This subsequently turned most of Drew into something looking like he should be in a Vegas show.

We enjoyed barbequed chicken and slept in hammocks on an inland in the forest, with all sorts of animal sounds around us and a really useful praying mantis that couldn't seem to catch anything.

Angel Falls from Isla Raton

We got a great view of the falls as the early morning sun beamed onto the table mountain. Roughly like the photo, but in real life :-)

After crossing the river, we hiked through the forest to Angel Falls, looking out for giant spiders and "24-hour ants" on the way. The spiders trap and eat birds and if one of those ants gets you you'll have about 24-hours to live. Disappointingly we saw neither of those things!

I was somehow expecting a nice neat stream of water landing in a calm pool at the bottom where we could lie in looking up at the falls.

Well, after about 900m of falling (about the height of the biggest mountains in Scotland (Munros), or two Empire State buildings - in one go) the water is pretty much just mist! It's a very mesmerising sight.

We did swim in the plunge pool a bit further down, which is freezing cold and very very turbulent. Refreshing to say the least.

Sapo Falls (photo by One Off Man Mental)

Day 3 we enjoyed getting soaked walking under Sapo Falls - another huge waterfall at Canaima Lagoon. Wet season (Mar-Sep) is the time to go! We encountered a bright yellow and black frog (very poisonous) then we climbed up to the top. We sat on rocks in the river for a good long time just admiring the stunning scene before us - a beautiful lake - luscious green savannah as far as the eye could see - native huts dotted around in the foreground and huge table mountains in the background.

This was one of the most tranquil, beautiful scenes I have ever seen in my life. I genuinely could have stayed there for hours just relaxing in the sun with this incredible vista before me.

This region of the Venezuela has to be one of the most spectacular sights on this beautiful planet.

If you are in Venezuela and you have not been, make it happen!

Vicious packs of dogs

Sadie running

Went exploring today. There is this mysterious path off the road near where I live that leads up into the hills.

Risho and I went up it today taking a few random paths to end up at "the top" where there was a big dirt road leading to an electricity pylon. Exciting stuff. There was also a nice view of the other side of La Vega, one of the larger barrios in the hills of Caracas. People must walk as much as we did up those steep hills every day to go home! It must be unbearable when it's raining.

Anyway, we figured the road must lead to another road and eventually back to Caracas. Hah! What fools. The road did lead to another dirt road but that just led to another pylon. What the heck's the point in that? A nice dirt road plenty wide enough for a big truck and just leading between two pylons. Absolutely no connection to other roads of any form.

The only logical conclusion is they airlifted in a truck to use the road to travel a few hundred yards between two pylons. Sounds like an appropriate level of inefficiency for Venezuela :-)

So - and this will start to sound familiar to some people - it was now about half an hour before sunset and we were atop a hill in a forest.

We decided to stumble down this very steep and overgrown path that went from pylon to pylon in the hope it would lead back to civilisation.

Instead it led to a snake. A real live snake, about one foot long and deviously camouflaged. Not very threatening so we went on.

After lots more stumbling through plants and getting scratched I happened upon a dog. It had some friends. A bloody huge pack of them, barking a lot and looking like they wanted very much to bite us.

But this was the only way down. So - armed with a big stick I'd been using on the scrubs - I ran full belt at the pack of wild dogs shouting and screaming.

Luckily they moved. They were all talk.

It turns out they were living with a guy up there. Weird.

So after several minutes of shouting, running, and with dogs at our heels we were safe and it was only a few more minutes back to Caracas and "normality".

We had a well-deserved beer and now am cooking dinner and preparing to watch something exciting on TV. Except there's a really annoying and loud kids karaoke party going on in the garden. Was OK for dancing in the shower but now is just annoying.

Oh, and that dog in the picture is nothing to do with the pack of wild dogs. She's a nice one :-)

Going home plans are coming together. They're either:

- home via some days in Miami and San Francisco
- home via Cuba

These are the only two places where I can get free airmiles flights to the UK and are cheap to fly to from Venezuela.

One sounds quite fun and interesting, but I think there's plenty of scope for adventures in Venezuela and Colombia and I really would love to be back in San Francisco for a few days.

What do you think - Dan in Cuba? Is that a good idea?

Consequences

I think this from Caracas Chronicles is a very well informed post that I wanted to highlight:

Katy says: As we read the news on the student protests and watch the government's heavy-handed approach to dispersing the crowds, we are reminded of the wave of protests in 2001 and 2002 that culminated in the Carmonazo.

So now is as good a time as any to ask: where is all this leading? Do we have any hope that Chavez will allow RCTV back on the air? The government's repression will surely be bad news for Chavez and his tarnished image overseas, but after almost universal condemnation for the closure, is there anything else to gain in that regard?

...

Almost everyone who is protesting is doing peacefully, but there is always an element that takes things too far and I think it can sometimes be easy to let things spiral out of control. Of course there are people on both sides who want this.

I hope that everyone takes their responsibility to really think about why they are doing things, what the objective is and what the likely consequences are.

Hehe, I'm watching TVes right now and it seems they've replaced the crappy telenovelas (soaps) of RCTV with equally crappy ones of their own. With equal amounts of laughable sexual innuendo :-)

Student protests in Caracas

Student protests in Caracas

Well, TVes started up pretty quickly and appears to be mainly a whole load of song and dance. Reminds me a lot of the Edinburgh festival Venezuela show a couple years ago, only worse.

Today business was back to normal (I went to a meeting) but there were mass student protests at all the universities in Caracas. One of my friends got hit by a tear gas bomb that the police fired into the students at UNIMET, one of the private universities. This didn't deter her though, as she continued on the the protests in the center of town at Chacaito.

This was near where at about 5pm tonight Risho and I were walking past the Ministry of Infrastructure and suddenly everyone was running and taking cover. Then we saw a whole load of police closing the road in front of the ministry. We quickly got into the metro.

Later on the news I saw that police were using more tear gas on protesters in this area and firing shotguns into the air. It's strange to see all this stuff in the places I always go - the university, the main business district.

But it's definitely commendable to be protesting this. This is a bad bad turning point in the country's history and I hope the protests go on, peacefully. Caracas Chronicles notes that even the other private TV stations only had their licenses renewed for 5 years, ending conveniently six-months before the next election time. Imagine an entirely state-controlled broadcast TV network using government funds to broadcast their campaign to the masses, with no opposition broadcasting to challenge them. That is a very scary thought.

One really appalling thing about this whole situation is the behaviour of two of the other private TV stations - Televen and Venevision. They have not shown a single moment of these protests or this story. It is as if everything is completely normal for them. This is clearly to appease the government and keep their licenses.

Globovision meanwhile have been showing full support. Many newspaper cartoons depict it as next in the line for will of Chavez to crash down upon.

It's uncertain whether the universities will be open tomorrow.

TVes is here

Well, RCTV just switched off. The signal went black. Now we have a spinning TVes logo and the description says "will provide 24-hour programming". Evidentally not this hour.

Outside: fireworks vs. pots and pans