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March 29, 2005
Caracas, Venezuela (2nd entry)
i returned from the Plaza Santa Fe yesterday, after a very enjoyable 4 days spent lounging around making new friends and swimming in the ocean. it was nice to see the Venezuelans enjoying their week off, the beach i stayed at is normally more full of foreigners but this time it was almost entirely nationals, they played music extremely loud the whole time and all got drunk and sunburned, as we sat in a restaurant watching them and drinking lots the little tiny beers they serve in this country. logic quickly made apparent why the beers are so small, as they would get very warm very quickly otherwise.
the best part of the weekend was hanging out with a group made up almost entirely of english people. the 2 couples, ade(who was welsh actually, not that i know the difference) and ally and chris and joy, were all on year long travel trips, chris and joy a mere two weeks from completing a one year around the world adventure, and ade and ally halfway through a year long trip from the south of venezuela to the tip top of alaska. also along was mary, a 38 year old sun worshipper who has been traveling for 2 and a half years and forsees another 2 at least before heading home. they were some of the best brits i had ever met, all having completely chucked their jobs back home to travel for a very long time. i found myself speaking with british vernacular, which i have always enjoyed quite a bit. also along were 2 german girls, katarina and inga, who both having learned english in the states, couldn't understand the brits that well at all. we spent one day on an island beach, where i snorkeled around the small reefs and saw squids and barracuda underwater and the decapitated head of a goat washed up on shore. good old south america.
so arriving back in Caracas, or Crapass as ade and ally dubbed it, i had hoped to secure my visa starting this morning and leaving here thursday night. so i was surprised to find out that the man working the embassy last tuesday didn't know what he was talking about and that i must travel to Georgetown, Guyana to secure the visa. something about how i am traveling overland, but it made me miss out on a hiking trip in southern venezuela that i would have had time to do. not that i am complaining, the beach was really peaceful. however, now i must leave tomorrow night and probably will have little or no time in southern Venezuela to explore the wilderness. oh well, next time i guess. the good news is that i may catch a flight back from Suriname to Port o Spain, Trinidad, an island nation right off the coast from Venezuela. from there it would be another ferry ride and then a bus back to Caracas, where i will catch a flight to Miami for around 120 dollars, which is pretty cheap. so all in all i am doing well, went and saw el museo de bellas artes and the science and technology museum, and tomorrow i plan on checking out the largest park in the city, which has snakes and alligators and other animals wandering around in it.
so i guess i forgot to add in the reason why i made such an effort to describe the late 70's american automobiles here in venezuela. it makes me feel like i am in a movie from my childhood. also, the venezuelans are the worst by far in terms of listening to the same 10 songs over and over and over, at a volume that exceeds anything tolerable, and indeed anything i have heard in latin america so far. i can't understand how they aren't all deaf.
while checking the internet yesterday after i returned i found the photo set that most makes me want to go back to SF. meggers and her photos make SF look totally sweet.
next stop, the Gran Sabana.
Posted by bendan at March 29, 2005 11:05 AM
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