The entire town is surrounded by mountains (sort of like Caracas) and apparently the snowy season is in June and July. This was the only mountain – Pico Bolívar – that had snow and I was told it keeps it year round.

There are numerous public spaces/parks – another similarity to Caracas and an abundance of greenery.

The town’s main attraction is the world’s longest and highest cable car system, which lucky for me is currently under repair. You can tell that a lot of the town’s tourism was based on this because there are about 50 hotels, like the one you see above, within a 1 minute walking distance of the entrance.

During the day, the weather was very nice and sometimes even hot. But, every night the sky was completely clouded and it became a freezing – well by my standards – 40-50 degrees Fahrenheit.

Halloween:

I had a big ol’ bag of candy special ordered from the states, and boy was it worth it. I’m still nibbling on Reese’s Peanut Butter cups.

My little guy turned 4:

Overall, great time had by all. And yes, there were cupcakes involved.

Sunday stroll:

Took a lovely Sunday stroll with the kiddos at our favorite park. Although no sugar was involved, it ended up being the perfect ending to our day.

I should’ve reviewed this restaurant a long time ago considering we’ve been going there since we first arrived in Caracas back in 2009. I love Italian food and while there’s an abundance of restaurants around, it took me a while to find one that was to my liking. Panini offers your garden variety pasta, meat and fish dishes al italiano. They also offer some great carpaccio appetizers. This picture of the outdoor area is my favorite place to sit. I have an aversion to air-conditioning anyway, but this area is covered and less noisy than the main room. Before telling you more about the food, I have to say that the service at this place is fantastic. The waiters know us and we always feel like we’re getting first class treatment. Only caveat is that they tend to get really busy around lunchtime and the wait time for your dish can be up to 45 minutes.

This last time we were there, I ordered lomito a la plancha con salsa de miel y vinagre balsamico (grilled steak with a balsamic vinegar and honey sauce). My sides were sautéed vegetables and mashed sweet potatoes. Delicious and very filling. My usual dish is called del Bosque which is pasta – your choice of linguine or penne – with chunks of fresh mozarella, tomatoes and basil. Also very good.

My favorite drink to order at Panini is a limonada frappé con grenadina (frozen lemonade with grenadine syrup). I’ve tried this at several other restaurants and they tend to be too sweet. Panini has the perfect blend which makes for a very refreshing drink while enjoying Caracas weather.

So, if you ever find yourself in Caracas…call me and we’ll head on over to Panini

In the US, I’m so used to seeing homeless people sitting on the side of the street and acting like I don’t see them. Or at intersections seeing disabled people holding signs asking for money and looking the other way. Even when walking down a street where a struggling artist is playing music with a donation cup in front of him/her, I manage not to look like I don’t notice. People asking for help don’t make me uncomfortable, I’m just so used to seeing them ignored that I easily jumped on the bandwagon. Not in Caracas.

There are people (usually with a disability) who hang around the intersections on our route to the kids’ school. Sometimes when I’m riding in the embassy car, the driver will slow down ahead of the light and hand over whatever loose change he has. Now, I know he’s not raking in the big bucks and yet he still feels the desire to help out. This isn’t once in a while, either. If he reaches the light and it’s red, he reaches in his pocket.

While on the train, you sometimes have small groups of young people playing instruments, singing, rapping or reciting poetry. They don’t hang out at the train stops (I think it’s illegal), but actually ride along with you. The first time I witnessed this, I simply thought “oh, they do that here, too”. What surprised me was as soon as we were arriving at the stop, almost everyone reached in their pockets, purses and wallets to give money. Even if it were only a few Bolivars, it was well received. So guess what? After the 4th time this happened, I reached into my pockets, as well.

These acts of kindness is just one more way Caraqueños break the stereotype of the habits of people in a big city. The best part is my kids see that the norm isn’t to ignore those in need, but to give/do what you can. In turn, another habit I hope to hang on to when our time here is over.

As you can see from the sticker, we participated in the 2011 Census here in Venezuela. It really was a painless process that took about 10 minutes to complete. Plus, they had out postings just about everywhere so we didn’t even have to go out of our way.

• The US was gearing up for Census 2010 when we left Florida in December 2009, so I didn’t get to participate. Does that mean I count more here than in the US