Mailed in 1984, with two stamps and postmark intact. Absolutely terrific condition. Grade: 1

This is a real-photo postcard, postally unused.  And it’s very old.  But the only way we know what it is, is because–long ago–someone wrote on the back to identify it.  Grade: 4

Unused card though the back is abraded from having been pasted into an album.  Text is readable.  Grade: 3

Unused PDVSA card from what we believe to be 2001.  Grade: 2

Opened in 1963, host to many beauty pageants and probably a brilliant property at the time, then bad things happened.  We went searching for online reviews as usual, leading us to this Wikipedia entry which we cite in detail (sorry, it’s long) because it’s interesting:  “On 15 December 1999 occurred tremendous rains that led to horrible mud slides. This occurred all along the coastal area that makes up Vargas state but was concentrated in Caraballeda. Sadly, the debris flows that had occurred in the past provided the only flat places where structures could be built. During the night 1.8 million cubic meters of rocks and trees flowed through Caraballeda. Many buildings were washed out to sea. The ones that remained were filled with 8 feet of sand and debris. The Macuto-Sheraton Hotel was so damaged that it was abandoned. Also the Melia Caribe hotel. Of the 300,000 people living on this part of the coast the government of Venezuela estimated that 15,000 died.”  Ouch.  As for the card, it was mailed sometime in 1966 or later, with two stamps and partial postmark.  Grade: 2 

Articles and photos about this location generally refer to the stadiums in the area, but this unused card makes no mention of those, so we don’t, either.  But they’re there, you can see them.  Grade: 1

Unused Santiago card No. 164, aging on the reverse.  Grade: 2

Unused Intana card 1500-3-12, aging but clean.  Due to the colourful history of this hotel, we’re going to try here to abridge an online entry from Panamericanworld giving the story:  “The Humboldt Hotel was built between May and November 1956. The hotel was part of the plan to unite with Caracas with the Littoral through a tourist and recreational complex involving the cable car as transportation. The building is 2,140 meters above sea level … The resort was opened in the government of General Marcos Pérez Jiménez on December 29th, 1956.  The facilities were given in concession to the Sheraton hotel chain in the mid-60s, but eventually had to be closed due to operational problems and accidents in the cable car system.  In the mid-80s, the hotel was rescued and inaugurated with the cable car system in Caracas on February 6th, 1986. Then the hotel was used as a school of tourism, however, not continued to provide services to the public. Two years later, the Investment Fund of Venezuela and Corpoturismo, privatized and the Humboldt Hotel and the Caracas Littoral cable-car system to the Tourist Consortium Investing Caracas, ITC with a public concession contract for thirty years. It was in July 2001, when it opened the Tourist Complex Ávila Mágica, in the administration of the company ITC, the Avila Magica Project rescued several originating areas, restaurants, swimming pools, skating ice area of playground and the possibility of offering casinos and hotel recovery and restoration of the cable car to Macuto.. This project was dropped in 2007 when the government expropriated the execution of the works.”

Sorry, that was long, but we were interested.  And as of 2014 the hotel was under renovation again.  As for the postcard, Grade: 1-