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Back to Press Play with Madeleine Brand

Press Play with Madeleine Brand

Naked and locked out of his room, a traveler recalls an embarrassing tale

Venezuela is dealing with a collapsed economy, food shortages, protestors and the military clashing in the streets. But years ago, Bob Lee and his girlfriend, Alie, spent the night in the capital,…

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KCRW placeholderBy Christian Bordal • Aug 16, 2017 • 1 min read

They stayed at a hotel on the beach. The air conditioning didn’t work. “It was really warm, so we ended up getting undressed and hanging out on the balcony, playing a roll of cards,” said Bob. “As the sun started to go down, we realized it was time to go in. Problem was the door was locked.”

Their clothes were inside. They were looking down on people having dinner and drinks.

A few minutes later, the hotel manager helped them get back into their room.

They left the next morning Margarita Island. A week later, they decided to return to the same hotel for their layover to get to the United States.

A taxi driver was taking them there. “He told us about a week ago, crazy gringos were stuck in a hotel room, just above the restaurant, naked. That was about as embarrassing of a situation as you can possibly imagine. Here we were the subject of a story that has now translated from our hotel all the way to taxi drivers around, where pretty much everybody in the area knew about the crazy gringos who got stuck outside their hotel room in Caracas,” said Bob.

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    Christian Bordal

    Managing Producer, Greater LA

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    Amy Ta

    Digital News & Culture Editor

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Back to Press Play with Madeleine Brand