When I woke up on the Saturday the World had, unfortunately, not worked my life out for me or, at very least, my plans in Venezuela and how to best travel around and get out of Caracas.\u00a0 It became obvious very early on that people do not really stay in Caracas on their travels.\u00a0 A lot of people tell you to get out of there as soon as you can, as do some gudebooks.\u00a0 Many recommend bypassing Caracas altogether by, for example, staying closer to the coast rather than heading into the city.<\/p>\n
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I got up and went for a wander now that it was relatively safe to do so in daylight.\u00a0 To be fair I was actually pleasantly surprised by the areas close to the hostel.\u00a0 The large main road was pedestrianised a lot of the time and full of restaurants, street performers and even children\u00b4s games and\u00a0face painting.\u00a0 After pottering around the area and having lunch I went to an internet cafe closer to the hostel where I tried to figure out the best plan.\u00a0 After a little while it began to feel like the whole World was conspiring against me and that someone, somewhere wanted me to stay\u00a0in Caracas indefinitely.\u00a0 One of the problems is\u00a0that I needed to get my yellow fever vaccine.\u00a0 Yes, I know\u00a0this is something\u00a0I should have\u00a0got done in England but when I went to\u00a0the Doctor\u00b4s to get my\u00a0various jabs I had the others and\u00a0then didn\u00b4t have the cash on my to pay for the\u00a0yellow fever one.\u00a0 I thought it was odd that they wouldn\u00b4t take any payment other than cash or\u00a0trust me to come back and pay, even when I said I\u00b4d leave my passport\u00a0as security.\u00a0\u00a0It was beyond me why someone would get a yellow fever vaccination for the hell of it and not leave England, but they assured me that my passport was not sufficient\u00a0and that it was\u00a0“policy”.\u00a0\u00a0The first place with a risk\u00a0that I have travelled to is Venezuela and notably the areas of the rainforest around Angel Falls.\u00a0\u00a0For a while I considered risking it and then\u00a0I read several things online\u00a0which suggested if\u00a0I contracted the disease\u00a0I had quite a high chance of dying so I decided it possibly wasn\u00b4t the best idea\u00a0in the World.\u00a0 The other added dimension is that\u00a0I had planned to visit Trinidad where\u00a0you apparently need evidence that you\u00b4ve been\u00a0vaccinated.\u00a0 So, this added to the problem.\u00a0 Oh, and the vaccine also only apparently becomes\u00a0effective ten days after you have it also.\u00a0\u00a0Then I spent some time planning my route and\u00a0figured that the best way to get around and see a lot of the places I wanted to was by car.\u00a0 This is a particularly effective way to travel in Venezuela due to their petrol prices with it costing less than a dollar to fill an entire tank!\u00a0 Then when I looked into car rental the rental websites were either in Spanish or rubbish.\u00a0 The last one I looked at only let you put rentals in for 2068 and then told you there were none available, surprise surprise.\u00a0 Of course when I was trying to formulate plans it was also Saturday so nothing was open in terms of tour places, clinics and hire companies.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
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So, after realising that I was destined to spend the rest of my days in Caracas I headed back to the hostel and felt sorry\u00a0for myself.\u00a0\u00a0Grrrrr, if the A key comes out of this keyboard once more when\u00a0I use it the whole keyboard is going out the door I swear.\u00a0\u00a0I thought it was\u00a0bad enough that the shift key\u00a0works sporadically and then sticks down but\u00a0Oooooh Nooo!\u00a0 So back at the hostel I\u00a0was lying in my bed when there was an almighty bang.\u00a0 Now in Caracas there are loud noises all the time, including lots of bangs, but this was something else.\u00a0 It went straight through me and echoed around the building.\u00a0 Then, when I was wondering if I\u00a0had somehow imagined it there were two more in quick succession.\u00a0 I was really shaken and decided to go out to the terrace to see if anyone else was about for some kind of reassurance.\u00a0 Once out there\u00a0Reynold arrived and offered me a Venezuelan beer which was surprisingly nice.\u00a0 No-one was able to explain the bangs or dispel my fears that they were\u00a0infact gunshot.\u00a0 Reynold also helped by telling me about hs encounters with the Police.\u00a0\u00a0He had\u00a0been exploring the city and was stopped twice within the\u00a0space of an hour.\u00a0 Apparently it was not sufficient\u00a0for the Police that he had a photocopy of his passport with him and he was threatened with deportation\u00a0for not having the\u00a0correct documentation.\u00a0 Shortly after hearing this, two\u00a0worried looking German guys arrived on the terrace with a greater tale of woe.\u00a0 They had also been stopped by the Police with one of them having their passport on them\u00a0and the\u00a0other\u00a0not.\u00a0 They were\u00a0interrogated strongly, accused of dealing, then taken to the Police station\u00a0where they were strip searched, convinced that they were going to have drugs planted on them and then released hours later having had to pay for the privilige.\u00a0 Caracas was growing on me like a distinctly unattractive tumour!\u00a0<\/p>\n
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So, as I got further reassured about my personal safety I chatted to Reynold and we decided that, as it was a Saturday, it was only right that we go out.\u00a0 He found a place in the guidebook which was basically several bars and clubs at a shopping mall complex and we asked one of the guys who worked at the hostel to get a taxi for us.\u00a0 Now what we expected here was for him to use a driver or perhaps even call\u00a0a taxi.\u00a0 What we didn\u00b4t expect was for him to wander up the road trying to hail any old taxi which, in all fairness, we were quite capable of doing ourselves.\u00a0 Once in the taxi we headed the opposite way out of the street to where I had been and I hoped that we wouldn\u00b4t have to stop as we went through really freaky areas with no street lighting.\u00a0 Other than being stuck behind a random van in a thin street for a while the journey was fine.\u00a0 We got to the centre and I discovered that, despite letting me have money at the airport, my cash card didn\u00b4t work.\u00a0 Fortunately Reynold had cash on him and I found out relatively early on that I was still able to swipe my card at bars!\u00a0 After a while at one bar we went for a wander and headed into a more club like bar.\u00a0 One of the reasons we left the first bar was that I was getting decidedly sick of the music.\u00a0 In Venezuela Reggaeton is huge; it\u00b4s a\u00a0form of music merging hip-hop with a hybrid of reggae, dancehall and traditional Latin beats.\u00a0 It sounds quite cool and some of it really was and is.\u00a0 The problem is that there does not seem to be much discernment going on about what is good Reggaeton and what is pants reggaeton with everyone just getting very excited at reggaeton per se.\u00a0 Anyway I wasn\u00b4t excited so we went to another bar which, shortly after we arrived, quickly reverted to reggaeton tunes.\u00a0 We headed to a third, slightly underground looking place and Reynold commented that he didn\u00b4t think this was the kind of place which would play reggaeton.\u00a0 I told him not to speak so soon and, needless to say, the reggaeton arrived.\u00a0 The place was quite funky though and we danced until dawn.\u00a0 Another added bonus about the final place was that I didn\u00b4t pay for a single drink.\u00a0 No, I wasn\u00b4t blagging all night.\u00a0 Basically they kept your card and then you had to sort of go and line up to pay.\u00a0 The thing is, when I went up and they gave me my card to pay a great tune came on so I went to dance\u00a0gesturing to them\u00a0that I would come back and pay when I could tear myself from the dancefloor.\u00a0 Then, when I went to pay later they said I didn\u00b4t owe anything.\u00a0 Then, do you know what???\u00a0 The same thing happened every time I tried to pay!\u00a0 Damn those pesky tunes!\u00a0 Seriously I wasn\u00b4t being purposefully evasive, I even tried to settle my tab when I left but no-one seemed very interested.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
We left the club when the cleaners came in and walked out into bright sunshine.\u00a0 That\u00b4s always a very odd feeling, a little like when you come out of the cinema and it\u00b4s dark, very disorientating, although in all fairness you don\u00b4t normally spend quite so long in the cinema or drink in there, well not vodka tonics anyway.\u00a0 Well not in my cinema!\u00a0 So, we got a taxi, headed back and went to sleep.<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
Following the previous night, or rather morning, Sunday turned into a very lazy day.\u00a0 I ventured out to get food and in the evening Reynold and\u00a0I had a few drinks at a bar near the hostel which was okay but appeared slightly seedy.\u00a0 I also spent a lot of the day looking at my guidebook without really taking much in or figuring out how to get out of the capital.<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
On the Monday I did little to further my plans for some time.\u00a0 Every time I figured out a route it turned out not to be possible.\u00a0 The guys in my hostel had given me convoluted descriptions, in Spanish, about how to get to the clinic but it didn\u00b4t really appeal.\u00a0 Eventually I decided to head to the place I wanted to drive to originally called, “Las Trincheras”, a small place renowned for having the second hottest thermal waters in the World after Japan.\u00a0 Reynold was also keen to see something of the country other than Caracas prior to his flight out on the Wednesday so we vowed to have an early night and leave the following morning.<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
For my last night in Caracas I was, how shall I put this,…..terrified!\u00a0 It all finally started getting to me, I wound myself up and was seriously jumpy.\u00a0 I can\u00b4t really explain the noise of Caracas to you until you\u00b4re there and hear it for yourself.\u00a0 There is constant beeping and car alarms but then also all these bangs, unlike anywhere I have heard.\u00a0 On top of this was the constant noise of the crazy people screaming, singing and shouting in the street below.\u00a0 I managed to freak out, convince myself that I would be woken by someone with\u00a0a gun to my face and, as a consequence slept very badly.\u00a0 It\u00b4s sad to say this but I actually slept with the light on all night.\u00a0 I can\u00b4t remember doing that since I was a kid, and even then I think it was a ladybird nightlight and not the full on light!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
When I woke up on the Saturday the World had, unfortunately, not worked my life out for me or, at very least, my plans in Venezuela and how to best travel around and get out of Caracas.\u00a0 It became obvious very early on that people do not really stay in Caracas on their travels.\u00a0 A […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.zelmastrip.com\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/168"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.zelmastrip.com\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.zelmastrip.com\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.zelmastrip.com\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.zelmastrip.com\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=168"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.zelmastrip.com\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/168\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.zelmastrip.com\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=168"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.zelmastrip.com\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=168"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.zelmastrip.com\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=168"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}