24-26/12/2011 - Christmas with the animals

In the morning I met the other people taking the tour, a german family (husband, wife and teenage sun who told me they were taking the tour since they don't like celebrating Christmas) and we hit the road, spending most of the 24^th travelling to Los Llanos (a good 7 hours from Merida). We arrived at our camp in the early evening and found the locals getting a party started. After dinner, despite much cajoling to dance I opted for an early bath and headed to bed surprisingly exhausted from the day's travelling. I couldn't help but smile at the german family who spoke virtually no spanish and kept asking me things like “You have mosquitoes in your room too!? What are we waiting for now? Can we sleep in all 3 beds? We only paid for 2...” sigh.

The next morning I awoke with little thought of Christmas. There were no decorations around the encampment and the blistering heat and sunshine made it difficult to muster any festive sentiment in this place - just what I wanted. Nevertheless I hoped this would be a memorable day. The locals had partied long into the night but as usual I'd slept like a log. The german guys hadn't and over our breakfast of arepas we greeted each other with a half-hearted “Feliz Navidad”.

Our first trip was a morning boat ride along a nearby river. Straight away I was struck by how much more wildlife there was compared to my trip on the Orinoco. Birds of various varieties continuously swooped in front of our path as we sped along the river and saw many capybaras (giant rodents which do look far too cute to be called rodents) hanging out in the mud and long grass. On every turn we came across crocodiles, sunning themselves on the banks or cooling themselves off in the water with only the top of their heads visible and finally we managed to catch glimpses of some fresh water dolphins as they arched gracefully above the surface.

Returning pretty chuffed we had a filling lunch of typical venezuelan fare (chicken, black beans, rice, coleslaw, fried plantain) and headed off for a siesta. I fancied a quiet read and a post-lunch beer but found that all the beers had been drunk the previous night. However the lady in charge of the key to the beer fridge lead me in the direction of a truck parked in our encampment near which some Venezuelans were relaxing and which I learned belonged to visiting relatives of the locals who lived and worked on the encampment. I was promptly treated to a beer and spent the rest of the afternoon drinking and chatting with this incredibly friendly group. Beer turned to whisky (it was Christmas after all) and talk turned to setting me up with one (or several) of the single ladies in the group (both of whom had 5 kids each) and taking them back to the UK with me. When someone points to a lady in a group, who is clearly listening, and asks you “So what do you think of her? She's nice isn't she?” your choice of what to say is somewhat limited. I bumbled my way through with typical British charm and steely Ukrainian nerves and came out the other side a little tipsy but having very much enjoyed my impromptu post-lunch drinks with the locals.

Before I'd had time to recuperate we were off on another tour, this time in a 4x4, along a rugged road which took us into the heart of the plains. Dozens more crocodiles and capybaras greeted us on our trip but I was particularly on the look out for anacondas which are supposed to be quite common in the region. Suddenly the guide sitting on top of the 4x4 signalled to stop. Quick as a flash, he was off into the nearby marshy field, closely followed by another guide. Unsure of what they'd spotted we gingerly stepped out of the car and walked in the direction of where they seemed to be frantically directing something to run in our direction. “Go on, go on” said our driver “we're very lucky; they've spotted an anteater!”. That was all the encouragement I needed so I ran into the field and started making my way through the sharp shrubbery. I'd spent 2 months near and done numerous trips into the Gran Sabana, the land of the anteater, and hadn't caught so much as a glimpse of one so to suddenly and unexpectedly come across one here was a real treat. A few tense seconds passed as we squinted into the distance but then right out of the bushes in front of us, bounding somewhat clumsily right in our direction, came the anteater! It hid in a bush really close to me and I held my breath as I tried to avoid more spiky shrubbery and creep closer. Suddenly it bolted but the guides managed to keep it in our general vicinity long enough for me to get a couple of unsatisfying photos and videos and then it was off again, running into the plains in search of another ant colony to devour. With its bear-like gait, brilliantly bushy tail and distinctive long conical head it really has to be one of the coolest animals on the planet and I felt really lucky to have come so close to one in the wild.

We spent the rest of the afternoon searching for an anaconda but just as it looked like we'd used up all our luck and were driving back to the encampment, the guides spotted one curled up by the side of the road. It was only a baby one (so only a couple of metres long) but I hadn't come into contact with many snakes before so was pretty impressed. Naturally I got the obligatory photo of the anaconda around my neck and was rewarded with clothes and hands covered in anaconda poo. Going to bed that night I reflected on what had been as untraditional a Christmas as I could have imagined but one which I was sure I would remember fondly.

The next morning we went for a slightly uninspiring horse-ride near the encampment (you could tell the horses had trodden the same route a hundred times and weren't exactly thrilled about it). After an actual siesta we spent the afternoon piranha fishing which was great fun. Again beginners luck struck and I caught one on my first attempt. However, unlike on the Orinoco, the piranhas here were in abundant supply and our guides were absolutely raking in the fish. Everyone from the german family managed to catch a couple as well and I have to be honest and say I let the side down, my only other catch being a tiny fish which was actually smaller than the bait I was using and had probably been snagged by accident. Luckily the guides were on form and so we wouldn't be going hungry tonight.

Our dinner of fresh piranhas was delicious and as I shared a couple of swigs of rum and brandy with the local guys I reckoned that coming here was pretty good choice. 

23/12/2011 - 1 day and 10 scoops in Merida

On the bus to Merida I got chatting to the family sitting next to me and, although I politely declined their offer of spending Christmas with them, we had breakfast together at Merida's pristine bus terminal (something I only appreciated due to the dirtiness and disorder of all the other bus terminals I'd seen in Venezuela) and headed into the centre together. I said my goodbyes and headed off in search of the cheap hostel I'd been recommended by other travellers, which I found with no problem and was pleased to discover only charged £3 per night! The place was as basic as you can imagine for that price but the hostess, Patty, was a lovely lady and made me feel instantly welcome.

Having gotten settled I headed to a nearby bar recommended by the girls from the hostel in Coro and grabbed a pizza while chatting to a teenager about the state of Venezuelan football while we watched the Venezuelan youth team get demolished by costa rica. My next stop in Merida was the ice cream shop which holds the Guinness World Record for having the most flavours (some 863 although they only have around 80 available at any one time). Stomach and funds permitting, I would have spent the rest of the day here but instead had to settle for trying a mere 10 flavours (I bought 8 but the nice woman who served me could see how keen I was and gave me recommendations as well as giving me a couple of free scoops). The flavours I tried ranged from the more or less conventional (and unsurprisingly delicious) ones like granola, condensed milk and roses (as in the flowers) to more crazy ones like cheese (great), maize (great), mushrooms with wine (horrible) and hamburger (even worse – it had actual bits of meat in it). With a full stomach and a sugar high kicking in fast I headed back to the hostel to find that I was now sharing my room with yet another Russian who spoke no spanish and very little english (sound familiar?). After the usual travel chatter (during which I ascertained that he was a bit of a muppet) I headed out again in search of a tour to Los Llanos (literally “The Plains” - a nearby region which is famous for its wildlife). I'd originally planned to spend Christmas in Merida but having realised that there really wasn't going to be anything special going on (except drinking at night) and everything was going to be shut on Christmas day it made sense to spend Christmas doing something fun far away from reminders of the holiday I couldn't properly partake in since I was thousands of miles away from my family. Having sorted out a tour which left tomorrow morning and would see me return to Merida 4 days later I found myself in a bar and chatting to a Venezuelan doctor while my stomach mulled over the combination of ice cream, cachapa (which I'd had for dinner) and beer.

20-22/12/2011 - Quaint Coro

Mercifully, the music on the return bus to Maracay was a little more subdued. I had a cheap breakfast from a stall in the Maracay bus terminal (2 empanadas and a juice for about 75p) and after a bit of inter-city bus hopping, I arrived in Coro – a small chilled-out city with a lot of restored colonial architecture. I found a posada near the heart of the historic centre and was disappointed to learn that it wasn't possible to go sandboarding because there had been too much rain. I had primarily come to Coro because of the nearby national park which is full of sand dunes and had really wanted to have a go at sandboarding, but alas it seemed it wasn't to be. The posada was a bit quiet at the moment so in the evening I headed out to an italian restaurant and got chatting to the young waiter working there who was studying english at university. He recommended some places in the area and, as seems to be the custom, offered to introduce me to some chicas if I hung around until the weekend. I told him that unfortunately I would be heading off before then, and that I didn't really trust his choice of women (earlier he had told me that previously he'd been involved in an online relationship with a married woman from Mexico).

The next morning I headed to the sand dunes and went for a hefty 3 hike through this mini desert, doing my best to get lost along the way. Away from the entrance to the park, the dunes were completely deserted and I had great fun walking along and listening to some spanish lessons on my ipod. In the afternoon I did the obligatory walk around the historic part of the town as well as a quick stop in the, somewhat unimpressive, modern art gallery. As I ate lunch in a square just off one of the main streets, I saw the locals pointing at something in a tree and looked up to see a sloth clambering along the trunk. Can't get away from the wildlife here.

Arriving back at the hostel, I learned that sandboarding was back on the menu so without further ado I grabbed a board and we headed back to the dunes. As is usual with such activities, once we'd climbed to the top of one of the dunes, it seemed much higher and steeper from the top than from the bottom. Having waxed up my board to make it more slippery and reminded myself that sand was indeed nice and soft for when I inevitably fell, I jumped on my board and plunged down the dune. The experience was quite close to snowboarding (which I've tried once) and I didn't find my skateboarding skills particularly useful as I slipped and slid down the slope. I was assured by Eric, the French hostel owner, that there was indeed a way to break and stop, but for now I resigned myself to the kamikaze technique which didn't permit breaking. Me and another German guy also staying at the hostel had a great couple of hours on the dunes, enjoying a bit of friendly Anglo-German rivalry to spice things up. Back at the hostel, exhausted from constantly climbing up the dunes, we had a well deserved beer and chatted about future travelling plans with another traveller - Francis from Hong Kong who had just arrived from Columbia. Me and Francis went and grabbed dinner in a nearby restaurant where I enjoyed my first proper salad in Venezuela! Altogether a pretty great day.

The next morning, after a chat with 3 German girls who'd just arrived from Merida to spend Christmas in Coro, I left Coro and headed towards Merida where I planned to spend Christmas. The girls had spent 2 months in Merida volunteering and learning spanish and had now set off to travel round south america for a couple of months (sound familiar?). After they had made me some recommendations of places to visit Merida, I headed off into the rainy morning. Arriving at the bus terminal, I found that the only direct bus to Merida this evening was already full so I had to go half way to the metropolis of Maracaibo (Venezuela's second largest city and the countries oil hub) where I mooched around near the bus terminal (trying some “Chinese food” and sweets made out of condensed milk) until my night bus left for Merida. 

 

17-19/12/2011 - Back to the beach and a familiar face

Practice parade in Plaza Bolivar, Maracay

Creepy mural on side of hospital wall, Ah Chavez.

As promised, after arriving into Maracay in the early morning, we headed to Daniel's uncles place where we had breakfast and a chat with Daniel's uncle and I picked up some useful vocabulary (mochilero – backpacker). Their flat, small but nice, was filled with all the usual conveniences like a flat screen tv and a massive hi-fi and was covered head to toe in Christmas decorations (including a novelty toilet seat cover).

After breakfast we went for a little tour of Maracay after which I bid them farewell since I was travelling onto Puerto Columbia today: a small seaside town some 2 hours north of Maracay. Getting on the small bus to Puerto Columbia it was clear all the locals heading the same way were in a fiesta mood and as the bus driver turned the music up to full, the couple next to me cracked open a massive bottle of sangria. Good times. As the road twisted and turned through the mountainous region we had to cross to get to the coast, the driver raced round the bends, making liberal use of the horn and, as far as I can tell, assuming anything coming the other way was going to get out of our way.

Arriving at my posada in Puerto Columbia, I bumped into Ludek – a Czech traveller who I'd met in Santa Elena around 3 weeks ago when he was waiting to go on a trek to Roraima. Over a dinner of fish and guava juice we caught up and compared travel notes.

The next day we grabbed some beach time (Ludek was really desperate to get a tan since he was heading back home in 3 days and was still pretty pasty) and had a wander around the quaint little Puerto Columbia. In the evening 2 more travellers joined us – Julius from Holland and Gregory from France and we grabbed dinner and beers in one of the cheap eateries in town (although, much to everyone elses mockery, I stuck to juice since my stomach was still in a turbulent mood and last night's fish had not helped matters).

The next day, we took a boat to a nearby beach and walked to a small town (the name of which I forget) famous for its chocolate due to the abundance of cocoa plants in the area. Although we weren't blown away by the chocolate it was the best I'd tasted in Venezuela so far (which isn't much of on accolade). The driver of the boat we took to get to the beach had clearly ripped us off so we decided not to bother waiting for him and got a ride back in a different boat. As we pulled away from the shore and headed back to Puerto Colombia, it was very satisfying to see him approaching and angrily asking why we hadn't waited for him. We waved, smiled and replied that maybe he shouldn't have overcharged us for the first journey.

In the evening we headed to a friendly, if a little expensive, bar-restaurant where we over-indulged in the caipirinhas and excellent tapas dishes. This would be our last night together (and Julius' last proper night of travelling) so we made the most of it. As I went to bed I told my stomach to behave and tried to ignore the fact that I was getting up in a few hours to catch the 6 am bus back to Maracay. 

14-16/12/2011 - Been spending most our lives livin in a Gringo's paradise

Last night brought its first experience of travellers diarrhoea, which I can only attribute to the cheap rum and the excitement of being at the coast. I guess I'd been fortunate to avoid it until now (remembering the burger-poisoning incident) but it arrived with unpredictable fury and I didn't get a wink of sleep. As a result today was a total write off, as I spent most of the day on liquids and sleep. Looking on the brighter side, this is a really nice place to be ill, and as I swung in my hammock and listened to podcasts of Radio 4 shows, reminding myself of a life thousands of miles away, I didn't feel too glum about losing a day here. Still, I wished Christmas would come early and bring me solid stools.

The next day (Thursday), feeling a little better, me and Connie hit the beach which was almost completely deserted and the fantastically warm Caribbean Sea was wonderfully welcoming. I couldn't have asked for more.

On Friday, my bowels having more or less behaved after breakfast, I decided to move on again. Making my way back to Puerto La Cruz bus terminal it turned out the only bus heading to my destination of Maracay was at 11.30 pm so I spent another day in Puerto La Cruz. I spent the time soaking up the lively friday evening atmosphere along the waterfront and even came across a couple of skateboarders in one of the plazas. I asked them for a quick go and found that most of my skills had deserted me but the guys were really friendly and instantly started offering me some alcoholic drink which tasted like liquorice (I wasn't a fan).

I headed off to the bus station in the late evening with a slightly better impression of Puerto La Cruz. Waiting for several hours in the bus terminal in the late evening was fairly entertaining since an old guy came in and put on a magic show performance for the many Venezuelans waiting for their buses. On the bus I got chatting to the guy next to me called Daniel who lived and studied mechanical engineering in Puerto La Cruz but was visiting family and his girlfriend in Maracay. Pretty soon he'd offered to show me around Maracay and breakfast at his uncles place. I went to sleep telling myself to be cautious but at the same time trying to ignore advice about not trusting strangers. It would be nice to leave Venezuela with something beyond the “dangerous” label.

13/12/2011 - First taste of the Caribbean

In the morning I gave Puerto La Cruz another chance to inspire me but was greeted with the familiar mix of shoe shops and street vendors. The beach was a bit of a grim affair but the Plaza Bolivar was quite nice. Yearning for some beach time, I caught a bus to a nearby beach village called Playa Colorada where, as soon as I stepped off the bus, I bumped into 2 gringos, the first I'd come across since leaving Santa Elena. Dave from England and Connie from Germany showed me the way to the nearby Posada/Adventure centre which turned out to be a bit of a gringo-haven. With a beach on the opposite side of the road and breakfast, dinner and a hammock for about £10 a day I decided this wouldn't be a bad place to spend a few nights.

It was nice to see and hear some English speakers again (although most of them were German or Swedish) all of which were involved in the programs run by the Posada. A group of 9 were part of something called the travelling school which involved doing activities around Venezuela (trips to Roraima and Gran Sabana etc) whilst learning Spanish (although the classes ran into the usual difficulty of trying to learn Spanish language whilst being surrounded by gringos speaking English or German all the time). 2 French girls were also here for a volunteering placement organised by the company and I smiled a knowing smile as they told me about the incompetence of the organisers and how they'd only managed to see the kids they were supposed to be working with only once in the two weeks they'd been here. Their volunteering placement made the foundation in Santa Elena sound like a sleek, well-oiled machine in comparison and I was reminded that you don't fully appreciate what you have until you see something worse. Still this place had a nice relaxed atmosphere and was a real welcome change after that horrid room in Puerto La Cruz.

In the late afternoon I wandered down to the beach and, as the sun set on the picturesque little bay and I sipped on a beer whilst watching the pelicans diving for fish and the boats coming into the shore, I definitely felt a few pangs of “this is the life”. 

 

In the evening I chatted to folk at the posada and although the range of activities they were doing sounded quite cool it really didn't sound like the program allowed any freedom or interaction with Venezuelan people. Also, for several weeks during the program, the group would be based at the posada in Playa Colorada which consists of the beach and about 2 roads, not exactly the most happening place in Venezuela (I kept wanting to ask “How are you not bored out of your mind!?”). Different strokes for different folks but I couldn't help but feel that most of these guys would be leaving Venezuela with a slightly whitewashed experience and not very much Spanish.

The english guy Dave, who'd done a PhD in Computational Chemistry, told me he'd done a 4 week volunteering placement in a city called Merida in the west which he said didn't really get going until the 4^th week. Overall it gave me a bit more of a perspective on my time at Santa Elena. Over a bottle of cheap rum we isolated the others by chatting about the imminent discovery of the Higgs boson and the hilarity of having to use the Fortran programming language for his PhD. Oh dear.

12/12/2011 - Onto Puerto La Cruz, a day in transit

You can have any toothpaste as long as its colgate

A plucky iguana in Plaza Bolivar

Since I decided to try and make it to Puerto La Cruz this evening, which is a considerable distance away, I had to leave early. However, we still squeezed in one last cruise of the Orinoco at 5am just as the forest awoke and a formidable dawn chorus provided the soundtrack to our little excursion. After breakfast, I packed my bags and we retraced our route back along the river to the town of Urakua. I waved goodbye to Lui and jumped in a taxi headed in the vague direction of Puerto La Cruz. After a couple of hour long shared taxi rides, a lunch of half a chicken in a town called Maturin and a 3 hour bus journey, I finally arrived in Puerto La Cruz, a sizeable town on the north coast of Venezuela, in the late evening. Having found the cheapest hotel imaginable (in my tiny bathroom, the shower pointed directly at the toilet) I went for a stroll along the waterfront. Full of hotels and chinese restaurants it was lively afair but not the most inspiring of places. However I had finally reached the coast so I was satisfied.

Chavez doing his thing on the telly