Blogs from Maracaibo, Zulian, Venezuela, South America

Après une journée de repos bien méritée (je sentais plus mes jambes suite à la randonée!), nous avons pris la route de Maracaibo au nod du Vénézuela. Nous ne nous sommes pas attardés a Maracaibo, ce n'est pas une ville réputée pour etre sure et puis c'est assez moche. La principale richesse de la ville, ce sont les puits de pétrole situés dans le lac. Le lac Maracaibo est d'ailleurs le plus grand lac d'Amérique du Sud. A Maracaibo, nous avons partagé un taxi avec 2 Vénézueliens jusqu'à la frontière colombienne. Le voyage a été long et fatigant, il faisait très chaud et on avait pas manger depuis la veille. Le passage à la frontière n'a pas été simple: controles de police tous les 100 mètres, on a du payer des taxes, on ne savait meme ... read more

ohohohooh, ich hab gerade bemerkt, dass ich den verdammten nationalfeiertag voll verpasst hab. ich war glaub die ganze nacht auf und bin so am 30. juli von santa marta los, ueber die grenze nach venezuela. da musste ich aber vorher noch stressprogram durchziehen und mich gegen grippe impfen lassen. sehr logisch. an der grenze hab ich dann die impfung doch nicht gebraucht. geld hab ich dort viel gewechselt und relativ schlecht. aaaah. dann nach maracaibo, eine nacht am terminal verbracht, mit dem fruehen bus nach corro und von corro gleich weiter nach adicora. da bin ich jetzt und wollte eigentlich windsurfen. hat sich geaendert. ist jetzt kiten geworden. jetzt hab ich schon 7 stunden geuebt und kannst schon n bisschen ;) hier in venezuela hats sehr nette menschen und extrem unfreundlich. nicht wie in columbien wo ... read more

Another weekend…another adventure… Thursday after class, four of us decided we would try to find something to eat. I haven’t spent much time in El Centro yet, so I was excited to go downtown and eat at a true Venezuelan restaurant. Two of the girls I went with had asked one of their professors for suggestions on where to eat, and she told us a name of a great Italian restaurant in an area we were all pretty familiar with. So after class, we took the bus to El Centro and started on our search for the restaurant. After walking for about twenty minutes in the same general area and getting bombarded by hippies trying to sell us their jewelry, we decided to ask for directions. The directions we received were the same as the ones ... read more

So i started writing this entry over a week ago but things have become a bit delayed, possibly because i am fitting back into Latinamerican laidbackness or because i am a bit ill. Sympathy e-mails very much appreciated. Now I would like to cast your minds back to Monday the 16th of July when my nightmareish escape from Venezuela took place. I should have known it would be difficult, any country that asks for your passport number when you buy a pencil sharpner is seriously flawed. It was a hot dusty road from Maracaibo to Maicao (on the Venezuelan/Colombian border) and i wasn´t enjoying the ride much anyway. After 2 hours the police pulled our car over and what began was my worst journey ever (worse even than the four hour bus/train combination between Birmingham and ... read more

Another early start at 7am, and a long drive to witness an unusual phenomenon which is unique to Venezuela; the Catatumbo Lightning. There is a particular area, no more than 20 kilometres square, where lightning occurs continually at night. Strikes occur between 30 and 100 times a minute, apparently enough to read a book by. But curiously, these strikes are not accompanied by thunder. Scientists have studied this phenomenon, but no-one really knows why it occurrs, or why it only occurs here. It is not a guaranteed occurance however. On average it will occur about 300 nights each year. Would we be lucky enough to see it? We undertook our two day expedition with an extremely knowledgable guide called Alan Highton, a reknowned naturalist who has worked on various TV documentaries. The Catatumbo Lightning was one ... read more