day 7: as i had a head ache we decided to stay out of the sun as much as possible, and take the bus to "mercado conejero ("rabbit market"). taking the bus in venezuela turned out to be fun. there are no bus stops and no time tables. you just stand by the road and wait until a bus comes by. there's no fixed rout either; it has a starting point and a stop point, but in between those two points you just say where you want to go, and see if the bus driver feels like driving you there. the market was enormous. a lady who's grandson was throwing a baseball made of plastic bags told us we had to see sambil, which turned out to be the biggest shopping center i've ever seen. i'm embarassed to say we had lunch at mc donalds...and that it was the best food yet on this trip... i normally don't think you should eat at mc donalds when you're on vacation, but i thought i had to eat something beside toblerone and pinepple for once :) on our way back we met leo (the fisherman/drug addict) and his friend elka. she's a tattooist, but she had lost her tattoo machine. had some beer with them and talked for a while. leo gave us a coral he had picked for us. i hope they are not protected or anything... it wasn't even good looking, and it would be impossible to bring it home with us. but it was nice of him. leo invited us to go fishing with him tomorrow, and he seemed really exited about that. we would go the the little islands you can see from our beach, los frailes. when we walked back to the hotel there were lots of children sitting on chairs in the street, watching a cartoon on a screen attached to a wall. elka said that the government shows films in the streets to the poor now and then. had two slices of pineapple for dinner. my left foot swollen, and when i move my toes it hurts a bit. and the skin is falling of my nose and forehead. and my hair is so full of sand and salt i haven't been able to brush it for days. i must look really horrible :)

day 8: valentine's day :) up early to go fishing with leo and elka. leo seemed nervous. when we got to the boats we understood why: he said there was something wrong with his boat, but we could go with another boat on a snorkelling tour for 40 dollars each. we were a bit disappointed, as we thought it would have been fun to go fishing with his little boat. but not too bad though. i don't like killing fish very much. we went to the beach instead. as it was cloudy we thought it'd finally be safe to "sun" bathe. must of the time we were under palm treas, but not with t-shirts on because of the clouds. which turned out to be stupid, as we both got sunburned... after a while it started to rain. a lot. we had a short swim in the pool outside our hotel room (had to at least try it before we leave). walked along the main road, to a small "center" called la loma. tried 3 internet cafes on the way, until we finally found a computer with an internet connection that worked (although very slow). walked back in darkness, listening to the cikador/cigales/don't know their english name. stopped at a read limousine-restaurant. had a quarter of a hamburger + coca cola. edison invited us back tomorrow, when he'd make us arepas. found a chinese supermarket. they had everything. except chocolate. had a "midnight" "swim" in the sea (it wasn't really midnight, and we didn't really swim :)

day 9: heavy rain. read magazines under a roof made of palm tree leaves. in the afternoon the rain stopped (at least now and then). participated in a dart competition. i managed to get zero points... looked at a dance i think was called ragaton. read some more by the pool. started to rain again. went to our room. watched some tv. walked to the read limousine. edison made us arepas (mais bread with eggs, tomatoes, ham and cheese in). according to the madman josé you should have them for breakfast, not for dinner. but they were good anyway. edison gave me a coca cola plate! he's a sweet and funny looking man :) cleaned out ants from the suitcase. many of our clothes are wet. tried to hang them in front of the aid condition thing to dry.

day 10 + 11: up early. clothes still wet. had to pack them anyway. the bus to the airport took another road than we're used to, which was nice. met a man that talked a lot. he's the best writer in sweden. maybe in the whole world. extremely self centered. will have to look for his books. fun experience at the bank in caracas. neither of the two cash automats worked. explanation: sometimes they work, sometimes they don't. happens everyday. i like the cool attitude :) sometimes the bus comes/ the internet works/ you go to school/ you go to work etc. etc. you never know when it will happen. a common answer to almost everything seems to be "maybe tomorrow" :) as the automats didn't worke we tried the "real" bank instead. a nice man helped me fill in the necessary form (there are lots of necessary forms in the airport in caracas), then i had to wait for my turn. there were 25 people before me, and only one person working behind the desk (at least five were standing by the door welcoming people in). i got to leave a finger pring to get my money. the thumb is still blue with ink. when we were leaving they had locked the door, and noone was allowed in our out. explanation: security. after a while a serious looking man with gun proof vest, gun and other cool things attacjed to him came, and the door was unlocked and we could leave. the man who sat next to me on the long flight to frankfurt was praying and brushing imagined dandruff from his shoulders all the time. 27 hours after we left the hotel we arrived at my parents home.  ¶ 5:35 PM