That was interesting

The road to the Colombian border is little more than a country lane for much of the way. It passes through some remote but beautiful countryside. Every few miles a group of soldiers stand on guard. In Colombia they seem to be there to keep the route open and the guerillas away.

The border itself is chaotic. Our first problem was the guy in Colombian migration did not recognise the stamp in our passport. When we arrived by boat from Panama a guy had taken our passports away on a motorbike to be stamped. After much discussion and shaking of heads between the guard and his boss a female guard convinced them it was OK as we had arrived by sail boat. So often it is the female officials who seem to be the only intelligent ones at border crossings

We had heard that petrol smuggling was a big concern to Colombia. It is highly subsidised in Venezuela. We were not expecting it to be so blatant. As we walked across no-mans land between the two counties there was petrol everywhere. Trucks and lorries bringing petrol in in plastic containers. People decanting it into smaller containers and then filling up cars from Colombia. Petrol being spilt everywhere and half empty containers left lying on the ground. One spark and the whole lot will go up. We couldn't work out how this could be done so openly there would have to be massive corruption. We were about to find out that there was.

Our entry paperwork was completed quickly and we got back on the bus that had made its own way across the border. Suddenly a guy was collecting money from the passengers. We were not asked to contribute so we kept our heads down. Someone told us it was a bribe for the customs people. We either paid around 50$ or they would have to search all our bags and the bus - this would take 3hrs.

The bribe was paid, the bus moved about 100yds and then stopped again. There was another collection but some people refused to pay. This was for the army checkpoint who wanted the bribe so they didn't have to search the coach. We didn't collect enough so a big argument started with lots of arm waving. Suddenly we were allowed on our way. A small triumph against corruption, or so we thought

Over the next 20 miles we were stopped at 13 checkpoints. Some of these were just two soldiers standing behind a few burning oil cans, some of them were permanent looking police checkpoints and one was the full military thing complete with a tank.

It took ages but any bribes were sorted out by the driver. Then at the 13th we where pulled over and told to get out.

The army at the border had called ahead and told them we hadn't paid, so the bus was going to thoroughly searched and that this would take hours. There was another whip round that still didn't get enough but I offered a brand new 5$ bill. The driver took this to the soldiers who were turning it down when the top guy saw the 5$ note. According to the driver it was as if he fell in love with it and just said ´go´go´

We got to Maracaibo without further trouble but the 6 hour bus ride had taken 10 hours and we where knackered

Biggest lake in South America but completely poluted
We were dropped off on the street instead of the terminal. Luckily we found a friendly taxi driver who took us to a decent hotel. We walked down the street and just up the road there where lots of flashing lights. Great we thought restaurants and bars. They where actually 24 hour shops buying and selling gold. We had an expensive hamburger from the sort of stall you use if you have had a night on the beer in England

Welcome to Venezuela