Islands in the stream.....
Trip Start
Mar 27, 2008
1
15
42
Trip End
Jun 30, 2008
Porlamar,
Coastal Islands,
Venezuela
Friday, April 25, 2008
I´ve been in Porlamar, Isla Margarita for a few days now, and it´s fine. This is where Venezuelans go on holiday, so the island is geared up for visitors. The Israeli tourists have all disappeared, and been replaced by Germans (direct flights from Frankfurt apparently). It`s still Venezuela though, and even Porlamar has a bit of an edge to it, especially at night. Breathe in deep and you can smell it, but compared to Caracas this place is easy-peasy and I`m enjoying being here. It`s also been nice to stop moving for a few days, and just do mundane stuff, like walking to the shops or going to the laundrette. In a sure sign that I have gone native I bought a baseball cap, the first one I have ever owned.
Before I left the UK, I wrote down the time zones and currencies of the countries I was due to visit, so that I could keep track of what the time was, and how much things cost. What I didn`t know was that in January of this year, the Venezuelan Government moved the country into a new time zone. Venezuela is now 4.5 hours behind GMT and not 4 hours as I previously thought. My watch was 1/2 hour fast for 3 days before I realised the what the right time was, and suddenly a few things made more sense, eg why nobody cared when my plane here was 1/2 hour late (it was on time), why the shops open at 09:30 in the morning, etc.
Hotel Maria Luisa
Just to make life even more complicated, there are also two versions of the bolivar, the Venezuelan currency. They have the old bolívar (about 4,500 to the pound at the official rate), but also introduced the "bolívar fuerte," or strong bolívar earlier this year. This is the same as the old bolivar but with three noughts crossed off (that`ll be 4.5 to the pound then), and the two currencies run in parallel. If someone asks you for 4,000 just give them 4, and vice versa - I hope that`s clear now. With inflation running at around 20%, Venezuelans are pretty keen to get their hands on Yanqui dollars, and there is a strong black market for foreign exchange here - this is also a surefire way of getting robbed though, so I`ve left well alone (and Venezuela is fairly cheap anyway).
I´m eating about ½ kilo a day of a fruit called a "parchita" at the moment. Parchitas look a little bit like small plums, and they taste vaguely of cherries, but they`re neither. Picture, if you will, a rectangular snowman with a tiny, tiny head, and that`s what the seeds look like.
There are huge cultural differences between here and the Andean countries like Peru and Bolivia - you can really feel the influence of the US here. Football has been knocked from the top spot and replaced by baseball. There are a lot of old American cars driving round, dating from the 60`s. These are the types of car where the suspension is so soft that they`re still bouncing up and down 5 minutes after you`ve got out.
View from my room, Porlamar
I`m not a petrol-head, but many of them have been pimped up, and they`re quite a sight. In another echo of US society, Venezuelans have a wee bit of a weight problem. Food here can be very fatty, and lots of it is fried, so it`s easy to pile on the calories. A simple request for a sandwich is likely to produce something dripping in industrial quantities of mayonnaise and ketchup. Rio has the cult of the body beautiful, and people in the Andean nations eat quite healthily, so I haven`t seen much obesity for a few weeks. After the Andes, the size of some Venezuleans came as a bit of a shock - wobblers and waddlers all over the place.
Now that Fidel Castro is out of the game, Venezuela`s president, Hugo Chavez, is the most charismatic politician in Latin America. He is a Socialist, opposed to globalisation, and a fierce critic of US foreign policy. The American Evangelistist Pat Robertson has called for him to assassinated - so he can`t be all bad! Although Chavez has managed to put some initiatives in place, eg constructing free medical clinics for the poor, and successful adult literacy campaigns, there are still a lot of problems here. Inflation is the highest on the continent, crime is on the increase, and a high proportion of the population lives in poverty. The wheels are starting to come off the revolution, and it`s difficult to see what will happen next.
Venezuela is also a founder member of ALBA, a military alliance intended to act as a counterbalance to the might of the United States in this region.
Up on the roof
Currently, Evo Morales of Bolivia and Daniel Ortega of Nicaragua have signed up, as has Dominica (this is not the Dominican Republic either - this is Dominica, which is about 1/2 the size of Scotland). So, lets get this straight.......the combined military might of Venezuela, Bolivia (complete with a Navy landlocked in Lake Titicaca), Nicaragua and Dominica ranged against NATO, George Dubya, and the American Christian Right? Sorry Hugo, I just don`t get it. I`m backing the guys with the thermo-nuclear devices. It`s time to move on again, and so my little chickadees, that`s the end of South America for this trip. And what have we learned during the last month? Well lots actually:
We now know that Brazil is best for bus hi-jackings and subway shootouts, whilst Chile is tops for stray dogs and car thieves. Bolivia gets the award for best altitude sickness and bleeding noses, meanwhile Peru wins hands down for bleeding ears and hailstones as big as your head. Aficionados of knife-point robberies and other people`s pubes will find that Venezuela is the destination of choice.
My flight to Caracas is at 07:00 tomorrow morning, with a connecting flight to Puerto Rico at lunch time. I won´t relax completely until I`m sitting on the Puerto Rico plane with a little Venezuelan exit stamp in my passport though. There`s just a niggle at the back of my mind that this country may yet administer a final kick in the nuts before I leave..............
Venezuela isn`t the easiest country in the world to get along in (let`s just label it "challenging"), but I would definitely come back here. There is so much to see, and it feels as though I`ve hardly scratched the surface. This is where the Andes finally peter out into the Caribbean Sea, and the scenery is incredibly diverse. The big river here is the Orinoco, which empties into the Atlantic just South of Trinidad, a couple of hundred miles from here. The bird life is fabulous, and I`ve seen wild pelicans and macaws. There are also lots of frigate birds, the first I`ve seen since Rio. They soar like buzzards, and I could watch them all day.
And that`s about it for this post and for South America. It`s rapidly approaching midnight here - in a not quite perfect world - cogeré para arriba con tu en Puerto Rico........
