I thought it would be harder (VACATIONS PICS)

[pintoca]

But after a few days of this

I barely remembered what EF, Karma, Posts, Diet and Training was...

It was a relaxing pause, I guess a long break once a year is the correct way to have some vacations.

Feels good to be back though, despite the fact the beaches are nice and my fellow Venezuelans are as friendly as ever, the political situation is as bad as it gets 8Countrsy deeply divided) and the basic infrastructure (roads, water, power, etc) gone to hell... We had a power-cut on DECEMBER 31st... 20 more minutes and we would have been hugging each other in darkness.

Then again, places are what we make out of them, so as long as it is man-unmade, it can be rebuilt.

Glad to be back people, I didn't miss you (I said so already) but you are a part of my non-vacation days nevertheless.

What I learned in this trip:

Pelicans never miss, each dive is a meal, albeit a small one

Kitesurfing is WAY HARDER than it seems... controlling the kite alone is already hard... DAMN IT

Driving an ATV for 4 hours straight is a sure-way to get your ass to hurt the next morning.

Then, on first sight, it seems:

Hammy is the uncontended K mogul
Dev is no longer a mod (huh?)
4everhung must have won every karmabookie event since Dec 22nd
I was kicked out of the frigging karma millionaire list (nothing that can't be mended, though)
Perk still loves trannies

So with minor changes, same old same old, which is good

 

[hamstershaver]

welcome back, great pics, that water is very clear

 

[superqt4u2nv]

OMG the beach looks awesome so jealous. Welcome back

 

[Spanky11]

welcome back.

 

[BUBBLES]

Wow
a grand place to visit, fantastic pics pintoca

how long were you in Venezuela?


Are you serious Dev is not a mod anymore???? Since when and why not?

 

[harmonica]

Nice ass pics man and WB

 

[pintoca]

welcome back, great pics, that water is very clear

The first pics are in Los Roques (about 80 miles north of Caracas, in the middle of the Caribbean Sea). It's an reef formation, (huge) formed by a circle of small islands and sand-banks. You can only get there by plane (30 minutes flight from Caracas) or by Yacht (you rent it and you set your own rithm).

I would STRONGLY reccomend to everybody to try and go there at least once in your lifes:

1. Dirty cheap if your income is in US$
2. DESERTED (notice the lack of people in the pics)
3. Natural, you will not find huge hotels or anything. The airline operates about 10 small houses with some 10 rooms each, they also own 6 catamarans and they take you around the place everyday.

The second batch is Coche, a small island of the coast of Margarita (another larger island). Margarita and Coche are well known because of wind, it's the kitesurfers and windsurfers paradise (world-cups and shit take place there).

Needless to say, Coche is even cheaper. Most of the tourists were foreigners (which is a shame, since Venezuelans don't get to visit these places, they prefer to go shopping to Miami, shit, I used to do that before as well)

Anyway, if you are interested, try googling Los Roques and Coche/Margarita.

From november-Feb is Lobster season in los Roques, you can get a 2pounder for 20 US$ served in the catamaran while you enjoy the view. Sometimes you have to wait for the lobster to be fished (they make a little list, go to the beach and come back some 20 minutes later with a sack full of lobsters).

 

[reigninghard]

Dang man those pics look more like post cards....great job!

 

[fistfullofsteel]

The first pics are in Los Roques (about 80 miles north of Caracas, in the middle of the Caribbean Sea). It's an reef formation, (huge) formed by a circle of small islands and sand-banks. You can only get there by plane (30 minutes flight from Caracas) or by Yacht (you rent it and you set your own rithm).

I would STRONGLY reccomend to everybody to try and go there at least once in your lifes:

1. Dirty cheap if your income is in US$
2. DESERTED (notice the lack of people in the pics)
3. Natural, you will not find huge hotels or anything. The airline operates about 10 small houses with some 10 rooms each, they also own 6 catamarans and they take you around the place everyday.

The second batch is Coche, a small island of the coast of Margarita (another larger island). Margarita and Coche are well known because of wind, it's the kitesurfers and windsurfers paradise (world-cups and shit take place there).

Needless to say, Coche is even cheaper. Most of the tourists were foreigners (which is a shame, since Venezuelans don't get to visit these places, they prefer to go shopping to Miami, shit, I used to do that before as well)

Anyway, if you are interested, try googling Los Roques and Coche/Margarita.

From november-Feb is Lobster season in los Roques, you can get a 2pounder for 20 US$ served in the catamaran while you enjoy the view. Sometimes you have to wait for the lobster to be fished (they make a little list, go to the beach and come back some 20 minutes later with a sack full of lobsters).

Sweet

 

[EnderJE]

Nice, bro. Nice. How much?

 

[samoth]

Welcome back, broly!

 

[JarheadChiro]

Awesome pics, thanks for sharing.

 

[Y_lifter]

Awesome sunset pictures..

Details on camera equipment, unless it was just a point and shoot and luck.

 

[pintoca]

Nice, bro. Nice. How much?

Los Roques, the package includes.

3 days, 2 nights
including:
* Return airplane ticket from Caracas
* Accomodation by the beach (the first sunset pics are from the roof our house-hotel), double room, with private bathroom
* 3 meals per day (lunch served in the catamaran)
* non-alcoholic drinks (you can get beer for 1 US$ each in the catamaran, cuba libres and so forth are about 2 US$ each)
* 3 days running around the islands in the catamaran, from 9:00 am to 5:00 pm

cost for this is about 440 US$/person (for the whole 3 days)

Coche is easier:

Package includes:

* transportation from Margarita to Coche (30 minutes boat ride)
* ALL Venezuelan alcoholic drinks (shitload of cuba libres and pina coladas, hey, rum and beers were free)
* Accomodation in double room with private bathroom (even hot water... lol)
* pool/beach towels and seats with umbrellas and stuff
* Open bar at the pool and at the beach
* 3 meals/day

get a load of this: 24US$/person/day... I met kitesurfers from Europe there who were staying for 3-4 weeks in a row. Imagine that: 24 days in the beach with all the alcohol and food you can drink/eat, guaranteed wind and that will set you back 570US$ plus your plane ticket from wherever you live...

Hey, it beats skiing... but now it's time for some skiing, snow is looking good here as well.

 

[jenscats5]

I, for one, missed you!! Glad you're back!!

Beautiful pics!!

 

[Dunk]

pintokeup

that a 7.2 broly?

nice pics!

 

[pintoca]

Awesome sunset pictures..

Details on camera equipment, unless it was just a point and shoot and luck.

lol

Nikon 4800 set on a tripod, didn't tinker much with the aperture, since I normally do it with the exposure instead.

In a nutshell: I mounted on a tripod, lowered the ISO to 50 ( I know, it sounds odd, but that was the reason of the tripod, I wanted it extra-crispy-clear, multi-metering (not spot, since the light was tricky) and of course: NO FLASH. It kills me when I see people shooting sunsets with flash... damn

The Exif info from the first sunset:

File: - C:\Documents and Settings\capinto\Desktop\Vzla 2006\Los Roques\DSCN5229.JPG

ImageDescription -
Make - NIKON
Model - E4800
Orientation - 1 (top left)
XResolution - 300
YResolution - 300
ResolutionUnit - 2 (inch)
Software - E4800v1.2
DateTime - 2005:12:27 23:10:28
YCbCrPositioning - 2 (datum point)
ExifOffset - 284
ExposureTime - 10/1834 seconds
FNumber - 3.7000
ExposureProgram - 2 (program normal)
ISOSpeedRatings - 50
ExifVersion - 220
DateTimeOriginal - 2005:12:27 23:10:28
DateTimeDigitized - 2005:12:27 23:10:28
ComponentsConfiguration - 1 2 3 (YCbCr)
CompressedBitsPerPixel - 2 (average)
ExposureBiasValue - 0.0000
MaxApertureValue - F 2.73
MeteringMode - 5 (multi-segment)
LightSource - 0 (auto)
Flash - 24
FocalLength - 6.0000 mm
UserComment -
FlashPixVersion - 100
ColorSpace - 1 (sRGB)
ExifImageWidth - 2288
ExifImageHeight - 1712
InteroperabilityOffset - 1026
FileSource - 3 (digital still camera)
SceneType - 1 (directly photographed)

Maker Note (Vendor): -


Yasmina, I was in Venezuela from Dec 22nd to January 14th

 

[Raina]

Welcome back!!!!!!

 

[pintoca]

pintokeup

that a 7.2 broly?

nice pics!

not at all, that is a normal 4 Megapixel camera. The pics I posted are reduced in size by 50%. I normally don't print that many pics in large format (posters or so) so it's OK.

Last December I did print some A4-sized pics (about letter-size, 8.5x11) and they came up perfectly fine. I might do some A3 soon and will see if I need to upgrade.

 

[Y_lifter]

lol

Nikon 4800 set on a tripod, didn't tinker much with the aperture, since I normally do it with the exposure instead.

NO FLASH. It kills me when I see people shooting sunsets with flash... damn

I was expecting a Digital SLR. Nice job for that type camera.
Sunsets can be tough to capture correctly.
Here is one I took on a moving ship pulling out of Belize last summer
with my 3 yr old 3.3MP Olympus digital

People that shoot with flash simply do not know how to turn it off, and the camera is doing its Point and Shoot job..

 

[SoKlueles]

welcome back those are very beautiful pictures

 

[alien amp pharm]

Nice pics homo

 

[Y_lifter]

LOL @ the cell and strategic placed towel

 

[Frisky]

Amazing pics!

Welcome back suga

 

[pintoca]

lol @ aap

I thought mava would be faster than thou, but you looking ripped bro!

 

[silverfish]

Awesome pictures bro. It's nice to see what a vacation looks like.

 

[PBR]

awesome....there is no way i would have ever come back...seriously.

 

[blut wump]

Welcome back. Great pics. That blue of the Caribbean sky is unmistakable.

 

[HumorMe]

God what great pictures! Looks like you all had a blast.

Welcome back and glad to have you back.

 

[Lestat]

welcome back man!! great pics!

 

[Lady Viking]

great pics

 

[Mr. dB]

It must have been hell. I'm sure you're relieved to be back in sunny Germany.

 

[pintoca]

It must have been hell. I'm sure you're relieved to be back in sunny Germany.

lol

exactly.

Thanks for the welcome-back everybody. It's amazing how life goes from 0-130% complication in only 3 days. I'm already fighting with my client, fighting with bureocracy in Germany (need to get some paperwork done), fighting with the weather (colder than an otter's ass here) and trying to get the baby used to his new schedule (not taking it too graciously either).

To think on Sunday my biggest worry was "What's for lunch"

 

[juiceddreadlocks]

WTF dude, nobody rides standup jetskis over there? I thought gasoline was like $.27 a gallon?

 

[Pamela]

Hi and Welcome back..

Great pics....

 

[juiceddreadlocks]

dude are you ever going to sign onto AIM again?

 

[Mammoth2500]

Nice pics. Hope mine are just as good in a 2 weeks, Cuba

 

[pintoca]

dude are you ever going to sign onto AIM again?

IM in general is blocked now here. We had a barrage of virus warnings last year and they blocked all access to the outside-world. We continue to use AIM within the WAN though, only as a business tool.

it sucks, now I have to write more emails to customers, which were easier to handle via an IM or two before.

Should be back in the future, hopefully

 

[HiDnGoD]

Welcome back. Great pics. I made one my wallpaper. I'm gonna have to look into that vacation.

 

[HiDnGoD]

not at all, that is a normal 4 Megapixel camera. The pics I posted are reduced in size by 50%. I normally don't print that many pics in large format (posters or so) so it's OK.

Last December I did print some A4-sized pics (about letter-size, 8.5x11) and they came up perfectly fine. I might do some A3 soon and will see if I need to upgrade.

I did saome pics of a friends car, for a magazine with my 3.2 MP Kodak. Developed at 18X24 (I think) & turned out great. could have gone larger too.

 

[pintoca]

Welcome back. Great pics. I made one my wallpaper. I'm gonna have to look into that vacation.

which one? I will post it original size so you can have it. just tell me the name

 

[Tytan]

looked like an excellent time..............

 

[Gymgurl]

Looks like a great place

 

[starfish]

But after a few days of this

I barely remembered what EF, Karma, Posts, Diet and Training was...

It was a relaxing pause, I guess a long break once a year is the correct way to have some vacations.

Feels good to be back though, despite the fact the beaches are nice and my fellow Venezuelans are as friendly as ever, the political situation is as bad as it gets 8Countrsy deeply divided) and the basic infrastructure (roads, water, power, etc) gone to hell... We had a power-cut on DECEMBER 31st... 20 more minutes and we would have been hugging each other in darkness.

Then again, places are what we make out of them, so as long as it is man-unmade, it can be rebuilt.

Glad to be back people, I didn't miss you (I said so already) but you are a part of my non-vacation days nevertheless.

What I learned in this trip:

Pelicans never miss, each dive is a meal, albeit a small one

Kitesurfing is WAY HARDER than it seems... controlling the kite alone is already hard... DAMN IT

Driving an ATV for 4 hours straight is a sure-way to get your ass to hurt the next morning.

Then, on first sight, it seems:

Hammy is the uncontended K mogul
Dev is no longer a mod (huh?)
4everhung must have won every karmabookie event since Dec 22nd
I was kicked out of the frigging karma millionaire list (nothing that can't be mended, though)
Perk still loves trannies

So with minor changes, same old same old, which is good

OMG....I am jealous.

What fun and pelicans rock

 

[gonelifting]

Nice pics! Welcome back man.

I hate to be a spoiler and shit, I know you've been away and relaxing with no rules... etc... but now that you're back, please be aware of the TOS rules here. Thanks and enjoy your stay.

 

[Y_lifter]

Nice pics! Welcome back man.

I hate to be a spoiler and shit, I know you've been away and relaxing with no rules... etc... but now that you're back, please be aware of the TOS rules here. Thanks and enjoy your stay.

And also, if GL needs any backup, I'm a Moderator on another board