Anacondas are like bears

Although we didn´t have a great time in Venezuela we did have one brilliant trip. We spent a few days on a small, primitive farm in Los Llanos an area bigger than Italy.
2hours from the road by boat
Cheese making

When Simon Bolivar was fighting the War of Independance he persuaded the mixed blood Llaneros to change sides on the promise that they would get their lands back. They were decisive in his victory but of course were tricked. The enormous farms that exist today are the same as they were in Bolivar´s day and the indians still live in poverty. However the farms are teaming with wildlife


River Dolphin


This fellow suddenly wriggled, landed in the boat and scooted towards Marilyn. Marilyn - 'where did he go, arrhhhh he's touching my leg'




Broke Back Mountain II - Born to the saddle

Bed once the locals had finished pool


Despite spending ages in Canadian rubbish dumps we have never seen a bear. Its getting the same with anacondas. It was the dry season and easy to spot anacondas.


This guy spent over 2 hours poking around trying to find one. In the meantime we were following through the swamp. When it got too deep this young guy suggested we wait by standing in the water in our bare feet.



It didn´t seem a good idea to me but I followed. Something touched my legs, I jumped and everyone laughed. Suddenly this tough cowboy type, lept up and ran for the marsh land. We followed him, apparently something had brushed his leg and he didnt think it was funny. Afterwards the guide who spoke English told us that he would never go into the water without boots because of the.......

anacondas
caimen
pirahnas
leeches
electric eels
poisonous snakes
stinging rays
etc

......but that wasn´t much fun

The guy assured us his bus was going directly to Merida and would get there by 4pm. It didn't on both accounts. We ended up in some funny little town two hours late and 2 hours away from Merida
Tarmacing Venzuela style

It was 9pm when we eventually got to a hotel. We had no money and spent the rest of the evening hungry and trying, without success, to find a working ATM.

Next morning we tried every ATM in town. None worked with our cards.

Went to all the banks. They looked at our cards as if they were contaminated and told us to go to a different bank any bank but not theirs. We were tired, hungry, fed up, hot, suffering from pollution and desperate for a beer.

We eventually found a bank that accepted visa but its system was crazy. Over the next two days we spent 8 hours queueing.

To top it all we found out that if we had Dollars we could cash them just about anywhere and get black market rate that made everything half price. This changes Venezuela from South America´s most expensive country to its cheapest

This is the first time in all our travels that we have had trouble getting money. Suddenly it is no fun when you have no money for drinks, food or hotel


Merida has 3 Guinness Book of Records records. Highest cable car, longest cable car and the ice cream parlour with the most flavours - over 800 a lot of them,


Having had a tuna ice cream, we decided to get out of Venezuela and go to Brazil 35 hours away by bus. The first leg is a 14 hour night bus. It was due to leave at midnight but turned up at 1.30am. We had to hang around in the bus station with people coming up to us and telling us we should´t be there because it was very dangerous. Occasionally the police would walk past and hassle us, telling us to move our bags or asking us for the 20th time where we had come from and where we were going.

The bus was comfortable but we were woken up 4 times by National Guard and Police boarding the bus, searching bags and asking to see identity papers. At one stage the guy looked at my passport with the gaze of a confused dog. He then took it away and 10 minutes later told me to get off the bus. In the middle of nowhere there were 4 National Guard trying, for some reason, to decipher our Indian Visas. They were getting quite stroppy when Marilyn suddenly realised they were looking for the visa waivers which are on separate bits of paper. On seeing these the got very happy, shook hands and let us back on the bus. Nice ending but I think we were close to being arrested.

At the last check point a 'military' nurse came on board demanding to see Yellow Fever vaccine papers. I was very impressed when Marilyn produced our 8 year old certificates. Those who didn't have them were hearded off and given jabs.

With the exception of Venezuela the people we have encountered seem happy and positive about the future. It feels as if they believe that their horrific past is over and things are getting better. People in Venezuela seem depressed and stressed; it is as if they know their country is going backwards.

 We have always rather liked Chavez and his outspokenness but visiting his country and talking to the people have made us realise he is no joke. We do however realise that we are talking to the wealthier people often the ones working in the tourist trade

 Reasons to go off Chavez

1. When he came to power he said "even if my father stole one Bolivar I would put him into prison" Now his father is a state Governor and his family are very, very wealthy

2. His famous red shirt is actually a bullet proof vest made by a guy in Colombia

3. He is trying to create conflict with Colombia. Simon Bolivar died of tuberculosis but Chavez  set up a commission to ´prove that the Colombians killed him. The commission has no historians or medical experts

4. The prices of all basic commodities, including toilet paper, are fixed but at a price below cost. Consequently, there is a shortage of everything you need. Queues form outside government shops at 4am if there is a rumour of a delivery

5. Prices outside Government shops are at European levels. No ordinary Ecuadorian can afford them

6  A German couple we stayed with had to give up a Sunday classical recital because it was overrun by Secret police who reported the people who attended

Enough Venezuela, looking forward to Brazil

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

Part 3 of a journey - South America

Leaving Panama marks the end of our Central America trip. (Part 1 was North America and Mexico)

Now things are getting more difficult because we are off the normal traveller route. Add to this a guerrilla war within Colombia and increasing tension with Venezuela and it becomes important to know the current situation. Chavez is upsetting Colombia because he appears to be supporting FARC and petrol is so cheap in Venezuela that there is a big smuggling problem over the boarder with petrol one way and drugs the other.
How dangerous can a country be with these on the streets

Reading the guide books and the UK Gov web site makes it all look very scary but on the ground everything seems normal. There are 2 buses a day each way across the Carib Colombia Venezuela border plus loads of cars taking passengers. The people in Colombia are very friendly and seem delighted to have foreign visitors, all the time we get shouts of ´welcome to Colombia´


Crowd control

Cartegania is very beautiful. Especially the walled old colonial city. We were staying just outside in an area considered a bit edgy. In reality it was just full of life and locals and our hotel was 4 times cheaper than within the old city. The only time it felt dangerous was late at night and then we just got taxis.



Breakfast, Yucca stuffed with cheese, fresh fruit, lime juice and expresso

We have been to casinos in virtually every country on this trip. In Cartegina we lost on Black Jack and were left with a $2 chip that we put on 26 on the roulette table - it came in twice on the trot

Marilyn´s new friend helping her choose her emeralds (or glass chips!!)


The military is everywhere. On the road to the mud baths we where stopped in check points 4 times over 20KMs. Think this means that the Government is on top of the guerrillas, not that there is more activity. The current Colombian President is getting massive US help in fighting the civil war and is very popular

We are now in Santa Marta. We were here almost exactly 8 years ago. We stopped for a day on our one and only cruise.


Our current plan is to cross in Venezuela and then through the Guiana's across the top of South America into Brazil