i never celebrated thanksgiving with my family, since it's not one of "our" holidays. but with everyone off with their families, & fresh from seeing them all in D.C. i recently found these old pix taken in venezuela, about 10 years ago. i was still in my late teens or 20s; my folks were still in their 50s. if i didn't live with them in caracas anymore, i was here in college & back for a few weeks only, in between semesters.
every christmas vacation, my folks would rent a house along the venezuelan coast or on some island a short boat ride away. they would never tell us anything about it; my brothers & i would never know exactly where we would end up until we got there, which would drive us nuts. we always ended up in the most amazing, secluded, relaxing places & spend some really good times together. as much as i love crazy caracas it was nice to leave the hustle & bustle of the city behind, as well as the protocol of the diplomatic or foreign community, the constant political instability & threat of another military coup d'état, scholastic obligations & responsibilities,... no television not even a radio and sometimes with only enough electricity for a few lightbulbs, iguanas wondering around, no staff, left to ourselves to clean & cook, or buy fresh oysters & seafood from the local fishermen, living off coconuts, red papayas, mangos, starfruits... and cold beers! sometimes we'd treat ourselves to some restaurant somewhere, in some cove, on some island or some small port, by getting a fisherman to take us there on his boat, then finding another one to take us back... shit, i need to figure out a way to make some cash & go back there, forever!!!
anyhew, here are the few pix i found; they were taken on one of those disposable kodak cameras, before we all had digital cameras of our own; these were truly simple & primitive family vacations. jeanie kindly scanned them for me...
every christmas vacation, my folks would rent a house along the venezuelan coast or on some island a short boat ride away. they would never tell us anything about it; my brothers & i would never know exactly where we would end up until we got there, which would drive us nuts. we always ended up in the most amazing, secluded, relaxing places & spend some really good times together. as much as i love crazy caracas it was nice to leave the hustle & bustle of the city behind, as well as the protocol of the diplomatic or foreign community, the constant political instability & threat of another military coup d'état, scholastic obligations & responsibilities,... no television not even a radio and sometimes with only enough electricity for a few lightbulbs, iguanas wondering around, no staff, left to ourselves to clean & cook, or buy fresh oysters & seafood from the local fishermen, living off coconuts, red papayas, mangos, starfruits... and cold beers! sometimes we'd treat ourselves to some restaurant somewhere, in some cove, on some island or some small port, by getting a fisherman to take us there on his boat, then finding another one to take us back... shit, i need to figure out a way to make some cash & go back there, forever!!!
anyhew, here are the few pix i found; they were taken on one of those disposable kodak cameras, before we all had digital cameras of our own; these were truly simple & primitive family vacations. jeanie kindly scanned them for me...
the barone$$ & her amba$$ador of loVe - Magda & Gunter...
the kids - Eric Alexandre, Michaël Dimitri, Jonathan Nikolaï...
island home...
on a "crowded" beach...
an island "town"...
our private & remote beach...
it's never been one of our rituals, but still, it would be nice to spend thanksgiving with my brothers & my folks. i'm extremely thankful for them & everything they've done for me.
