This will be a series covering my month long trip to Venezuela. It will be full of culture shock but I intend to be honest and open while I learn as much as I can about the country and the people who live here. I do not intend to disparage the Venezuelan people or culture in any way. All people have different priorities and preferences, and we are largely a product of our environment.

We left for the airport with about 3.5 hours of leeway. Very shortly after leaving we realized we left the bag with mila’s snacks and snacking tools (bib, placemat, utensils). As far as I can tell that’s the only thing we forgot, luckily its relatively inconsequential and the food wasn’t going to last long anyway. I decided that was the bad thing that would happen to us for the way down and took it as a sign that everything would be smooth. The first leg of the trip was an overnight in Panama City. The flight was about 5 hours long and we didn’t anticipate the time change so with brief delays and the time change we wouldn’t arrive until about 9pm. I asked the flight attendants at the gate if they had any room since we were traveling with Mila and only had two tickets but they said the flight was completely full. We had tickets on either side of an aisle from eachother so we could try and utilize that extra space if we needed. Genesis was the last one to board the plane and with nobody behind her the seat remained empty. Increidble luck. We swapped so Genesis and Mila took the open space which was incredibly useful for the long flight. Mila slept for almost the first two hours, even through the meal service. Even after she woke up she remained calm for almost the entire flight. Changing a diaper in the airplane bathrooms was a challenge and she didn’t like the confined space but it was quick and we put her in pajamas before we landed in Panama.

The Panama airport was a much bigger airport than I expected as I didn’t realize its the main hub for flights going to and from South America and the Carribbean. The first thing we saw after gathering the stroller at the gate the first thing I saw was an Olive Garden. The airline had offered to pass our luggage on to the next flight but we didn’t want to take the risk of our suitcases not making it to a Venezuelan airline and picked it up at baggage claim. Customs was relatively fast but since Genesis is Venezuelan she had to either have a Visa or a Green Card, the latter of which she did have. That added a little extra time since they had to verify something with someone who looked more important than your general customs agent but by the time I got the luggage she was done. The shuttle from the airport to the hotel was ready very quickly after we arrived. We gave them our flight number when we booked the hotel so I think they tried to time it although they said they were following a schedule. We stayed at the Crowne Plaza Aiport which was about a 5 minute drive from the aiport. The staff was very nice and helpful with the bags so I felt obligated to give them all a small tip. Check in took like 20 minutes so I browsed the gift shop while Mila ran around the hotel entrance. Genesis wouldn’t let me spend $10 on a Panama hat which is an epic tragedy but carrying as many suitcases as we had I can’t aruge with keeping things out of the load.

After the doorman finished helping us with our bags (and got his tip) I heard on his radio the front desk calling for a crib to our room number. We all showered and got ready for bed. The crib never came and the room phone didn’t appear to call anything so we just tried to sleep with Mila between us. She kicks and rolls a good amount which made it a little hard to sleep. I had a terrible headache which kept me up until about midnight so I pushed the alarm back from 530 to 6 and at least got a few hours of sleep. Genesis said she didn’t get any but I’m pretty sure I heard her snoring. We got up and went straight down to breakfast. I had a ham cheese and onion omelette and got Gen one with mushrooms onions and corn (because she’s Venezuelan it seemed appropriate). She says she’s never had corn like that before which was honestly surprising considering I’ve seen her eat it in Pasta with marinara sauce and on pizza. We caught the shuttle back to the airport and I spoke briefly with a man who was on his way to Barbados from Thailand with his (new?) Thai wife. He was definitely American and has spent a lot of time around Latin America. Interesting fellow but the ride was short and he got off in the nice new terminal for transferring foreigners and we went to the old terminal where the Venezuelan and other random small latin american airlines flew out of. Turpial airlines was the only one open at that time in the morning and the line to check in was gigantic. Luckily we got baby privelege and took our 5 suitcases and stroller through the priority check in before heading through security.

The next leg was on a Turpial Airlines 737 built in the early 90s. The seats were moderately comfortable and they put all the people with kids and babies at the front of the plane with the extra seats. It was a pretty quick flight with just a bit of turbulence. Unfortunately we weren’t prepared for landing so we didn’t get Mila snacking and her ears started bothering her. She was pretty pissed for the rest of the day after that, but after 28 hours of travel we finally landed in Venezuela.