My home town: Maracaibo, Venezuela is one of those cities that you might have heard of and then forgot about it. Even though you shouldn't have! Just as a brief comment, Maracaibo is located in the North East of Venezuela (North Of South America), it is the capital of Zulia State and one of the main oil refineries of the country is located there. It's a major Venezuelan city. El lago de Maracaibo (Maracaibo Lake) surrounds several areas of the city [That's where the oil ($$$) is located]. More than 3 million people live in Maracaibo, or at least it seems like they do it. A lot of them have this strange fetish with Miami, believe me, I've been in Miami several times and I can always spot a couple of persons speaking the special Spanish accent that the people of my city use. People are extremely friendly here, sometimes way too friendly, so if you ever come here, do not be afraid if someone hugs you and kisses you while you are being just introduced. Nightlife is good and filled with Latin or pop music, the gastronomy is very diverse and it has a strong Spanish and Italian influence. One of the main universities of the country 'La Universidad del Zulia' (http://www.luz.ve) is located here, and the careers go from Art to Petroleum Engineering. In spite of the heat, Maracaibo is a nice place to be at.