Texas says No to Venezuela

I was told not to change my money at the airport in Caracas as they give poor rates. Well, it's a lot better than what I got at the Dallas Airport. The exchange place would not take my Venezeluelan Boliviares. In fact, no bank in Dallas will. Because there are a lot of counterfeit notes? No - that's a much bigger problemwith U.S currency. Because they are uncommon? No - There are flights from Caracas to this airport every day of the year. It's because of the political situation. We don't like Hugo Chavez I was told.

The whole thing is so childish. When Condoleezza Rice was what issues the U.S. government has with Hugo Chavez, the official response was,"We simply don't like him."

I hope there is a hell. If then I at least know that the people causing my problems will burn in it, particularly Mr. Danger as Chavez calls him. Maybe it's a response to Ozzie Guillen, manager of the Chicago White Sox. When his team finished off the Houston Astros, at that very moment he shouted,"Viva Chavez." You will have to look hard to find any media reports of this in the United States. I was in Caracas at the time. Most of what I thought were fireworks were actually guns being fired into the air. I knew some were guns, but I talked to a guy that said he made sure he stayed inside too, avoiding stray bullets. Chicago won, but the whole country of Venezuela felt like they won too. I know Chavez felt like he won as I'm sure it was a factor in the latest poll that puts his approval rating at 77%. Imagine Calgary Flames manager, Darryl Sutter shouting,"Viva Paul Martin" after winning a playoff series. Even to think it is a big joke. If he did, I wonder if it would be as hard to change Canadian money in New York.

It's funny how hard it was to find this internet computer. In South America, there was pretty much an internet cafe on every block. Most of them had very good equipment including web cams and head sets for an average of 40 cents an hour. I don't know how they paid for it. Anyway, the computer here in Dallas isn't up to South American standards, but it's free at a hotel I'm not even staying at.

I have to say that people are very friendly here. The information people couldn't believe my problem and made quite a few phone calls and walked a few different places to try to find me help.

I even chatted with a few soldiers at the airport. One said that he didn't have any problem changing his Iraq money. I guess the political situation there is fine. About half the people in the airport were soldiers in desert cammo. I wondered which ones wouldn't be coming back. They certainly didn't all seem like the most excellent human beings. There were also a few degenerate inbred looking types cheering for the ones arriving. I felt pretty strange as I was whisked through customs by a surprisingly friendly U.S. Customs officer to find myself the only civilian walking out the secure area with a battalion of soldiers. I didn’t feel much like the cheers were for me. The soldiers didn’t seem to care much, but showed polite grace to the freakish looking folks.

I can't wait to be back in Canada tomorrow. It's going to be hard to know what I want to do once my debts are paid. I want to buy a motorbike, start a buisness, and return to Columbia and Venezuela - probably with a trip through Central America as it now seems pretty small. I also want to get to Cuba before Castro croaks. Want Want Want. Welcome back to western society, Chris. Life is much simpler in the third world - Need Need Need. I already miss it. I enjoyed trying to speak Spansh to a couple of people at the airport. I started speaking in broken Spanish to the guy at the desk of the hotel out of habit - it is what I have done every day for the past 2 months.

Chao South America, see you in a year and in my dreams.