I've been thinking long and hard about what it means to travel to a "dangerous" destination lately because I'm in the process of planning a 2-month trip to Cuba. While Cuba is not considered "dangerous" to citizens of other countries, it does send a little shiver up an American's spine when thinking about the potential consequences of traveling there without a visa, which I might end up doing. I guess sneaking into Cuba through Mexico or Canada may classify more as "risky" rather than "dangerous," but I am always willing to take risks so long as I know I will not inevitably put myself in danger. A possible $10,000 fine is quite a price to pay for a visit to a country closed to Americans, however, so I know it's important to tread lightly.

So I proceeded to do some research on how to estimate a "dangerous" place in the world, and I found the results quite startling. According to Fabiola Hernandez over at Associated Content, the 5 most dangerous countries in the world are Colombia, South Africa, Jamaica, Venezuela, and Russia. Hernandez goes so far to say that, "You wouldn't want to be caught dead living there, literally." But do I trust her opinion? Not at all.

Late last week, Raúl Castro paid a symbolic visit to Caracas to meet with Venezuela's controversial President, Hugo Chavez. It is Castro's first international trip as Cuba's head of state, and his talks with Chavez will likely mark a longer term, closer relationship between the two socialist countries. According to an op-ed article in Diario Las Américas, Chavez has long proclaimed himself to be a "son of Fidel Castro," so his intentions to maintain his existing relations with Cuba are quite apparent. Some facts rendered from an Associated Press article report that Venezuela intends to double its per diem sales of crude oil to Cuba by 2013; in exchange, Cuba will continue to reciprocate Venezuela's offerings in the form of health care, education, and agriculture.



In addition to his visit with Chavez, Castro attended a summit hosted by Brazil on Tuesday, December 16, which was one of the first occasions that a representative from neither the United States nor a country from Europe was in attendance.

Say the name "Hugo Chavez" and a creepy tingle crawls up my back and, if I could, I would scream at the top of my lungs in frustration and anger. Hugo Chavez, Venezuela's long-standing President, is what many Americans believe to be an evil, socialist dictator. While I certainly don't agree with ultra-Conservatives like Pat Roberts that someone should kill the guy, I do believe Chavez needs to be stopped in seeking re-election until 2021 and beyond.

On the other side of the spectrum is Sean Penn's humane approach to and interview with Chavez. In an interview that was recently posted on The Nation, Penn describes his time with Chavez since their first meeting in 2006.

Russia's President, Dmitry Medvedev, completed a four-nation tour of Latin America late last week with a final stop in Cuba. The relations between the two countries appear to be strained and, at present, intense; however, Russia, like China, has an interest in drilling for oil off Cuba's shores and is seeking further military cooperation from the advantageously positioned Castro-ruled nation.

Medvedev's visit comes just over two weeks after Russia and Cuba signed important trade and economic agreements that signaled a strengthening of ties between the two nations. Russia was also the first nation to send aid for Cuba's hurricane relief efforts.

Congratulations to the remaining residents of Caracas, Venezuela! Foreign Policy has just honored your fair city as the murder capital of the world, with around 130 murders per 100,000 people.

Not only that, the actual murder rate may be much higher, because the numbers "omit prison-related murders as well as deaths that the state never gets around to properly 'categorizing.' The numbers also don't count those who died while 'resisting arrest,' suggesting that Caracas's cops-already known for their brutality against student protesters-might be cooking the books."

Also showing up on the list are Cape Town, New Orleans, Moscow, and, surprisingly, Port Moresby in Papua New Guinea, which was recently named "Worst City" in an Economist Intelligence Unit survey.

Although Cape Town is rapidly emerging as one of Africa's most appealing cities, the city's homicide rate is still off the charts, at 62 per 100,000 people. But here's something to comfort you before your next visit: "The city's homicides usually take place in suburban townships rather than in the more upscale urban areas where tourists visit."

The article adds: "According to the South African Police Service, most of the Cape Town area's violent crimes happen between people who know one another, including a horrific case last year in which four males doused a female friend in gasoline and lit her on fire."

Sweet dreams!

I couldn't believe my timing. A four-day trip to the Caribbean with Hurricanes Hanna and Ike scheduled to be right in our way for almost every leg.

Would some of the flights get canceled? And if not, how far out of the way would we be flight planned to stay away from these storms?

This job tends to stay interesting if only because no two trips are alike, even if they take you to the same destinations. Some might think there's a lot of monotony in flying a plane, but even if the destinations remain the same, there are always new challenges such as adverse weather, different ATC requests, or small mechanical issues to contend with. Not to mention the variety of pilots and flight attendants you might be working with.

I pulled up the satellite weather before leaving for the airport, knowing that it would be impossible to see the big picture of this storm once we're inflight. While our airborne radar can keep us away from the bumps, it can't give us an idea of the actual conditions until we're within a few hundred miles or less of the storm.

The first leg, from Boston to Miami wouldn't be a problem at all. It was the second leg, from Miami to Caracas that might be interesting. Before departing, my guess was that we'd be flight planned south over Cuba and then Jamaica before turning toward Venezuela.

Sure enough, as you can see from this satellite view below, we were sent around the west side of Hanna. The ride from Miami to Caracas turned out to be rather smooth, with almost all of the clouds associated with the outer edge of the storm well below us.

Being the only pilot on reserve, I figured I'd be getting a call to fly over the weekend. Sure enough, Camille called on Thursday to tell me I'd be departing at 6:30 the next morning. It was a new sequence that I hadn't flown yet. They took away our Panama City and Caracas trip and replaced it with a Caracas and New York layovers.

While I wasn't really itching to fly to Caracas again, the idea of a day in Manhattan sounded like fun. We seem to get N.Y. layovers every year or two for a few months at a time.

John K. was the Captain and he was yet another one of the Boston pilots I enjoy flying with. I know I'm constantly pointing out how nice it is to fly with the Captains I'm paired up with, but I sincerely believe that Boston has the most good-natured group of pilots at the company. I have no scientific proof of that, but I'm sticking with it.

John and I had a great time in Paris a year ago, when he showed me that some bread, cheese and wine at the local grocery store can be the perfect way to enjoy Paris on a summer evening. So I knew we could find something interesting to do in New York.

The Simpsons is such a TV-institution that it is pretty much enjoyed all around the world. If you think Homer is amusing in English, just try him in Danish. But not everyone finds the classic dysfunctional family humorous. In Venezuela the TV show has been dropped from morning television because it was deemed unsuitable for children.

The BBC reports that Venezuela's TV regulator finds that the show sends "messages that go against the whole education of boys, girls and adolescents." Which show does a better job of sending positive messages to children? The bikini-clad, silicon-stuffed ladies of Baywatch apparently. That is exactly the show that Caracas TV station Televen decided to replace the mid-morning Simpsons slot with.

The Simpsons might make it back onto Venezuelan TV, just later in the evening. That way children can have their morning cereal with suitable half-naked American women instead of the unsuitable deadbeat, donut-eating father who says "doh" a lot. We wouldn't want children growing up with a bad example now would we?

Venezuela is slowly but surely becoming one of the biggest allies of the US. Just kidding.

According to CNN, Venezuela's President Hugo Chavez dared the U.S. on Friday to put Venezuela on a list of countries accused of supporting terrorism, calling it one more attempt by Washington to undermine him for political reasons. Chavez said the threat to include us on the terrorist list" is Washington's response to his government's successes in the region.

Chavez said: "We shouldn't forget for an instant that we're in a battle against North American imperialism. On this continent, they have us as enemy No. 1."

I like the "on this continent" part. What a way to make oneself a winner!

I've flown with Captain Jim on the MD-80, the 737 and the 757/767. It's always a pleasure to work with him and we often discuss everything from politics to aviation -- but lately he's also become my mentor in photography. Jim has been trying to expand my interest in shooting in the manual mode on my Canon DSLR. I tend to spend more time with the angles and composition than the exposure and white balance of my photos. But whenever I'm on a trip with Jim, he brings along his gear and shows me how it should really be done.

I've run into him a few times this month and we've talked about trying to get a Panama City, Panama and Caracas, Venezuela trip together so we could visit Casca Viejo in Panama. It's a UNESCO World Heritage site, and perfect for a day of photography. Through some trip trading, I was able to get on one of these three-day trips with him.

As you'll see after the jump, it didn't go exactly as we'd hoped.