Puerto La Cruz

[Cyberdas]

Just wanted to fill in for some of the information WorldTravel69 posted below.

Gold Lips Strip Club, On Paseo Colon, is one of the most expensive places in town but their selection is very good. At least it was when I visited there last year. Lots of Brazilian chicas working this joint - they could be very friendly, nice and sweet too. Just bargain and haggle with them and they'll either bring the price down a little or throw-in the bar fee in their price for you. Most of them have rooms / apartments nearby where they stay at and might be included in their price. I paid 100k Bolivares for one which included the bar fee and the room. You could also hook up with these girls to go to the nearby islands / beaches with during the day and then it's all up to you from there. YMMV.

Nikki Beach and Matrix are regular night clubs but the crowd and the attitudes of the non-pro chicas there are similar to what you will find in any typical happening night club in Sex Prison, USA. It's probably worth giving it a try but make sure to have alternative and/or back-up plans just in case. Also, the casas seem to close early and the street girls on Paseo Colon tend to call it a night at around midnight or so. It's probably best to monger first before heading out to these Americanized night clubs.

The malls in the Lecherias area are definitely places worth hanging out at where the eye candy is abundant and chances of meeting non-pro or semi-pro girls are very good. These malls could be considered in a par with the Sambils in CCS and Margarita or Chipichape in Cali.

[World Travel 69]

The report originally posted here has been superceded by a new report posted later in this thread.

[Aussie Greg]

Hitting town around the 20th Feb for a few days then sailing to Cartegenam with a boat, would like to know where the most beautifull girls go for fun !! and also the best strip club at night and the best day place in town, any info would be great.

The Aussie.

[Johan007]

Cyberdas...thanks mate...were would I be without the help of fellow mongers of this board???:-)

I tried to find this for myself (google) but somehow i couldn't manage to find something.

Finding a reasonable hotel in caracas shouldn't be a problem. isla M should also be a piece of cake. I will try to book the Maria Louisa hotel (3 star chica friendly turist hotel)..in porlamar. It's 100 m from the beach:-) and close to all other "action"....:-)
I will leave 27 sept from Brussels (stopover Madrid) to CSS airport...and must return 16 oct. I will fly in with Iberia. reliable,good and decent priced company.I used it allready several times and it never let me down. I can recommend this airline to anyone who wants to fly to SA from Europe.

Alitalia was (on this route)some 40 euros cheaper./...but somehow the 50 min stopover in Milan seemed a bit of a challenge. So i will not take that risk to miss my plain and have to wait for another 4-5 hours:-(

If any of you guys would like to join up...please PM or email me.

gracias,

Johan

[Cyberdas]

johan007,

here's the link to the ferry company: http://www.conferry.com/tarifas_xml....cha=11-14-2004

it shows the rates and schedules. punta de piedra is the port at isla margarita where the ferries arrive at. from there, a taxi ride to porlamar costs anywhere from $15k - $25k bolivares, try to negotiate and haggle. the ride is kind-of long since the port is somewhat far from the city. you will pass the roads that take you to the airport and playa el yaque (nice beach) en route to porlamar. the cabbie told me they charged $25k+ from the airport to porlamar which is weird given its relative proximity to the city center.

i suggest you buy your tickets in as much time in advance as possible given the speed at which they're sold. this is for both, the old (ferry tradicional) and the new (ferry express), especially since the new one tends to sellout faster. prosbocito is right; the difference in price is not that much. on the new one, i didn't find any advantage paying more for the vip section. here's one more thing to keep in mind though, on the return portion (if you would be returning on the ferry to either plc or la guaira), do head out with as much time in advance as possible and by all means, pay with cash (preferably bolivares so as to get a better exchange rate). you might be able to buy tickets for the ferry at their porlamar or pampatar offices; i'm not sure, but i would check first before heading to punta de piedra.

the bus ride from ccs to plc is uneventful and there's not much to see along the way either. the ride takes 5 -6 hours and the busses stop at this one place halfway in between for 30 - 45 minutes. i'm not sure if the one probocito recommends is the same one i took, but there's one bus line that has a restroom and some sort of waitress service (which was not the one i took). i definitely recommend this one instead. the bus and ferry terminal at plc is not very well organized; it's rather crazy in fact, so if you want to arrive at plc first and head out to margarita afterwards, keep this in mind.

one more thing, in the traditional (old) ferry you can walk around the outside of the ship from where you can take pictures. in the new one you can't. aside from the views to the islands around plc and cubagua upon arrival to punta de piedra, there's not much to photograph or see in between. i went from plc to margarita with a semi-pro on the old ferry (which made the ride feel shorter than what it could've been) and returned to plc on the new one.

[Vagabond]

re Johan
I have taken the boat trip several times, mostly the other way though. Its a nice trip. A lot's of cheap hotels in Porlamar.

[Johan007]

Hola Prosbocito,

muchas gracias para las informaciones sobre PLC.Es cierto...muy practico para escoger las mujeres....jejejejejej
Me gusta buscar chicas non-profesionalistas...sabes...ellas son las mejores!!

I PM you later for more detailes if that's ok with you.

Thanks man.


Johan

[Prosbocito]

You can take the Bus Line AEROEJECUTIVOS, they have their terminal in Av. Libertador, the cost one way from Caracas to plc is around 20. 000. oo Bs. they arrive at the Ferry Boats station, thre are two kinds of ferry boats the cheaper (it takes around 4 hours to arrive to margarita) and the standard(takes 2 hours) the difference of price is not so much, I think the best is the margarita expresss. it only leave to times a day from plc 8. 00 am and 4. 00 pm, you must talk to bus line explaying the you want to take the ferry they will recomend you the best time to depart.

In margarita, which hotel to take depends of want you want to do, if you rent a car, here gas is only 1 bs. a liter(1US$=2. 150. 00 bs.) or you want to move around in taxi or you want to be close to where the action is. With a car you can go to macanao (la arestinga), juangriego, playa el agua, el yaque.

With car:

Hotel le parc -close to porlamar downtown.

It's and old hotel with swimming pool, I used in my old times as westinghouse salesman.

Several hotels in playa el Yaque.

Best place in the world for kite surfing and wind surfing this beach is behind the airport an around 20 minutes from porlamar.

Several hotels in playa el agua:

The "movida"(adventure) stars there during the day and ussually stands until next day.

Without car:

Several hotels in Av. Mariño or Av. 4 de Mayo.

Close to all the shopping centers and laces like:

Gold fingers
Ruby
Men Only
Tascas

And pubs where you can pick up non professional chicks.

Prosbocito

[Johan007]

I am thinking of going by Bus from Caracas to PLC. From there I will try to take a ferry boat to Isla margarita. Sure is more hours of travel then any plane ride....but I guess also more adventureous and cheaper. Besides i love the boat thing...:-)

Has anyone did the boat thing to Isla M. before? Some people told me that it was difficult to find a decent priced hotel on Isla M. if you are NOT on a package tour. I will take the challenge and try to find a good hotel at a good price.(Porlamar city only offcourse...hehehehe)
All in all i found out most package tours are a ripp off if you are a single (male) traveler. They are way too expensive. Sure if you never been to SA and can't speak spanish i too would take one of those...but in my case?? Nooooooo;-)

Found some real ticket bargains today online with Alitalia and Iberia. (about € 685-730 all-in round trip from Brussels-CSS)
Online i also saw tickets with Aeropostal to Isla M from € 95,- round trip from CSS. But like i said i want to try the bus/boat thing.

bye

Johan

[Vagabond]

Thanks to cyberdas and Vic Nate. Has been to the DR the last six years, but realy wants to go back to PLC and Margarita again. Had some good times there back then.

[Vic Nate]

I have been in PLC since Monday March 21. This is my report:

Cafe Ole is still there on the Paseo Colon but I would recommend instead Casa Blanca from 8 p.m. to 12 midnight to find quickly a SW.

The going rate is 50K Bolivares after some haggling and negotiating in Spanish.
the change rate right now is 2500 to one U.S. dollar in some restaurants after negotiation. I recommend to come with cash and not use travellers cheques. More difficult to find places that accept Travellers Cheques.

I have been warned to use taxis instead of walking to my hotel (CaribbeMar) in the evening because of robberies but so far I have been lucky not to use taxis.

In PLC , you have chicks from Maturin, Barcelona, even Caracas.

The Josefina place is not a bad deal but the chicks are average.

The going rate (March 2005) is 50k for a very decent (North American ) hotel room.

The chicks are great but SMILE and establish eye contact. Use a local to help you find what you want.

Vic Nate

[Cyberdas]

I apologize for being skeptical but your source for these statistics is? There is no mention of this peculiarity at http://www.mipunto.com/foros/foros.jsp?forum=239 which is a spanish language forum about life in Maturin.

The source for my statistics was from word of mouth. It was from several non-pro chicas I met and became friends with and from taxi drivers and others. I have pictures from a nightclub I went to that also shows how many more women than men were there. Perhaps the ratio may not exactly be 13 to 1 but from what I saw first hand, I can tell you that there are a lot more women than men; beautiful women I dare add.

[Cyberdas]

Duuuhhhh....

You need to think about this.

The locals in PLC are not that wealthy, and so the upscale chicas you find in the malls are imports from Caracas or elsewhere. This means that they come with their families or boyfriends or husbands, so if they hook up with you, they will have to walk home. I am not saying that its impossible, but you would be more likely hooking up with a chica in your mall in Indianapolis than at PLC.

Dude, let me tell you that you're partially wrong in what you said about the locals in PLC not being that wealthy. I'll explain: while poverty is mainstream in the area, you also have a lot of wealth concentrated in the neighborhoods of Lecherias, El Morro and parts of Barcelona. Caribbean Mall and Plaza Mayor are both located in Lecherias, which is the fanciest part of town. I don't know if you noticed this when you visited there, but there's a canal system where you can see very impressive homes with yachts and sailboats docked right beside them. This is by far not a sign of poverty. The best nightclubs, country clubs and five star hotels are also located in this area where the attitudes of the people inside are very similar to that of any U.S. city. While there is a great number of non-locals at the malls and nightclubs at any given time, I would dare say that they are perhaps the minority. Closeby there is one of the most important oil refineries of Venezuela (and Latin America) which attracts a lot of foreigners, hence the many non-locals but you also have a big number of affluent people - especially from the Middle East -concentrated there. Besides, I originally made reference to these malls for "girl looking" purposes more than for hooking up with "rentable chicas".

[Explorer8939]

What I was referring to in my post where I mention Plaza Mayor and Caribbean Mall was regarding the local, non-pro chicas and/or tourists. No, this is not the place to hook-up with "rentable chicas" unless you happend to stumble upon one that happens to be there and she's good to go.

Duuuhhhh....

You need to think about this.

The locals in PLC are not that wealthy, and so the upscale chicas you find in the malls are imports from Caracas or elsewhere. This means that they come with their families or boyfriends or husbands, so if they hook up with you, they will have to walk home. I am not saying that its impossible, but you would be more likely hooking up with a chica in your mall in Indianapolis than at PLC.

[Reinaldo]

Maturin, which is about 3 hours away, is a city with statistics of 13 women for every man.

I apologize for being skeptical but your source for these statistics is? There is no mention of this peculiarity at http://www.mipunto.com/foros/foros.jsp?forum=239 which is a spanish language forum about life in Maturin.