Photos Finally!!!!

at the waterfalls
The funniest photo. the Venezuelan store owner was so cheap he inisted that he didn´t need a wine opener he just used a knife to force the cork through gently as you can see.

Hey guys the rest of my photos can be viewed at the following link you also might want to save it like you did this page so you can come back to it to see updated photos of my journey! http://community.webshots.com/user/chadgriggs

Labor Day Fun!!!!!!!!!
My bed with pictures of family and friends.

The Suite


This is the Water slids that take you in the glass tube through shark aquairum

At the Atlantis Royal Towers Hello everyone! It is our last day in Venezuela and as excited as I am about Brazil it is sad to think of leaving such a great country. I guess I should start off by telling you a little about yesterday. We arranged with some friends that we had meet in port to go on the adventure jeep tour that so many of the other kids were signed up for through the ship but we did it idependently saving us half off. We started driving for about thirty minutes and we stopped at a little town so some of the girls in the first jeep could go to the bathroom ( I guess I should go ahead and tell you now that the members of the trip included 11 participants AJ and I the ships photographer and 8 girls which is funny but it just has to do with the guy to girl ratio) any how Nelson our tour guide ended up seeing an old friend who invited us into his back yard and showed us through his open air kitchen as well as his inn that he rented rooms out to visitors. I meet several towns children and an old man that spoke a little english. After that we drove some more to a beautiful beach that we swam at for about an hour. Where it seemed like we were almost doing a SAS photo shoot because the photographer wanted to get some shots of all of us at the beach. Then we loaded back up into the jeeps and came to another small town where they had aranged for lunch for us. Again when we got into town everyone is just sitting down hanging out becuase there is no work. So we went into this really cool tall ceiling room that was almost like somthing like a great hall where knights would eat or somthing. The Chef Pedro cooked fresh red snapper with the usual fried plantains and a avacado and tomoato salad that was excelent. The guide sat and had lunch with us the rest of the guys the two drivers who were very good to lock all of the windows and doors when we were away from the jeeps to make sure none of our bags were stolen and the security guard that were with us were all very nice although they spoke very little to no english at all. Then we went to a beach that was in this city where tons of local children were out swimming in the ocean (I have a photo of this). (Another side not to the guys you know there was definetly some champezy keepin the tradition alive). After the beach I got to do somthing that I have wanted to do for a long time we got to go swim in the water falls in the jungle which were a lot like the ones in Jamaca if you have ever seen them. This was so awesome (although some of the girls got scared because the kids that were there had caught two eals that were in the pool of water under the waterfall the guide asured us that they didn´t bit and weren´t dangerous. It was kind of funny for those family members reading this it reminded me a lot when I saw the families there on vacation camping of good memories when we went to the river and camped when I was younger where we caught the crawdads. After that we took the hour and a half drive back towards the boat getting to watch another amazing sunset along the way. Also once you get out of the port city you start to see all the hills of dirt that weren´t cleaned up from the terible mud slide in 1999. You know you hear about things like that and you may even see photos but you truly don´t understand or feel the pain until you see it. Which I know is a lot like what is going on in New Orleans. Later that night we meet up with some people to go back to the same restaurant as the night before we had the traditional empinadas that were excelent which are like hot pockets but with a latin America flair. Then I had the Filet Mignon which was excelt and huge for 7.50 US. After dinner we went and got changed ( you have to get dressed up it is what the people do when they are going out at night) and we wanted to go back to the same salsa bar we had gone to the night before in stead of going into Caracas on the thirty minute and some time dangerous a night road. So we got into two cabs and had the cab drivers drive around forever trying to find a disco that was open on a Monday night. But we failed there were none to be had, besides the one across the street from the ship. We walked in and all the crew was there, but also were all of the local hookers that got up as soon as they saw AJ and Icome in never mind the fact that we had a ton of girls with us. After seeing this we emideatly turned around and walked out. Ending up in the customs area/terminal where there were about 100 SAS kids we new enjoying just being together and having fun. It was quit somthing to be seen when I went back on the ship at around 2:30 they were all still going strong. This was probably the best thing considering that it was so safe there. As far as today we are going to hang out here at the town of La Guaria where the ship is. On final notes of my time here in Laguaria, Caracas, and Venezuela one funny thing I noticed was all the picnic table stands everywhere along the streets. Selling local goods to the locals but several of them were somthing funny they were stands with about three cell phones where locals could rent them while standing there to make phone calls in stead of pay phones. Lastly the Venezuela people have such great passion. Passion for life, love, friends, family and food. Somthing that I think that Americans in general are kind of lacking or just don´t show it. I mean where else could you stop in a city have people welcome you into their home to show you around and let you use the restroom wanting nothing in return. I know you couldn´t do that in most US towns. You would open the door and look at them as if they were crazy. Oh yeah one more thing it is funny walking around AJ and I have had atleast three ocasions where people stopped and wanted to take there photo with us like we are celebrities or somthing. I know what you are thinking that they are trying to pick pocket us, which we watched them and our wallets very closely. But I think it is because they are wanting the tourists back before 2001 they were getting over 100 cruise ships every six months and in the last year including us there were two both SAS ships. Ok I am going to run I hope you enjoy the photos that I have been promising. Chow! And God Bless!!! Chad