Advertisement
Published: September 9th 2005
Well Venezuela has been checked off of my list, and it was amazing. Probably not in the way you would think however. It was beautiful, from the towering Andes Mountains, the snaking coastline, the expansive cityscape of Caracas and the beauty and power in the countryside and cloud forest. It was more amazing because of the people.
As you may have read before I signed up for a SAS sponsored trip each day, and I am glad that I decided to do so. The port, La Guaria is small, unsafe and relatively boring. The more exciting capital city, Caracas, is located about an hour’s drive away on the other side of the mountains that tower from the coast of the Caribbean to the clouds. For descriptions of my trips go ahead and read my previous post that outlined them. For now I would rather share with you what I have learned.
The guides on my trips were the biggest sources of the information I gathered about this Latin American country. On the first day I learned so much of rich history that cloaks Venezuela. We also learned about the government, which is such a vital part of the lives of Venezuelans. My first tour guide, Gracellia, a middle-aged, plump and motherly woman shared with us her personal views on the government. She knew so much about Venezuelan history so someone asked her how long/often she was a tour guide. She told us that this was her first tour since last year when SAS visited. We asked her what she did in the meantime and she replied that it was very hard for her to get a job. She paused and obviously contemplated leaving her answer at that, but then further explained that she had signed a paper voicing her opposition to the current President, Hugo Chavez, and as a result, no one would hire her. She had in fact been blacklisted.
The places we visited in the City were beautiful. From the resting site of Simon Bolivar to the picturesque views from the summit of Mt. Avila, Caracas on one side, the Caribbean on the other. The next day I jumped into a ten passenger 4x4 Jeep, which would never be allowed in the States, and set off on a daylong excursion along the coast. Our great tour guide William told us all about the mudslides that had claimed so much of the Venezuelan coast five years ago. We enjoyed the beach and then went to a waterfall spring to wash off the salt water. Visits with the wacked out guy at the Museum of Truth in the small village of Tolasana and the children were so special. The food was wonderful, some of the best chicken I’ve ever had. On my last day I visited the Rancho Grande Cloud forest. Unlike other tropical forests it gets is moisture form the clouds, not rain. We took an hour-long hike and saw the huge Strangler trees with their buttressing root systems. I’ve already held a little monkey (like Marcel on Friends) and seen wild Howler monkeys and Parrots in the trees. It was the experience of a lifetime. Aside from the asteic pleasures I captured on my camera there was much more to see in Venezuela than I could have ever imagined.
Obviously, Venezuela is a country much different from the United States. The people basically fend for themselves. Barrios, small brick(ish) houses stacked like legos on the base of the mountains, account for a majority of the over 5 million people who inhabit Caracas and the surrounding cities. These people have lost their land and “squat” on government owned land, hoping they aren’t forced to move, sometimes paying the local policeman weekly not to turn them in. It would be a hard thing for the Government to not notice, however, given that the Barrios are everywhere, their clotheslines and iron fenced windows inescapable to the eye. Venezuela is an extremely poor country, and although it is the world’s second largest producer of oil (gas averages 20 cents a gallon) that poverty is not likely to change any time soon. Currently under the control of Hugo Chavez, who was voted in by 60% of the population, he caters to the most poverished, but merely puts a band-aid on the real problem. Through the past four days I feel like I have been exposed to years worth of information and opinion on the topic of government in Venezuela. One this is for sure, everyone here is interested in it (unlike the overwhelming amount of people in the US who don’t really give a damn) and they are passionate about their country, and founder Simon Bolivar (also unlike the US.)
Caracas isn’t a pretty city. Sure it has pretty places, and pretty people, but in general, beauty and happiness are few and far between. Just go to the movie theater and see Secuestro Express, a movie about crime in Caracas (which I saw in Caracas at night..yikes!) Crime is the biggest problem in Caracas right now. We were heavily warned to stay out of certain places in the city. The journalists at El Nacional, one of the largest papers in the area, there are on average, 100 murders each weekend. There are no real traffic laws in Caracas. Everyone basically drives however they like. Think Pirates of the Caribbean, that stop sign, speed limit or traffic light is more of a “guideline.” Sounds cool at first, and I know my speed demon friends are probably saying “sweet.” But in actuality it is a very scary thing and really makes you appreciate even more the rules we have and the fact that they are enforced in the US.
There is trash all over the city, and like I said before, the poor are everywhere. I have seen poor in the United States. I’ve gone on Labre on Friday nights and talked to the guys on the streets in Cleveland. As I looked out the tinted windows of the tour bus the first day the one thing that came to mind was that what is so well hidden in Cleveland is so inescapably visible in Caracas. One night as we rode in a taxi back from Caracas to the ship as we entered into one of the many tunnels the lights above from the Barrios looked like candles in the dark, each accounting for at least five people. The twinkling lights spread for miles, through the valleys and crevices in the mountains, each representing another story, another set of lives and loves.
I could go on and on, you and I both know that. I will stop though. As we pulled away from the dock last night at 2300 (11:00pm) we stood on the deck and waved and cheered as the pilot boat finally held back, sounding its horn and bobbing in the wake of our ship. As the lights of the Barrios faded in the distance from millions of individual lights to a combined glow I reflected on my experience in Venezuela. I never felt rushed. I saw as much as I had hoped and more. I was satisfied and already changed.
Advertisement
Tot: 0.08s; Tpl: 0.009s; cc: 10; qc: 44; dbt: 0.0459s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.1mb
mom
non-member comment
stories to tell
I'm sending this journal to Bonnie - she'll love it!