Home, and with my pants intact

Well, I made it home safe and sound. I have a very very very long story about my trip home, lost luggage, and how difficult it was to get a flight to the states out of Caracas on a Saturday in August, but I'll save that for another time. I will mention that I caught 4 hours of traffic on the 10 miles (as the crow flies) journey to the airport, which made me miss my friday flight. Impressive.

Amazingly, and unlike the lonely planet travel writer, I spent months in Caracas and was never mugged. I didn't even get my pants stolen. As far as I know, my credit card number and bank information is even marginally safe, and known only to me and the President of my country.

I did get hassled by customs officials, who (after learning of my 2 month trip in Venezuela) were very interested in my undergraduate institution and experience. Why would they ask questions about that? I guess to throw me off. After waking up at 4am, and rolling into the states around 6pm, that wasn't very hard to do. But, as you can guess, I ended up getting into the country.

It is great to be back. I am going through reverse culture shock. I am also not dealing with enough time to do everything that needs to be done, which seems to be my preferred way of living for the past few years.

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JERUSALEM: Israel on Monday said it had ordered its ambassador to Venezuela to return home for consultations, following last week's recall to Caracas of Venezuela's Israel envoy, in protest at what President Hugo Chavez called Israel's "genocide" in Lebanon.

On Sunday Chavez repeated the genocide allegation and rubbed salt in the wound by referring to Israel's military offensive in Lebanon as a "new Holocaust".

"As an act of protest against the one-sided policy of the president of Venezuela and in light of his wild slurs against the state of Israel and in response to the recall of the Venezuelan charge d'affaires to his country, Foreign Minister Tsipi Livni decided to bring our ambassador in Venezuala back temporarily for consultations," an Israeli Foreign Ministry statement said.

Chavez, an outspoken left-winger, has angered Israel with his display of affection for Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who has repeatedly called for Israel's destruction. "We have a problem with the leadership in Caracas that hugs the Iranian president who calls for the annihilation of Israel," Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesman Mark Regev told.

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Welcome home, Chavista!