Venezuela is a beautiful and friendly country, with excellent food, water that's safe to drink, and many interesting attractions beside the world's best year 'round billfishing. There are many fine restaurants in our neighborhood, and some pretty good shopping too.
Here are the answers to some of the most frequently asked questions we're received.
Marina Portofino is located in the town of Caraballeda, approximately 20 kilometers (12 miles, or half an hour driving time) east of the Caracas airport. The most obvious local landmark, for those of you who have visited this area before, is the Sheraton Macuto hotel, with is just across the Caraballeda lagoon from us.
Caracas is a big city (over 6 million population) which is located in a valley in the mountains north of the airport. It's about a one hour drive to Caracas from Caraballeda.
We're approximately 600 miles north of the Equator here, on the Litoral Central (central coast) of Venezuela. During the winter the average daytime temperature is probably 80-85 F; the nightly low is usually 70 F. During the summer the temperatures average 5-10 F higher. Normal humidity is 50-60%. In other words, it's cooler here in the summer months than it is in Boston or New York, andwarmer (by far) than it is in most of the USA or Europe in the winter time!
We don't have that much rain here, but the "rainy season" months are usually May and November.
What this means is that Venezuela is a great year 'round destination, weather-wise. Most of you will have a chance to warm up in the winter, and to cool off in the summer (since the climate here is both cooler and drier than in most major American cities in the summer.)
Most people wear simple casual clothing here in the evenings: long pants and short sleeved shirts for the men and casual dresses for women. Short pants and T shirts are fine in most restaurants, for those of you who hate to get dressed up.
Don't forget your sunglasses, hats and boat shoes!
Some Spanish would be helpful, but it's not required. Almost all of the people you will meet at our Marina speak at least some English, and many speak our language quite well. Our staff is pretty fluent in English (even the natural-born Americans!)
Venezuela is a wonderful country, full of friendly people. But there are "bad guys" everywhere in the world, it seems, and the Litoral Central is no exception. If you're out late at night, or if you're going to Caracas, we'd recommend you leave your jewelry at home. We can store your valuables in our safe, if you'd like.
There are quite a few interesting sites on the WWW which can provide you with more information about Venezuela. You could start with Citi.Net Venezuela or MIT's Venezuela page . There's a good (but big, at 303 K!) map of Venezuela at U. Texas . And there's always The Virtual Tourist and The Lonely Planet. Happy linking!
More FAQs:
If you have more questions, please call our Reception Desk at 58-416-833-9038 (don't forget your international access code!) Or dial direct to:
or email us at marina01@telcel.net.ve.
Tight Lines!
