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March 23, 2005
Caracas, Venezuela
i'm at that stage of exhaustion when you just want to drink beer. too bad i have no time or real inclination to do so.
so the hike i did from Merida to Los Nevados was really nice, beautiful granite peaks and that strange paramo countryside left me stopping to admire the scenery many times during the 5 hour hike. i spent the night in some little hostel owned by a tiny venezuelan lady, and then caught a jeep the following morning back down to Merida. i hopped on the night bus for Caracas, hopeful that i would be able to get my Visa for Suriname in short order. arriving here, i tossed my stuff in the only good hostel, and went looking for the embassy. when i arrived, after following many poorly given directions, i found it closed, and someone who was fixing something inside told me i would have to come back on tuesday to begin the Visa process, which should take about 4 days. this means i will be unable to do the Roriama hike that i was looking forward to, and that i would be stuck in Caracas for 8 days, if i hadn't bolted for the bus station and bought the last ticket for Puerto la Cruz, a beach city about 4 hours east of here. Caracas is big and seems like it would be alright in a normal week, but Semana Santa means it is half empty, and many things are closed or going to be closed from tomorrow until sunday. thank god i got that last bus ticket out of here.
the guy at the Suriname embassy said it will take about 48 solid hours traveling to get to Suriname, if i follow the route down through the Gran Sabana, crossing through Brazil a little, and then back up in a pickup through Guyana. i am considering catching a flight if it isn't horribly expensive back to Caracas, so i can fly to Miami and get back to the west coast, in preparation for my cross country bike ride. life is good, even though i have get back on another bus in less then 2 hours. might go hunt up a beer.
Posted by bendan at March 23, 2005 12:45 PM
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