Buses

Trip Start Sep 20, 2008
1
7
29
Trip End Sep 2009


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Where I stayed
On a bus
(Maracaibo hotels)

Flag of Venezuela  , Northwest Venezuela,
Friday, October 10, 2008

So... arrived to Ciudad Bolivar, wet, tired and no clean clothes. After getting a lift from Almar's cousin to the terminal to buy our tickets for Maracaibo, he dropped us off at a mall to get something to eat. 6 hours later we finally got on our bus for our first long haul bus ride so far. It would leave at 9pm, and take us most of the width of the country for 18hours finally arriving around 5pm the next day. Naturally we were stuck in front of the noisest most annoying kids for the entire thing - pissing and vomiting all around us. Finally arrived at Maracaibo, finding only one bus company to take us to Maicao and the border with Colombia - leaving at 4am. Maracaibo is not a pretty city, so did not bother sight seeing instead went straight off posada hunting, finding one near the bus station with most of the luxury amenities, in much less than luxury condition! It was not like we were staying for long, so accepted and went back to the bus stop to find our first (and ironically last) cheap venezuelan meal of steak and rice for just(!) 18BF. On leaving the restaurant saw one of the only sights of Maracaibo that is truly amazing, the silent lightening show, catatumbo. This isn`t just because its far away - its right over head, but with no following thunder and an eerie purpleish glow. Arrived back to the posada just as the rain began, finding our room to be leaking water all ready, so all change into an equally unfinished room. All the rooms were nicely decorated in half, with the other half bare walls, included tv, with cnn and cable etc, but was without any kind of door for the toilet. The poor manīs Hilton?

Got up for our early bus, arriving at the station for 4am, to find the office closed, and no buses. Confused we asked the taxi drivers, who told us that no buses run today to Maicao, unless people are going from Caracas - explains why the guy had not wanted to sell us the ticket already! Ended up getting a cheaper deal with the taxi drivers to get to the border, so waited for the cab to fill up and off we went. For a 2 hour journey we were stopped 13 times by police for passport checks, all who studied the british passports with reserve/reluctance before letting us on our way. Some were even set up within 200metres of each other and in plain sight, yet still demanded to have another nose. At that time in the morning all we had wanted was an uninterrupted journey to catch up on sleep- but maybe on the bus eh??

Spoke too soon. Got through border control with no problems, and were immediately pounced on by helpful Colombian salesmen. Before we had even left the taxi, we had bought our bus ticket to santa marta, for a 2hour ride. Breakfast (this was only around 7am remember!) was plantain and cheese, comes as it says on the tin! but tasty none the less. Before even leaving, we started to get a taste of the colombian 'locura', with a woman in front screaming about how the Bruce Willis movie was bad for her kids, etc. Bus driver waved her off and carried on watching, til she found something else to moan about, and so she continued for the entire journey. Left at around 8, stopped after less than 15mins for some reason, while hundreds of street vendors hammered on the windows and jumped on and off the bus, dumping things on our laps and yelling at us in rapid spanish of how great their products were. So still no sleep. Finally left after half an hr sat there, to stop again shortly after 9 for more street vendors. And so this continued, all the way to Santa Marta. Arrived at 230, making the 2hr bus journey into a 6hour marathon. Made up over 24hours of bus trips in less than a 2day period, and we were tired!

Hope everyone is ok, hasta luego!
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