South American Adventure

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I do not think I have ever ate so much Mexican food in my life, understandable now that I am in Mexico you might think, but I have only been here 4 days and have been alive for 8871 days and counting!

Since arriving in Morelia I have had enchiladas, quesadillas, sopes, fajitas, frijoles, and that's added to the variety of tacos and mexican scrambled egg that I tried in DF (Mexico City). Also, the more I try the more I realise I still left to be tried - I am certain I will be leaving Mexico with a few kilos of extra baggage around the mid-rift.

Yesterday morning I went out to eat (what was supposed to be) breakfast with Judith and her family for Mother's Day - they use the American date for it unsuprisingly. We went to a buffet style place that seemed to be serving everything apart from what I would consider breakfast, it seemed like full blown meals were being served, and they made the humble English Breakfast look healthy!

This hearty breakfast turned out to be a good start to the day as Judith and I went to visit a local town called Patzcuaro. The town appears as if it has been transfixed in time. There are cobbled streets throughout and the buildings in and around the centre have been strictly kept to their original features and all shops are small, fitting into the buildings rather than the buildings fitting them - even the signage is kept simply painted with a stadard font.

Whilst strolling around the city I had the opportunity to try some local ice creams. I tried a fruit based one called zapote and one based on frozen corn kernals called elote - everything here it seems is corn related, I would be suprised if my mattress was not corn based!

On the way back to Morelia we stopped off by a small lake harbour and I tried some more local cuisine - small sardine sized fish battered, with the obligatory chili sauce of course.

In the evening in Morelia Judith and I met up with one of her friends, Alejandra, to go and watch the illumination of the Cathedral. This consisted of a light show on the cathedral with fireworks that was quite impressive. (Again, photos to follow...)

Following that we went to an exquisit bar called Los Balcones, found behind the cathedral if you are interested. Situated in an old building with a open terrace centre and mood lighting it was beautiful. And things got better just after we ordered drinks as the evening entertainment was put on; a belly dancer along with some jesters. The whole show was good, but I was particularly impressed by the belly dancer, she was probably better then the ones I saw in Istanbul.

Today I travelled to Guanajuato, as it was highly recommended by Judith and was in the top things to see in Mexico in my guide book. I arrived late afternoon and, after checking into a hostel, I began to acquaint myself with the colonial town. Again, I have to say that the traditional buildings are exceptional, even the hostal (El Hostelito de Guanajuato) is brimming with character. Aside from walking around the town centre, I went up to the monument Pipila that gives excellent views over the town, and in the evening I managed to see a prosession going through the town centre. I am not 100% sure of what it was about but it was cool!

As I write this I am also preparing my day for tomorrow. I have yet to see two of the main attractions of Guanajuato; the natural preserved mummies and the old mines, so they will be my first ports of call, and after that who knows??

On Thursday evening, after a short stop in Miami, I arrived in Mexico. The flight to Miami was spent thinking about how much I had done in Venezuela, how much more I could have done, and how much I would miss all the new people I had met. The flight from Miami to Mexico City was full if excitement as I looked through my guide book at all the things available to see and do in Mexico.

The landing at Mexico City was one of the most terrifying experiences of my life in a plane. With DF (Mexico City) airport right in the city the planes must drop down low over the city to land. This gives spectacular views, but for people like me who were not expecting it, the impression that one may die very very soon. On approach I could not see the airport and I was sure this was the end, but as you can see from this blog entry, it wasn't. Hopefully I will be more prepared the next time, as I have to fly to DF airport again to leave Mexico for Peru.

The hostel I had booked with provided a pick-up service, so once through the immigration controls I rang them up and waited. My belief in hispanic timing was reinforced as what should have been a 20-30 min wait turned out to be closer to 1h30m!

Once at the hostel, I nice quiet place, I settled in and met some of the seasoned travellers passing through, picking up lots of tips and advice. I also had my first taste of Mexican food, Tacos, from a street vendor. Risky you may say, and I may agree, but I was assured by the people in the hostel it was fine, and two days later I think I can safely say it was.

During the evening in rained, a canteros, for a good few hours. I was informed this was now a standard daily event as the rainy season had begun. The plus side being that temperatures had cooled (slightly) and that the rain cleared the smog in the city.

Yesterday I made the bus journey to where I am now, Morelia. In Morelia I am visiting a friend, Judith, who I met whilst travelling in China - we shared a gruelling 10km trek along the great wall of china.

So far so good. We went to eat with the grandparents of Judith in the evening and I got to try some gorgeous (although slightly spicey) food. After we walked around Morelia centre. Morelia is really pretty, with some amazing historic buildings and a really cool restored Aquaduct (says the engineer). Photos to come.

I am not sure what Judith has planned for today, but I will update you all soon...

Unfortunately I am coming to the end of my stay in Venezuela, moving on to Mexico early tomorrow morning. Yesterday and today have been mainly spent preparing for the next leg of my trip. Yesterday we finally had some water after four days of drought. This did not last for long, but long enough to wash all my things and have a well deserved shower.

In the evening we went out for a few goodbye drinks with Jurgen and friends that I had made since arriving. It was a great evening in a really cool Rasta bar, although we did not stay too late as everyone (except me) had to work today.

Today I should have started to pack as I need to leave at around 4am to get the plane at 7. Jurgen manage to sort out a chauffer to take me to the airport, and I rang the airport to find out that I need to pay $80 for the pleasure of leaving the country – maybe I stay a little longer!

This afternoon I went into the city centre with Jurgens housemate, Luchi, to go around the main market in Callejón de los Pobre and try to finally get some postcards. This had been proving a difficult task with most areas I have been in Venezuela not being very touristic, but finally I got some.

I also got to try a Maracaibo delicacy, patacon, made from crushed plantain to form the base to make a sandwich type snack. It was delicious; I cannot believe I am only discovering it as I am leaving.

Still, instead of packing I am updating internet stuff, blog, photos, emails, making sure I have somewhere to go in mexico, etc. Later we’re going to the cinema and probably having an early night (if I have finally packed by then).

So from me, in Venezuela, this is it. Tune in next time where I will be hopefully be talking about the delights Mexico.

For those on a break at work or with little time the title above sums up in a minimalist style what I have been up to the last four days. This accompanied by the photos below and in my gallery should serve as a very quick overview. For those who have slightly more time to spare, or who just do not want to go back to work (you have my sympathy!), I will amplify the above…

As I have previously mentioned, Jurgen and I, along with many interns and representatives of the organisation he is working for, were going to Caracas to experience what the capital had to offer and to continue on to a beach to go camping for the rest of the weekend, giving me my first experience of the Caribbean. The first stage of the trip involved getting everyone to Caracas, doing a bit of sight-seeing and heading off to the beach as a group on Saturday – not too difficult you would think.

Things had started to deviate from the plan when Jurgen became sick the day before we were to leave. It turned out to just be something he ate, but with many illnesses here with similar symptoms, of which I will not go into details, he had to wait until he felt a bit better. That meant that I was to go on ahead by car, leaving him to follow the next day by bus.

The journey to Caracas was long, around 8 hours, the roads were mostly good and having seen Venezuelan drivers in the city I was pleasantly surprised by how safe I felt. The scenery coming into Caracas is breathtaking. The city is surrounded by wooded areas, squashed in amongst a group of mountains. As the population has continued to grow the mountain sides have become a patch work of housing, looking like what I would imagine the favelas in Brazil to be like.

After traveling all night and arriving at Caracas most of the first day was spent sleeping. In the evening, still waiting for almost everyone else to arrive, I went to look around one of the old areas of the city, El Haltillo, which used to be a colonial village but is now quite integrated into the city. The village was extremely pretty with many old buildings and many artisan shops; my only regret was not having my camera with me.

The following day was spent seeing a bit more of the centre of Caracas and meeting up with people. Having just arrived and feeling slightly better, Jurgen and I went to Parque Del Este to have a wander round and to rendezvous with others. The park was a typical city park, full of people and life. There was an area with ponds and another area with a small zoo – the animals were really interesting, especially the birds, but the cages were way too small.

In the afternoon we went with Patrizia, a Venezuelan friend of Jurgen to the art museum and the museum of natural science. Both were quite small, situated in really nice buildings. They were very interesting, although the amount of taxidermies in the natural science museum is probably not to everyone’s taste.

Later on we met with a few more people and headed on up to the Teleferico, a cable car that takes you to one of the mountains above the city. Not liking heights too much this was not what I had planed for in my tourist day of Caracas. However, by the time we went up the cable car it had already become dark, so I could not really see below, thank goodness, although there were still a few hairy moments, and it was not until I was in the cable car that I was told it took nearly 20 minutes to get to the top! Once at the top of the mountain my bravery was rewarded with some stunning views of the city – well worth the initial fear.

The next day was the start of the weekend and time to head for the beach. In total there were 18 of use going and a mixture of buses and cars were to be used. Initially we were told before the outset of the trip that we would be going to a beach near Caracas, little did I know near meant 3 hours away! The journey was soon forgotten though as I arrived at my first Caribbean beach, Playa Larga. It was picturesque, almost perfect. Growing up the media portrays the Caribbean area as one of the most idyllic areas of the world, a holiday destination for the rich and famous, and you can easily see why. Smooth sand, a gentle surf, rocks, palm trees, the beach had everything.

As our group arrived in dribs and drabs Jurgen and I went exploring the full extent of the beach. This was great at the time, but with a little more forethought we probably should have put more sun tan cream on, because I think that was the moment when I got my first Caribbean sun burn (and hopefully my last).

By day we relaxed and in the evening we set up camp, made a fire (eventually – too many cooks and all that), and drank and chatted into the long hours of the morning.

Sunday morning was spent having a last quick swim to shake off that hangover, slowly packing everything away before heading home to Maracaibo, via Caracas to drop people off. This led to me being in that car from when we left the beach to arriving in Caracas some 16 hours later. Although I did have some fun, driving for 4 hours on the way home – apart from looking for the gear stick on the left hand side all the time I think it went quite well, but you’ll have to ask the others in the car for an honest opinion!

The last few days have been quite quiet in Maracaibo. With my friend Jurgen working, and that coupled with the fact that I have no money as I have yet to sell my dollars on the black market means I haven't been able to do too much.

I am staying in an urbanisation on the edge of the city. Maracaibo itself is a sprawling modern city, mainly due to the oil rich lake of the same name that provides over 50% of the country's petroleum. Taking into account the size of the city (approx. 2 million) the transport system is very poor. Taxi's are extremely expensive considering the low price of petrol and there are very few buses. What fills the niche are what are known as carritos. Mainly 1970's north american vehicles such as the like you would see in Starsky & Hutch but which have all seen better days, they go up and down the main streets and for a set fee you can join them for the freight of your life!

So with a lack of money and no easy/safe way to travel I have slowly settled into the laid back venezuelan life and I am starting to feel acclimatised to the time difference and weather.

On Monday we went to the cinema to see 21 - a film I highly recommend.

Tuesday is when I finally became one of the locals, you see, in venezuela crime is high, and being mugged is not a sign that you were a tourist that stood out, but it is a common occurrence that seems to have happened to most of Jurgen's venezuelan friends. My turn came when I whilst on my way home with Jurgen after going to give my dollars to a friend who was finally going to get them changed on the black market.

Just our luck, this evening there was a huge powercut across the entire country caused by problems at some of the hydroelectric plants to the east (, all energy in venezuelan is produced by hydroelectric means). This meant traffic lights were not working and all streets were extremely dark. As we were waiting at a major crossroad for one of the very few buses that traverse the city to come along we were set upon by three youths who hurriedly tried to take as much as possible from us. For a short moment, when looking at our muggers there was a slight urge to confront them, that was until I remembered Jurgen's venezuelan housemate telling us that when he was robbed last they put a gun to his head! As it happens we did not lose too much; A sleeping bag, and a bag containing Jurgen's glasses, towel and awful pink swimming shorts to which they were welcome - something tells me they will not be impressed with there haul, especially as we escaped with money intact.

After they left, even though I would not have considered it an aggressive robbery, the adrenalin was definitely pumping, and a feeling of what can only be described as being alive crept over us - we laughed and joked about it all the way home, afterall, after following Manchester Utd get to the final of the champions league on the internet nothing could bring me down!

Whilst writing this I see Chelsea will be joining us in the final -poor Liverpool, that's a tenner you owe me David!

Well, late tonight, early Thursday morning we head to Caracas, for four days, and if all goes well I should finally have some money.

So 4 days in to my 119 day journey and my first robbery - how many more will I have the pleasure of taking part in??