Which way is home?

Season's greetings to everyone and happy new year! Tomorrow we fly back to Europe and our journey finds its end. We've spent nearly 4 weeks at home (for eric) in Venezuela doing lots of friends and family visits and a little bit of travelling. On Monica's last visit to Venezuela we travelled mostly East of Caracas, whereas this time we ventured mostly West of the capital. We went to the Venezuelan Andean region called Merida, where my cousin Ximena got married to her half-Argentine boyfriend Emilio. Monica was sick for the wedding so I had to party all by myself.... I was obviously very sad... dancing with myself... :-)
On the way to Merida we stopped at two beautiful beaches for a night: Choroni and Patanemo. The weather along the coast wasn't great, but clouds at 30 degrees still beats sunny minus degrees by a mile, especially at Christmas. The water of course was 'Caribbean Sea-warm' as ever. Some things don't change.
Before Christmas my aunt and uncle surprised Monica and me with a pre-wedding gift. Well, yes, it is official, Monica and I will be tying the knot legally as soon as someone is kind enough to offer us work and salary... Anyway the gift was a magical night out at a beautiful B&B in the mountains that surround Caracas and overlook the Caribbean. Dinner and everything was included, so it was absolutely fabulous. Definitely something I would recommend to anyone visiting Caracas.
Christmas and New Year were relatively calm affairs with my little sister and her mom. We had very nice Venezuelan food and enjoyed Caracas fireworks from the safety of our balcony. We are now preparing our bags to head to Munich and Italy for a week each and enjoy the leftovers of the Christmas mood and food over there.
After that Monica and I have decided that we would like to settle for a new life, job, etc. somewhere warmer, sunnier and closer to the sea than Luxembourg, and most people would probably guess where we're off next: Valencia!
I have to admit Monica was bargaining hard for Barcelona, but in the end having very good friends and nearly family in Valencia cut the deal. Now all we need is to find new jobs, a flat and the rest will come all by itself.
This however means the end of our round-the-world trip and this blog. I hope you've enjoyed reading it as much as I have writing it. Take good care of yourselves and try to travel, but try and do it responsibly. Think of our planet, save energy and offset travel-related carbon emissions, if you can (atmosfair.com). Take only pictures and leave only footprints... cheeeese...
eric & Monica

Breakfast in Galipan and the view of our room

Patanemo bay

The Venezuelan Andes

Ximena & Emilio

Guacucos in Boca de Uchire

A dip in Quebrada Quintero

New Year's Eve from our balcony