My un-Holy Week in Venezuela

Scenes of a sweltering Venezuelan Spring: (top-left) a smoky Caracas, (top-right) Plaza Francia in Altamira, (bottom-left) Plaza Bolivar in downtown, and (bottom-right) a mural in memory of the late Hugo Chavez.

I just got a free vacation in sweltering Venezuela (figuratively and literally), courtesy of my government. If it wasn't for the panicky decision-makers of that "office meant to protect Filipinos overseas," I would have already been on my way back to Manila, having finished my posting in Mexico on 31 March 2014. Instead, here I am in the land of the Bolivarian Revolution because some people thought it was on the brink of falling down. They foresaw an imminent repatriation of my compatriots because of the troubles (erroneously, I believe). Read More ...