Venezuela is a strange country. A lost country. Its inhabitants endure their fate as stoically as the Cambodians. Sometimes there is milk to buy, and sometimes they are willing to sell it to you. Otherwise, they have few interests. Venezuela is in a coma.
The American pirate has recovered his yacht. The police have arrested the privateers and looted the boat. To avoid ending up in prison too, the American pirate only had to pay $1,000, final sale. Venezuela is a country where pirates pay. (more…)
Wild West Isla Margarita
Isla Margarita really is the wild west. I heard and read a lot of rough stories before I left. After just 10 days, I have a few to add myself. First I learn that everything is safe in the hostel, the accommodation has never been robbed. A few days later, a regular guest corrects me: Not yet under this management.
But a year ago, several masked and armed robbers broke in and forced the guests to open the safes. That teaches you two things: firstly, the police station 100 metres away is worth a damn. Secondly, I definitely don’t lock my things in the safe. (more…)
Happy Kite On El Yaque
On the very first day, I step on a sea urchin on my second kite attempt. Two minutes later, to save myself a stupid-looking limp, I decide to step on a second sea urchin with my other foot. Now everything is symmetrical again.
It’s incredible how famous some small places are. The kite beach at El Yaque is just 50 metres long and world-famous. There are only 30 kiters there today. The kitebeach is completely in the lee of a small hill, which creates stupid eddies. Practically every kite collapses at least once at the start. Even mine. (more…)
In Timmerberg’s Footsteps
I get good books as presents. Helge Timmerberg three times in the last six months alone, none of them knew about the others and each came exactly once. I narrowly survived the first one with an acute abdominal muscle tear. The second is now lying next to me on the train to Basel. I’m afraid to start.
There is real travelling. And there is the opposite. Timmerberg does everything right, because he does practically everything wrong. He’s not afraid of it. He sees more, asks more, almost never finds what he is looking for – and falls on his face much harder than any stiletto-wearing mountaineer. I’m following in Timmerberg’s footsteps. (more…)
The Author
Frank Woelky, born in 1973. Kitesurfer since 1998. Since 2006, I have been combining kitesurfing and web design on trips lasting several months off the beaten track.