Hotel Bolivar Cucuta

14th July 2009

Hotel orua, Pamplona, Colombia

Its very cool

Cucuta – Pamplona (74 kms - 300 to 2250 metres)

The ride yesterday was a long one, we left the heat and bustle of Cucuta round about 7, and arrived in Pamplona about 5.30. The ride itself wasn't at all bad, the road surface was good most of the way (the odd ripply bits and sections of pot holes and dirt) and the gradients were doable between 5 and 7%. It was undulating up until El diamante ...

11th July 2009
Hotel la Bastilla, Cucuta, Colombia
very warm, the fan's on
San Cristobal – San Antonio – Cucuta (54 kms)
And so it came to pass, that we left Venezuela and entered Colombia. The road from San Cristobal was up, up and more up, for approx 25 kms, and some serious gradients too. Then it was down, down, down to the border at San Antonio where we formally exited our first country in South America and entered our second ...

... it is one of the most dangerous countries in South America. My dad came here for business and he told me that his company would NOT allow him to go out on his own. He had to be accompanied by someone to "protect" him! Don't worry... like I told my dad- I am only going to a town called, Merida which is said to be safe by Venezuelan standards and then I am going straight back to Colombia!

We moved from the main gate at 6 as requested and parked just down the road whilst we had breakfast and then set off for the town of Merida. To get there meant huge climbs up and down again and so we knew we needed more fuel, we also knew that the fuel was going to be nice and cheap. What we did not know is that there are not many garages, at least in this area who sell diesel. We drove past several that had petrol but none for us. Eventually as had ...

We arrived at the bus station at 5.05am to get the 5.30am bus mentioned in LP. No bus at 5.30am but at 5am! Next bus 7am! Ok, timing will be tight but we know the way. Arrived in San Christóbal, and decided on a por puesto Chevy to San Antonio 2hrs away. This time the National Guard were more interested in the two gringos in the back. We were asked to come into their office where Alexander was frisked, bag searched ...

After a quick run around Pamplona, main square, church and a little shoe shopping we returned to the bus station and set out for Cúcuta, two hours north on the border with Venezuela. LP describes it as a city best run through quickly but it was quite a modern shopping city. The Venezuelans apparently love shopping here (and changing money!). We stayed at the Cúcuta ...

Finally home after 7 years. It feels really good! everything looks so different, its a bit shocking at first, but I'll be ok. I flew into San Antonio del Tachira airport, my family lives in Capacho-Tachira, which is like a 2 hr. drive.
I had a great time, I ate lots of hallacas, cachapas, arepas, pisca, pan de jamon, cerveza, and cachicamo, I think I gained some weight, it's inevitable, hehe!. I'll be going back January 2010.

Once in Caracas, I realized it maybe hadn't been the brightest idea of
the day to put on a red t-shirt, because half of Caracas was wearing
them to support Hugo Chavez' new communist constitution, which he was
trying to get through, with campains (and apparently, paying people to
wear his red t-shirts, people said) but the voting was going to happen
on the Sunday. I didn't really want people to look at me as a supporter
of Chavez, even though I consider myself ...

... and I tried some of the delacacies including emanaditas for breakfast and lechon (stuffed pig) for lunch. The following day I took a slow windy journey through the mountains to Pamplona, a similar town but colder as it is higher in the mountains. There are lots of students here studying at a couple of the big universities and it gave the town a livelier feel than Malaga. Some of ...

... lunch and watch the painful Oz v Italy game which the Italians cheated in (its not cos I am biased - yet!) More waiting at the truck and watch the border guards check peoples car boots and petrol tanks so not to smuggle things in or out esp as fuel is a lot lot cheaper in Venezuela than Columbia. Eventually get set off for a very long drive and have lost several hours due to Venezuelan bureaucracy. On long drive over lots of ...