13/10/2011 - A run in with the socialists

Today, not being a public holiday, the metro was packed. However the muzak was inexplicably replaced with a Beethoven symphony. I guess that kind of balances it out. Hans had told me that Caracas was a place where life's contradictions were more exposed than in other places and perhaps he had a point.

I resolved to try and get some culture in me today. Simon Bolivar is the Venezuelan national hero and he freed large chunks of South America from Spanish rule in the 19^th century... or something along those lines. I'm sure the wiki page can explain it far better than I. So I was back in central Caracas on my way to the Bolivar museum. En route I was confronted with an advancing procession of red and yellow which turned out to be a socialist march, so of course I tagged along for a bit. It seemed like a lot of fun: music blaring, dozens of guys following the procession and selling ice creams, live spanish guitar band, socialist propaganda etc. Also worthy of mention is the burger I bought from a street vendor which, among other things, included a massive slice of avocado on it. That's what you get when you ask for “todos”. 

 

Something about the struggle continuing

A baby angel eating a mango. Of course.

After this I really did make it to the Bolivar museum and Simon Bolivar's house of birth. It was all in Spanish which was a bit of a pain. Really need to get on that. From the outside, I can see how this trip might occasionally resemble a bad episode of “an idiot abroad”. After the museums I took a stroll away from the nice historic part and as the buildings grew less dense I caught a glimpse of the barrios (shanty towns) which spread up the hills on either side of the valley in which most of Caracas sits. I also remembered a story Hans had told me about a project designed to make the barrios look nicer. The government decided to give white paint to the inhabitants so that they could paint their houses. One of the neighbourhoods actually did it and Hans said it looked “like Greece”. However all the other barrios just sold the paint. Brilliant.

Folk in period dress outside Bolivar museum

The main problem (for me) in Caracas is how damn expensive it is. Against my better judgement I'm staying in a “nicer” area in a “safe” hotel which is costing a lot as well. That's not what this trip is about. I've resigned myself to not fully exploring the dodgier bits of Caracas until I have more Spanish under my belt which means it'll have to wait. Much as my Michel Thomas language tapes gave me practice in preparing and executing meticulous sentences in various tenses, they didn't prepare me for actually trying to understand a Spanish person talking at full speed. Damn you Michel. Perhaps I'll stop typing and watch the Spanish dubbed version of “Liar, Liar” (one of Jim Carrey's best) which is on TV right now.