Quite alot happened this weekend, 4 days off, left Friday night, and spent less than $400.
We began with a rainy Friday day, Marshall and I left to the terminal to find a "Por Puesto," a shared taxi that everyone piles in, to Puerto Ordaz. On the way we had some trouble, because the road was flooded. We figured since the city was on the Orinoco river, that we could just find a hotel and get a tour in the morning.
That night we wandered to look for food, here is a perfect example of the service in Venezuela.
We tried to find something to do after, so we flagged down a cab and went to this little bar/restaurant place outside. Of course they were playing music that was too loud, but some of the songs were American pop songs from the 90s! Much better than reggae-tone. We met a couple of girls right as we were leaving, ones who seemed half intelligent anyways, exchanged numbers and we were on our way back to the hotel.
Woke up in the morning too tired, our plan was to find a tour on the Orinoco, and get a hotel for the night. What we didn't take into consideration that there was a soccer game between Venezuela and Paraguay that day, and literally EVERY hotel in the entire city was full. Roads were closed to the other places we wanted to go, so in the end we just decided to go to a new city. We decided on Ciudad Bolivar. We went to the terminal, hopped on some makeshift seats on the front of the bus, the drivers pocketed the extra money, and we were on our way.
We made it to the city while there was still some light, and found a tour right off the bus. It was 900Bs for 3 days, and we would be getting back Tuesday, right before we worked, but we decided on it anyways. Got a nice hotel for the night, and we were on our way the following morning.
We set out and waited to pick up some Russians who were also coming on the tour. It was a couple, and the man had an awful stench. I believe he is what the natives of the south probably mistook for the "skunk-ape."
Everything seemed to be going well until we reached the checkpoint right outside of Tucupita. The police saw that there were tourists in the car(I blame it on the white Russians) and pulled us aside. Since Marshall and I didn't have our official passports, they started babbling at us and pulled us in to a little office. It was a great scheme they had, the biggest joke of it all was when they were quoting Venezuelan law. After wasting an hour, and endless "I need to call my superior's" they just wanted a bribe. Typical, imagine if the police here weren't corrupt!
We reached our destination and hopped on a boat. Accompanying us were 4 more Polish travelers, all of whom spoke good English. Anna, Rafael, Camila, and I forgot the other's name. After traveling down the river for about an hour, we stopped at this little shack to look at some tarantulas. I got the biggest kick out of the direct tv satellite.
Aways down the river, our guide talked about eating worms. He must have felt I was kidding when he threatened me to try it raw. I never back down from an eating challenge, so I met his match. It tasted about as good as a raw oyster heated in a soup of sticky goo.
We made camp later in the day, not before I spotted some more Chavez love.
Marshall stepped to the home plate by eating a fried gusano, and swimming in the Orinoco with the pirahnas, good job my friend.
Needfully to say, the rest of the trip was a complete fail. They promised to do this and that, and nothing happened. Pirahna fishing was a fail, and the only reason I wanted to go, we never made it to the Orinoco river delta, nobody saw the caymans they promised, the locals drank all our booze, and we got back the day before school late at night.
Do I regret it? Not for a minute, but it doesn't compare to the trip I had in the Amazon. I got to see more of Venezuela this weekend than I had the entire time I'd been here, met some great people(now may be looking into teaching in Poland next year), and may have a new connection in Puerto La Cruz(if she ever texts me back)!
Oh yeah, right before the weekend, el jefe called us in and told us we don't have funding for next year. Cheers for looking for a new job! Hopefully I can make the best of this one, and find something else in Venezuela for the following year. If not, maybe somewhere else in South America. Wish me luck in finding a job, and working with people who aren't a bunch of weirdos.
PIECE
-Tim
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