The bus was great, it was very rapid and very cheap. I was as usual wary of getting out my camera or netbook with people sitting around me but I had the whole back row of the bus all to myself except for one guy who had his feet up on a huge box and appeared to be asleep for most of the journey so I got out my netbook (now I lost the lead to my mp3 player, its the only source of music I have) and continued writing this load of crap!
After pretty much spot on 2 hours we began to see the barrios of Caracas. It all seemed familiar to me having done the exact same route just a few days before and I was glad to be back. I was still a little nervous that I might get mugged or not find anyone as planned but I just cast out those negative thoughts and thought positively. I knew things were going to turn out well!
On arrival at the bus terminal , I quickly got in a taxi as it was already 2.50 so I had 10 minutes and the driver said it was a long way especially with the traffic. When I asked how much and he said 60 I was quite shocked since that was nearly 3 times what I’d paid to get to caracas from Valencia on a 2 hour journey but I didn;t have time to argue so just agreed, these were capital city prices after all i suppose!
On arrival at San Ignacio mall, I was looking out for Maleska but couldn;t see her anywhere. It was already 3.15 so perhaps she had got bored and left or perhaps she was late too. She said the tarima (the stage) and I was definitely at the stage in the San Ignacio mall! I went round the mall and there sitting with all his bags was Fabian, he had got my message the clever boy. I felt a lot of relief when I saw my good old travel buddy and now I wasn't even fussed about meeting this girl as it didn't look like she was turning up anyway since she was now 30 minutes late.
After saying a nice hello again (this was the 3rd time we’d left each other’s company and caught up with each other), we decided to go and get some food and attempt to find wifi to contact this girl to see where she was as by this time it was 3.45 so off we went. We went to burger king opposite but when told there was no wifi and to go back to the mall we returned to where we were originally to try and get some wifi signal somewhere. On return to the mall, we saw a couple of nice attractive looking young girls who looked like they were loitering with intent so I just waved over to them on the offchance and they waved back. It was Waleska and she’d brought a friend! My plan had worked and I was pleased that it was all turning out nicely!
After saying a nice hello again (this was the 3rd time we’d left each other’s company and caught up with each other), we decided to go and get some food and attempt to find wifi to contact this girl to see where she was as by this time it was 3.45 so off we went. We went to burger king opposite but when told there was no wifi and to go back to the mall we returned to where we were originally to try and get some wifi signal somewhere. On return to the mall, we saw a couple of nice attractive looking young girls who looked like they were loitering with intent so I just waved over to them on the offchance and they waved back. It was Waleska and she’d brought a friend! My plan had worked and I was pleased that it was all turning out nicely!
On greeting the girls it turns out Waleskas friend was also called Vanessa (which proved confusing if I ever mentioned Vanessa Pinto as everyone thought I was talking about her) and she was an English teacher so there was no conversation barrier with her! Waleska however didn;t speak so much English (probably the reason why she was on livemocha) but she was a great girl and tried hard to communicate with us. They told us they had a car and they would take us through the city and up to El Hatillo, anice little pueblito with a square surrounded by many nice restaurants at the top of the city. They had a slight blond moment when they couldn;t find their car in the car park for a good 15 minutes but they located it eventually!
They were great girls, doing so much for us, they even took us to the bus terminal so we could get our tickets for Ciudad Bolivar that evening at 9.00pm and showed us a little of the centre including a cool obelisk and water feature in the central square.
They were great girls, doing so much for us, they even took us to the bus terminal so we could get our tickets for Ciudad Bolivar that evening at 9.00pm and showed us a little of the centre including a cool obelisk and water feature in the central square.
By this time it was 6pm and rushhour was at it’s peak so we took some nice shortcuts through some pretty residencial back streets as well as some not so nice barrios and eventually we arrived at the picturesque little square of Hatillo.
After a nice meal in a fairly posh Italian restaurant with a stone baked oven and all getting to know one another a little, it was time to leave.
These girls really had been wonderful to us and I would definitely stay friends with them and offer them the same if they ever came to London one day. I did get a little annoyed at Vanessa’s blatant American English and tried to teach her real and original English but that’s a work in progress! It’s not worer, it’s water, it has a t in it so pronounce it woman! On return to the terminal, it appeared everyone had boarded the bus already even though we were 10 minutes early and the girls were running around panicking like headless chickens saying get your passports, take your bags here, queue here as if we hadn;t been travelling for the last 6 months and had no idea of the processes involved or understand a word of Spansih. It was quite endearing how motherly they were being and another example of their sheer kindheartedness. On saying our fairwells I said gracias mamis, thanks mums. They really had looked after us and made sure we had a nice day. People from Venezuela were certainly getting a good reputation in my book after them and the Pinto family not to mention Naty, Satu and every other nice person I’d met in the short time I’d been in the country! Anyway so yet again it was time to leave and head south east towards the city of Ciudad Bolivar, another step closer to Brasil, our final destinations before heading home. It was a 9 hour journey so hopefully I’d be able to get some well needed rest after another day being constantly on the move.
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