Aruba

Flying from Caracas to Aruba is about 40 minutes. It's longer to drive to the airport. It's also cheap when you pay in bolivars with the weird exchange rates. That adds up to a long weekend away being an easy thing to accomplish. It's also good to get away from the protests and problems and just be in a place where we can relax.

Aruba is a pricey place for a typical American vacation but it's not so bad for a quick weekend getaway from here. It's another perk of being in Caracas. We spent a lot of time relaxing on the beach and enjoying some great sunsets. Eagle, Manchebo, and Divi beaches are all in a wonderful long stretch of beauty. The one cool excursion thing we did was the Atlantis submarine to see the fishes and ships they sunk for artificial reef material. Here's some pictures of a quick weekend getaway.

Centro de Arte Los Galpones

It's nice to have a normal day where you can go out and enjoy something new instead of dealing with Caracas problems. We kept meaning to go to Centro de Arte Los Galpones, but it was closed when we tried a few months ago on a Monday. These past few months have had a lot of protests keeping us home. We'd forgotten about wanting to go there since it's near a protest area. However, today was a nice normal Sunday before things turn abnormal again tomorrow so we finally made it there. We tend to have simpler goals here.

The art center doesn't have a lot of art but it's a wonderful space to hang out around the little buildings, bookstore, gift shop, coffee stand, and bistro. There's a courtyard with seating under the trees to enjoy a coffee. The bookstore has a nice patio and inside seating for the same. The bistro has good food so it's a place we could come back to in the future. The whole center is surrounded by walls and electric fencing so it feels safe. You might be able to see the electric fence on top of these outside walls.