Ebook358 pages5 hours
Socialist Dreams and Beauty Queens: A Couchsurfer?s Adventures in the New Venezuela
By Jamie Maslin
Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
3/5
()
About this ebook
Couchsurfer, hitchhiker, and rogue wanderer Jamie Maslin embarks on a couchsurfing adventure to the homeland of firebrand,” populist,” anti-American” president Hugo Chavez: the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela. Alone in the crime capital of the world Maslin immediately finds himself in troublearrested by knife-wielding police officers and inoculated with an unwanted vaccination. After a terrifying start in Caracas, he soon leaves the teeming city and travels to the places tourists never see, staying on the couches of people he befriended online just days earlier, and meeting everyone from fervent social revolutionaries to the country’s wealthy elite. He sets off in search of mile-high waterfalls, flat topped jungle plateaus, rolling deserts, and the famous lightning that appears suddenly in the sky with no rain or thunder. Visiting sprawling slums and opulent mansions, Maslin offers a fascinating and timely social, cultural, and historical introduction to a country increasingly in the headlines.
Often irreverent, frequently informative, and habitually funny, this is the remarkable account of a young adventurer’s journey through a breathtakingly beautiful and dynamic country where the politics of oil and social revolution are never far from the surface.
Often irreverent, frequently informative, and habitually funny, this is the remarkable account of a young adventurer’s journey through a breathtakingly beautiful and dynamic country where the politics of oil and social revolution are never far from the surface.
Author
Jamie Maslin
Jamie Maslin is a writer and traveler. He has hitchhiked from England to Iran and couchsurfed all over Venezuela. He is the author of Iranian Rappers and Persian Porn and Socialist Dreams and Beauty Queens. He lives in Australia.
Read more from Jamie Maslin
The Long Hitch Home Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsIranian Rappers and Persian Porn: A Hitchhiker's Adventures in the New Iran Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Socialist Dreams and Beauty Queens: A Couchsurfer's Memoir of Venezuela Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5
Related to Socialist Dreams and Beauty Queens
Related ebooks
No Dudes, Few Women: Life with a Navaho Range Rider Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsA Tour on the Prairies: An Account of Thirty Days in Deep Indian Country Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsWhat It Means to Miss New Orleans Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsRoughing It Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Same River Twice: A Memoir Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Kitty Genovese: A True Account of a Public Murder and Its Private Consequences Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Great Diamond Hoax Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsAn Angle on the World: Dispatches and Diversions from the New Yorker and Beyond Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThings Are Never So Bad That They Can't Get Worse: Inside the Collapse of Venezuela Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsRoughing It (Annotated) Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsVanguards of the Plains: A Romance of the Old Santa Fé Trail Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsReading the Signs and other itinerant essays Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsMissing Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsFollowed Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Red Road Across the Great Plains Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsCock-A-Doodle-Doo! Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsWaiting on Zapote Street: Love and Loss in Castro's Cuba Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsCapone Island Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Great Gatsby: A Masterpiece and One of the Greatest Novels of American Literature Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Conjure Woman & Other Conjure Tales: "There’s time enough, but none to spare" Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsCorn, Crown, and Conflagration: A Memoir of an Invasion on Indigenous Soil and a Reminder that One Reaps What One Sows Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Only True America: Following the Trail of Lewis and Clark Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsSupreme Villainy: A Behind-the-Scenes Look at the Most (In)Famous Supervillain Memoir Never Published Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsCross a Far River: A Novella of Rebellion and Sacrifice in the American 1770S Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsMembers of the Family (Barnes & Noble Digital Library) Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsOur Southern Highlanders Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsA Ramble of Six Thousand Miles through the United States of America Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Indians' Last Fight; Or, The Dull Knife Raid Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsBlood in the Wilderness: The Story of the Harps, America's First Serial Klr Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratings
South America Travel For You
Portuguese for Beginners: A Comprehensive Guide for Learning the Portuguese Language Fast Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Practice Makes Perfect Complete Spanish Grammar, Premium Third Edition Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Fodor's Brazil Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsSpanish for Beginners: A Comprehensive Guide for Learning the Spanish Language Fast Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Film + Travel North America, South America: Traveling the World Through Your Favorite Movies Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Eyes of Carmen Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsMastering Spanish Words: Increase Your Vocabulary with Over 3000 Spanish Words in Context Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Book of Marvels: The Occident Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5How to Get Really Good at Portuguese: Learn Portuguese to Fluency and Beyond Rating: 2 out of 5 stars2/5Machu Picchu & the Galapagos Islands: Secrets of South America: Combo Trips Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsLonely Planet Colombia Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Insight Guides Chile & Easter Islands (Travel Guide eBook) Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Lonely Planet South America Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsFrommer's EasyGuide to Lima, Cusco and Machu Picchu Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsFrommer's EasyGuide to Colombia Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsJourney to Guyana Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Rio de Janeiro: A City on Fire Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Colombia - Culture Smart!: The Essential Guide to Customs & Culture Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Manhunt: The 12-Day Chase for Lincoln's Killer: An Edgar Award Winner Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/53,000 Spanish Words and Phrases They Won't Teach You in School Rating: 2 out of 5 stars2/5How to Get Really Good at Spanish: Learn Spanish to Fluency and Beyond Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThrough the Brazilian Wilderness: The Classic Travelogue Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Jungle: A Harrowing True Story of Survival in the Amazon Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Rough Guide to Ecuador & the Galapagos (Travel Guide eBook) Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsPeru Travel Guide 2020, 2021, and 2022: A Guidebook to this Wonderful Country with Machu Picchu, Lima, and much more Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe White Rock: An Exploration of the Inca Heartland Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Related categories
Reviews for Socialist Dreams and Beauty Queens
Rating: 2.75 out of 5 stars
3/5
2 ratings1 review
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5I read this author's first book Iranian Rappers And Persian Porn, it was an interesting look at life inside Iran, and of what an interesting country it is. He discussed many areas of the country that many people myself included just aren't exposed to living in the West. You also get to know well, the people living there who he encounters. Just just superficially. There were hints regarding the author's very liberal political beliefs but overall he kept his opinions to himself. I had hoped Socialist Dreams and Beauty Queens would be similar to his first book, but this time about Venezuela, and in the beginning it was. Sadly Mr Maslin, soon becomes an enormous socialist, and a conspiracy theorist. The book came out in 2011, and so sadly the author who thought it was neat and wonderful all the fabulous programs Chavez instituted in Venezuela, didn't have the benefit of seeing what a complete disaster those programs have become for the country. In the author's mind anyone who pisses off America must be doing something right. He then runs down Obama ( who while not my idea of a great president, is still the president of the most powerful country in the world, but not a king, or a dictator- unlike Chavez, and his successor, and therefore can't just do whatever he wants to) for not achieving everything he said he would do. Later the author loses all credibility when he hooks up with a couch surfing Australian who is a 9/11 nutter who claims to be an engineer working to explain how Tower 7 collapsed without having had significant fires or being hit by a plane. Young British and Australian writers who seem to love to discuss politics usually end up instead showing how ignorant they are of the world. They cite obscure sources to support and back up their claims and beliefs and overlook or ignore anything that doesn't support their narrative. Even in 2010 kinnapings are rampant and robbery and murder are daily occurrences but the author seems alright with this because Chavez is doing so many great things for the poor people of his country.In the case of British writers who are of a liberal bent, they don't seem to get that the sun set on the British empire a long long time ago ( I felt the same about Simon Winchester and his book Pacific, which totally suffered from these same failings). They also don't seem to be particularly troubled by all the damage Britain caused. In the case of Australia, and their liberal bent writers, I don't know if it is the isolation of the country, the history and origins of its people, or what, but Australia suffers from a Napoleon complex. Their land mass is as large as the USA, but their significance on the world stage is insignificant, and likely always will be.Back to the book. He does travel to some very interesting areas of the country, and his ability to explain what he is experiencing, and where appropriate give facts and details that may not be commonly known, were done to an excellent degree in this book, as well has his first book. The politics of the people he encounters who live in Venezuela and how life has changed for them is relevant, interesting and important. The author's politics, and not relevant to the story, are not of interest, and add nothing positive to the book. If he had left his politics out of this book, the book would have been far better.
Book preview
Socialist Dreams and Beauty Queens - Jamie Maslin
r/a book_preview_excerpt.html }}˒$ǕݯpYVCf
lLgg"Djp9K.Ktι#"ALCtUf?s}8c}sK>1˯~
}GvmTcb{П㘗ey\>>V]ԟ!ۏcu#~6!D9MSΗ?9_C»Ð0=V_%.a^UӐb4] ?sa˔8MzR,|dk3*QC&W-p^>?P1|\"~֟7?;\
Bp3Oo?snU|m§_y5>$HsuprJ9FӋrDcug}ʝ OkFW-crG3N=8iNM&*c:E{cqzi9,<JiSA|2O'^t {e>^͕)< 'F?-Beso)WKcu&8exXpc<-Bg0?XcAn4((.B>_~}_ReS仈[קxLK%SgI:elw'loXQՇWxN\p:=f: ?bp\9ȃ.θ{<b
p%JCR92z-7K
)SąBdTll|PbM:M:j(Gx&,fn4-!LbF~3Dlo-/.9mx}7sӌMsAo~R!r+ '|%?qZ{>OC7DCXLH8qyuVg&< 2ESFow!\a35m&q,~Ei}mn /ؤ34hoqiݺN/qLoi>L TA2ť