WEATHER: Hot and 33C
HIGHLIGHT OF THE DAY: Finding Lifesavers, Smarties and Nerds in a petrol station enroute.
BUMMER OF THE DAY: Only buying one packet of Smarties-what was I thinking?
WORD OF THE DAY: Truck day
DISTANCE TRAVELLED:
We had another big travel day ahead of us as we push into the Venezuelan capital of Caracas today. It also marks the end of this section of the trip for 11 people and we pick up a new 7 people for our departure for the last leg in 2 days’ time. It was difficult to integrate myself into the new group and it really didn’t impact me too much with the departure of people on this section as I had only known them for 10 days, except for Deb though who joined the tour in Quito 125 days ago. She will be missed that is for sure.
So we left Cuidad Bolivar at 7.30am and ‘back on the road again’. I am loving my new window and I think I am going to stay here for my last 28 days, but I still have 2 days to ponder this very important decision. There didn’t seem to be as many checkpoints today. We had one at 9.30am when they came onto the truck and checked our stamps and then again at 1.15pm but otherwise it was clear sailing all the way. There was one petrol station that must be mentioned. The shop of the station had all this random good stuff that I haven’t seen since leaving home. They had Smarties, Nutella, Doritos (these have been everywhere but I haven’t seen a packet for over 6 weeks), Toblerones, Bounty’s, Skippy’s Peanut Butter, Lifesavers, M&M’s and Ruffles to name a few items. I was like a kid in a candy store! I don’t know what I was thinking when I only purchased one packet of Smarties, but I did get 4 rolls of Lifesavers, so that will keep me going till the end of the trip. What a nice little surprise!
Lunch was the usual culprit of sandwiches but it was a little more basic than usual as Gray went to the shops yesterday in Bolivar and the shelves were all empty? Not a skeret to be had, so we used some pate and we were able to get some bread and I have to say that it was quite tasty considering it was a fare of salami, pate on bread.
We arrived into Caracas’s outer suburbs around 4.30pm. The city itself is 1000m above sea level so the view was pretty and also there were a lot of houses built on the sides of these mountains which made for some great photos and to contemplate just how these people live on the side of a mountain. The city itself downtown, looked like downtown Brisbane with all modern buildings; it is probably the first South American downtown area I have seen that looks like a western city without the colonial buildings or older derelict buildings.
Caracas officially Santiago de León de Caracas, is the capital and largest city of Venezuela; natives or residents are known as Caraquenians in English. Try and say that 3 times fast!!! The city is located in the northern part of the country, following the contours of the narrow Caracas Valley on the Venezuelan coastal mountain range. Terrain suitable for building lies between 760 and 910 m above sea level. The valley is close to the Caribbean Sea, separated from the coast by a steep 2200 m high mountain range, Cerro Ávila; to the south there are more hills and mountains.
At the time of its founding, more than four hundred years ago, the valley of Caracas was populated by indigenous peoples. Francisco Fajardo, the son of a Spanish captain and a Guaiqueri cacica, attempted to establish a plantation in the valley in 1562 after founding a series of coastal towns. Fajardo's settlement did not last long. It was destroyed by natives of the region led by Terepaimaand Guaicaipuro. This was the last rebellion on the part of the natives. On 25 July 1567, Captain Diego de Losadalaid the foundations of the city of Santiago de León de Caracas. The foundation −1567 – “I take possession of this land in the name of God and the King” This was the words of Don Diego de Losada in founding the city of Caracas on 25 July 1567. During the 17th century, the coast of Venezuela was frequently raided by pirates. With the coastal mountains as a barrier, Caracas was relatively immune to such attacks – one of the reasons it became the principal city of the region. However, in the 1680s, buccaneers crossed the mountains through a little-used pass while the town's defenders were guarding the more often-used one, and, encountering little resistance, sacked and set fire to the town.
Venezuela and its capital, Caracas, are reported to both have among the highest per capita murder rates in the world. Most murders and other violent crimes go unsolved. Armed criminal gangs often operate with impunity throughout the urban areas. The poor neighborhoods that cover the hills around Caracas are extremely dangerous. Travelers have reported robberies and other crimes committed against them by individuals wearing uniforms and purporting to be police officers or National Guard members. Police investigations into kidnappings have revealed that police officers are often involved. Caracas tops list of murder capitals of the world…… Holy Moley…… Even Gray said to not leave the hotel at night tonight, and for him to say that it must be pretty dangerous.
We are lucky; our hotel is a good 3.5 start hotel. Our room was on the 15th floor and we had a great view of one of the mountains and also of the building next to us. It wasn’t quite finished as far as we could see but there were people living in them and on the 14th floor and down 40% of the apartments didn’t have glass in the window frames! They are 14 floors up and the window was a wide open 1x4m opening!!!I am assuming that they have no children living in them…. I hope….. Our farewell dinner was at the hotel, besides not really wanting to go out of the hotel after dark; it was the start of Easter Holy week and a lot of businesses close for 10 days, so the next week will be interesting as we travel over this busy period. As mentioned this farewell doesn’t really affect me so much as I didn’t really get to meet the new people leaving. So I wish safe travels to Jade, Maxine, Tony, Wendy, Rebecca, Gerard, Mike, Marie, Nes, Deb (you will be missed) and Chris.
We have a free day tomorrow so I have a list of things I want to achieve while I am in the last big city for a few weeks. I pulled 6 bags off the truck to resort all my crap and get a bag to the post office tomorrow if they are open. There was a bag there I hadn’t opened for 6 weeks, so it was interesting to see what I had stashed in there, it was a little like Christmas. I have a lot to post tomorrow, but I haven’t sent a box home since La Paz before Christmas, so even if it is a couple of hundred dollars I am okay with that. I now think what the point is of me posting this stuff to Australia when I am moving to Ethiopia in August, maybe I should post it straight there, but I really don’t know if I need to take a bunch of crap to start with when I move to Addis, so I will just keep doing what I am doing and sort it all out when I get home.
So welcome to Caracas-Venezuela, let’s hope we survive…..
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