RTW: Exchange in Chile

Republica Bolivariana de Venezuela

This time I'm writing this from Caracas, Venezuela. I got my passport after all on tuesday in Manaus and headed straight for the border, as I was starting to be fed up with the millions "want jungle tour?" -questions, my gay hotel keeper who was continuously commenting on my outfits and the general non-spanish linguistic atmosphere. At this point I would like to express my sincerest gratitude to the Finnish consul of Manaus, Jacob Cohen, and his son. I owe them one, as they really worked to get me the passport. And guess what was the delay owed to? Brazilian post. I will not get started on that now, but just to ask, would you as post officers try to deliver business mail (marked especifically to be delivered in business hours) either on saturday at 5 PM or on monday at 20.30 PM? Seriously, there seem to be all kinds of idiots around.

From Manaus the journey continued over the northern border to Santa Elena and straight onwards to Ciudad Bolivar. From Manaus that was about 30 hours straight, thank God with breaks. On the way I met Victor, a Mexican restaurant keeper and a traveller extraordinaire, who accompanied me all the way until today as he went on to other adventures. Anyway, Ciudad Bolivar was a disappointment, because we stopped there with the intention to go see Salto Angel, the world's highest waterfall (nearly one kilometer of height). However, it is so deep in the jungle that we had to either take a three-day jungle trip or pay a ridiculous 230 euros per head to fly over it. So, as we were a little short on time, we took off to Caracas without Salto Angel, making also sure that this would not be the last time I come to Venezuela as this is something I do want to see. At least there was the rio Orinoco that some at least might know of the song Orinoco flow:



As we were waiting for the Caracas bus (actually killing time as we had like half a day for it), we sat down for a few drinks. Victor, a part from being a nice and funny guy to travel with, has this unimaginable charm with women of all ages wherever he goes. So before we knew it, he got us invited to a party in the neighbourhood. Ok, I must admit it sounded a little too much like an attempt to rob us and leave there wandering without money, but it wasn't. This "party" was the local restaurant keeper, a woman in his fifties, that had invited us actually to her place to rip Victor's clothes off. And as they moved on to negotiate restaurant business and other hot topics of the day, I was left with her probably underaged daughter to wait for them. That must have been the most stuck-up conversation I have had in my entire life. In the three days I knew him, Victor showed remarkable talent of getting me into awkward situations like this one -I can only imagine what the lady expected me to do with the daughter in the meanwhile.. So Ciudad Bolivar did leave us with something to remember after all. Man we were laughing in the bus remembering the situation couple hours back. Here's me and Victor having a few beers at the local:



Still, it was a little disappointing as we did not get to see the waterfall or even any Tepuis close up (we could see several from the bus windows). Tepuis are the high, flat-topped mountains typical to Venezuela. They have formed during thousands of years, so that they actually have their own ecosystems on the top. Too bad I did not get any pics of them either.



What there is plenty of in Venezuela is (Simon) Bolivar (see above). He is considered a saint and revered up to the point that the actual name of the country is Republica Bolivariana de Venezuela. For those that do not know, the dude is directly or indirectly responsible for the independence of just about half of South America. The "Venezuela" part, by the way, comes from the fact that the first thing the Spanish saw upon entering the coast were houses on stilts -hence: Venezuela, or little Venice. But Bolivar is the man here: even every little pueblito has a Plaza Bolivar and you can see Bolivar's pictures everywhere, surpassed in quantity only by the pictures of Hugo Chavez, the current president. The elections are coming up and he takes full advantage of the position, leaving any possible challengers very little room to move against him. The people on the street hate Chavez, but as there seem to be no even half-ok challengers, he will probably take yet another term in office. I'm pretty sure his government is controlling the media, at least TV shows just some propaganda-like shit all the time. He is also one of the heads-of-state -trio so dear to the mighty USA; Castro in Cuba, Chavez in Venezuela and Morales in Bolivia.

Anyway, we decided to get the hell out of Caracas as fast as we could after seeing the important sights. This was because of the total chaos on the streets (just like Bolivia) and generally a little unsafe feeling we got there, especially during night. First we had some errands to run like me getting the Cuban tourist visa, etc. but then we decided to see how efficient travellers/tourists we actually were. And all the major sights of Caracas, including a charming little town an hour away called El Hatillo, were seen in one long day. Victor said he has travelled around the world for about thirty years and it shows with his bag of tricks and skills of planning things. I'm still a newbie after all. Some pics from the Pico del Avila, a sightseeing point that is reached via a 20-minute cable car, then the centre of Caracas and El Hatillo:



















Now on to the usual stuff: a bic mac here is 6800 bolivarianos (2,5 euros) and a meal 10100 (3,7). Not to give you the wrong kind of impression, Venezuela has all the western world stuff, as it is rich with oil (and was living it large some years back) though in my opinion it has more issues than good things related to the oil -not to mention the country overall which preceivably has several problems. But it is a beautiful country and will be a destination for me on a later note. And yes guys, it has also those Miss Universum -types, as I'm told some families start to build a Miss Universum from birth with proper training, nutrition, etc. But in general I'd say Brazilian chicks are better looking. One more notable thing about Venezuela is that football is not THE sport here, it's baseball. I guess there was too much competition around or something. ;)

In Brazil:
Best national beer tasted: Brahma
Best national dish: Rodizio, the eat-all-you-can meat feast
Best experience/sight: The best experience was the jungle tour, but of sights Corcovado takes the cake.

In Venezuela:
Best national beer tasted: Solera
Best national dish: Pollo en brasas, kind of a grilled chicken, with pasta
Best experience/sight: The trip to Pico del Avila, a sightseeing spot over Caracas

posted by Kassu @ 11:43 AM