Ciudad Bolivar

Ciudad Bolivar

It wasn’t the best sleep I’d ever hadon the bus to Ciudad Bolivar although I kept reminding myself that this was most probably the penultimate bus journey I would be taking and it was only a 10 hour journey so was relatively short compared to other journeys I had taken. I did wake up dying of thirst without water and noticed the bus was parked at a gas station and I could see the shop and bottles of water but they had locked the doors so no one could get off! Eventually the doors were opened after waiting for about what seemed like an hour for the driver to return and my thirst was quenched. Fabian as usual slept like a baby. I’m quite envious of the way it takes him all of about 10 minutes to get to sleep and then he sleeps for the duration whether it be on a bus or a beach! Envetually we arrived and just as I had managed to get some REM time I was awoken by a woman saying ya llegamos (we’ve arrived) and the bus was completely empty apart form Fabian and I. One notable thing about this bus journey was the distinct lack of tourists, in fact the distinct lack of people in general! I’d say there were onlyabout 8 others on the bus with us all Venezuelan. I found this odd since you’d think that the bus might be packed full of tourists going from the capital (where most people fly in) to the most famous tourist destination in the country and one of the most famous in the world but no, we were the only 2 gringos on the bus. In my opinion this demonstrates the current situation with tourism in this country as people just aren’t coming to Venezuela like they are to other countries in South America.

Anyway so we were woken by a woman telling us to get off the bus and just as we were getting our bearings as to where we were and what we were doing in some small Venezuelan city at 6am a tour guide approached speaking excellent English and being very friendly saying if you’re interested in Canaima, Salto Angel, im your man, here’s my card! I thought to myself God they don’t waste time here, we hadn’t even got off the bus and already they were trying to sell us tours! Well I told him this is the reason I’m here, I definitely want to do it. Fabian too wanted to do it but when he heard the price there was no way he was going to do it since he had just 60 dollars left for one week! Come to my office anyway so we can discuss so off we went to talk business. The interesting thing about Venezuela and their currency is that there is no specific fixed exchange rate apart from in the banks and even they are always levering it in their favour. The traders prefer dollars or euros to their own currency and in general when changing money it should be about 5 bolivares to 1 euro but when trading on the blackmarket you can get up to 8:1. It’s a crazy system but it actually works in your favour if you play the right game! The price quoted to me for the tour of canaima and salto angel was 2500 bolivares. As soon as I calculated that into pounds with the rate I was expecting, about 6:1 for pounds, I was like no way! I couldn’t afford 450 quid for this trip! Then he told me if you can get dollars or euros then it will be about half price as they can give 12:1 exchange rate! I was like this is crazy!! I had no way to get these currencies, you can’t get them at the bank in Venezuela and in the odd chance that you can’t then they’ll screw you with their own messy exchange rates so I was on the verge of saying no and just going with Fabian to Boa Vista but I was determined, this was the end of my trip, this was my plan all along to see canaima and angel falls so i wasn’t missing it no matter what.
The tour operator suggested that if I could transfer money into euros from mu bank to an account in Portugal then it would be just 250 euros (about 200 pounds) which was much better than the original 450 pounds I calculated. I immediately went to my online banking with my bank Natwest to see if this was an option but no, not possible.I even called them to ask and spoke to a rather unhelpful lady from god knows where but not England who just told me what I already knew.

I was still determined to go though. By this time after messing about trying to come up with solutions, it was about 9am and the guy told me that it was too late to go today as the plane had already left. I was now on the verge of just saying we’ll leave it or just going to the bank and withdrawing the full 2500 (450 pounds!). I was so annoyed that I could get it for half price but it was impossible to do it without euros, dollars or an online transfer money abroad function. Then my guide mentioned that if I was with HSBC then it would be possible to do online transfers abroad from pounds to euros as he knew many Brits who had done it with HSBC before. It then clicked that yes, I had actually set up an HSBC current account that I had never used before, what a stroke of luck that I set the account up! Immediately I logged in, transferred the money into that account and then went to the transfer money abroad function but it was not available as it was only working between 8am and 3.30 UK time so I had to hold my breath to wait and see if it was possible in the morning. How lucky that I had set up that account! I knew it would come in handy one day!

In the meantime, Fabian had been waiting patiently for me in the office knowing full well he wasn’t able to afford it, even if I had lent him money, he’d need it for the rest of his time travelling and not for this tour. We decided to go and get food as we were both hungry and got a nice chow mein from a Chinese restaurant that was enough for breakfast and lunch!

After this we went back to the office as they had arranged a hostel for us for that night and were going to take us and all our bags there which was kind of them. Fabian and I had considered couchsurfing and were both in contact with some girls living in Ciudad Bolivar but it was too late, they’d already booked us this hostel at a lowered rate of 50 bolivars each (under 10 pounds depending on the exchange rate you use).

Driving to the hostel I noticed that all the houses and buidlngs were brightly colured of all different colours and all very low, there were no high rise blocks of flats or commercial skyscrapers in sight.

This gave it quite a pretty and quaint impression and this along with being built on the banks of the Orinoco river and being the birthplace of the liberator of a large part of South America gave it a unique and notable sense of individuality.

After dropping our bags at the hostel and walking just a few minutes we arrived at the main square, plaza Bolivar. 

This was really impressive and I was now beginning to feel a sense of delight that I had in fact missed the flight as it meant that I could see this city which i wouldn’t have been able to do had I caught the flight this morning. Everything happens for a reason as my gran always tells me! I was meant to see this city and so I decided I was going to explore it properly despite being tired. In the hostel I had noted all the pictures of the sites in the city up in reception so I was determined to try and see them all.

So anyway, the first place we enountred was the square which was very pleasant. The first thing to catch my eye was the exquisite cathedral bell tower spire thing (I say a bell tower but there was no bell but im struggling to think of another adjective) which was beautifully painted yellow and white and was very impressive.

This was a pleasant cathedral all painted a nice yellow colour and the square was surrouned by other elegant and nicely painted colonial looking buildings and the square of course would not be complete without the archetypal statue of Mr. Simon Bolivar himself which they had in every city but this being the city named after him as he lived there for so long, this statue was a special one.

Continuing to walk through this charming little city with brightly coloured small little houses and some nice architecture, we eventually found ourselves at the river bank of the Orinoco river, here it was very wide, fast flowing and turbulent. I had heard alot about this famous river (I mainly remember Enya’s Orinoco flow or Sail Away as most people know it). It is a very long river that solely exists in Venezuela and has a huge delta at the north eastern point of the South American continental land mass. For this reason I was expecting more than just another boring brown coloured river but one thing that did catch my eye was the huge bridge I could see in the distance spanning one side to the other which looked like a mini golden gate almost!

After nearly being accosted by some shifty looking guys and a policeman by telling them for a joke that he had a gun in his bag (probably a bad idea but seemed to get him out of trouble), Fabian and I went to a nice looking veranda by the river to have a beer. Whilst moaning to each other about our various problems and worries, I noticed that all the pictures of the bridge in the place showed the sun setting behind the bridge so I decided that I would attempt to get a sunset behind the bridge photo later on.

After our beer (polar light in tiny bottles seems like all they have in this country!) we decided to try and find the internet so we could contact our couchsurfing girls and check emails, facebook etc but we were unsuccessful in our quest so just went back to the hostel to rest. After a while of watching Chavez talking rubbish blurting out stats that even he seemed unsure about, Fabian fell asleep. I decided that I was going to explore as there still seemed according to the pictures in reception, quite a lot to see.

So off I went camera in hand starting again at the square. Earlier I had seen a nice looking almost venetian style walk way between two buildings which I wanted to find. I found it and a nice guy looking smart in a fushia shirt (almost exactly matching the wall he was leaning against) and trousers called me over and told me he’d take me round the building so I could take pictures so upstairs we went. He told me it used to be an old hospital and now it had been painted and renovated as a tourist attraction due to its old colonial style.

He took me up to a place where there were some fairly good views of the city and even went down to the road to take photos of me in one of the arches up on the walkway. What a nice guy i thought! He blatantly wants propinas (tips) though! From the viewpoint I saw a nice fortress thing on top of a hill in the near distance. When I asked what it was he told me it was the home of Simon Bolivar for some many years so that was where I was going to head next.

On the way there I passed many more nice buildings including a couple of nice churches and a nice old orphanage built in classic old style as well as a small white obelisk.

At the obelisk I thought that I must be close and looking to my right I saw it. It didn’t look like the easiest place to get to as you had to climb a big rock to get up to but I was up for the challenge and scrambled up in no time at all. Little did I know when I got up there that there was an official front entrance where you had to sign your name but luckily not pay.

The place was quite enchanting, it was like a little fortress where apparently but don’t quote me on this (I’ll look it up at some point) Bolivar actually lived for 60 years but there was no sign of a house, just the ruins of an old fort built on top of a big rock with a roof built on it and a white keep with 3 windows exactly the same style as those in Cartagena on the corner of the fort.

 I was up there alone and was enjoying the tranquillity just walking around and taking photos and then it began to rain, heavily! I was still under the cover of the fort roof so I was completely dry but it looked like it wasn’t stopping for a while so I was going to have to make myself comfortable! After about 30 minutes just sitting on the fort wall taking photos of the city in the rain (it was quite a good view up there), the rain began to cease a little so I decided to head down.

After taking some more photos with Simons’ statue in front of the fort, I left and began to walk back in the direction I thought was correct but clearly after about 10 minutes realised it wasn’t. On walking past someone standing in his porch behind a gate, I slowed down and thought about asking directions but before I culd speak, he was calling me over. Hola amigo he said, cerveza fria para ti? You wanna cold beer he asked. What a great idea, I was hot and a little lost so I gratefully agreed to the idea and he invited me into his home. He immediately came to me with an icy cold beer (yes you guessed a tiny polar light) and proceeded to introduce me to his wife and son! What a nice guy! After we had been sat chatting for a while and I had finished my beer, I told him I had to leave and wasn’t sure exactly how to get back to the plaza Bolivar so he gave me directions and even 2 bolivars towards a taxi if I needed it! What a nice guy! He restored my faith in trusting other human beings!
In typical Adam fashion, I was determined not to waste money on cabs and make my own way home by foot as I was certain that it wasn’t that far so off I went, enjoying walking through the cities streets with the market places closing up and lots of people going about their daily lives. Even though I looked different and was clearly a tourist with my backpack on and camera in hand, as in Valencia, the people didn’t even look twice and just continued on with what they were doing. After all I was just another person and as long as you don’t look like a lost vulnerable person and walk with some purpose and some certainty and slight anger in your eyes, (it often helps to look angry as it strikes fear into the onlookers) then people just leave you alone. Occasionally you might get a hey gringo or hello my friend but it’s mostly just harmless banter. Anyway so yeah I began walking with some purpose, determined to find my way back and for a small while seemed to be walking in circles, I just wanted to get back to the river and then I’d be fine but I could see no sign of the damn thing, just more city streets. Eventually I came to the cemetery that I had passed earlier so I knew I was getting closer then with almost no warning the heavens suddenly opened and it started raining with true intent! This was no flash flood shower, this was torrential rain that showed no signs of stopping. I had no shelter yet again, so I jumped on an empty bus (not even the driver) that was parked up by the side of the road with it’s engine running. Yes I did consider numerous times just commandeering the thing and then just thought no, stop being stupid, wait for the driver and hopefully he’ll be able to at least give directions if not take me there (or in the direction). Well when he finally got on after I had waited for around 20 minutes without the rain ceasing in the slightest he grumpily asked what I wanted. Everyone of the windows in the bus was open so he nudged past and began shutting them so I went round helping him shutting all on one side of the bus and him shutting all on the other. I thought perhaps this gesture of goodwill might bring something in return but when I told him where I needed to go he just said he wasn’t going in that direction so off I got and back was once again back in the rain, walking in the general direction he had waved towards when I asked him whivh way. This happened to be a quite a steep hill so now not only was I getting soaked through but also exhausted from walking up the hill! God I was praying for something I recognised at the top of this hill! To my delight, at the top of the hill I saw the square I had been in earlier with a big blue building to the right that I had earlier been taking photos of so then I knew I was close. Then as I continued to walk (still the rain was pouring), I saw the river and then the hostel! At last I was back. I'll go and get dry, wake Fabian up and we'll go for food.
Fabian was awake when I got in, in the shower in fact and when he came out he suggested that we tried to get in contact with one of the girls we had been in contact with from couch surfing as he was going to need a place to stay for the next couple of nights while I was away so I agreed after we'd found food because by this stage I was beginning to get quite hungry! So off we went to the nearest internet cafe. We were actually in there for a good couple of hours, both just doing bits and bobs we needed to do, chatting with friends, answering emails, listening to music and making calls to these girls. By complete coiincidence, it turned out that the girl I was in touch with on couchsurfing knew the girl Fabain was in touch with and after a couple of phone calls, we agreed to meet them.
After a bag of crisps in the internet cafe for dinner, we were ready to leave and got a cab to the address that Fabian had taken only to find it was a bunch of blocks of flats and we had no idea which block it was or which floor, door number etc but luckily the guy at the gate of the flats let us borrow his phone to call them and they told us they were in a couchsurfing meeting in a cafe down the road. By this time it was about 11.30 and I was getting pretty tired and after about 15 minutes of walking around dark backstreets in what felt like the middle of nowhere, but failing to find the place I told Fabian that I wasn't being a kill joy but I needed to get up at 6am to go on this trip the next day and even if we did find them, a couchsurfers meeting in some greasy spoon in a boring city didn't sound too much fun to me so we both agreed to get the next taxi back to the hostel and so that turned out to be our last night together!
The next morning I woke up at about 6am but stayed in bed til about 6.30 when there was a knock on the door from the hostelier who passed me the phone. It was the tour operator saying the taxi would be there in 10 minutes so I quickly jumped up, got ready, said a brief farewell to Fabs and jumped in the taxi to attempt to process this payment. Luckily all went through successfully apart from the part where they said that to confirm the transaction they would call one of the two numbers I had provided, my home (which I clearly couldn't answer and mum would have been at work at that time) or my mobile (which had been stolen) and they would give a security number which I was to enter into the keypad for authorisation. I panicked! I wasn't able to take a call from either. THere was one option which was not received, techincal difficulties which I selected and it went through to the successful payment screen thank God so I was on my way to Canaima and Angel Falls, the highest waterfall in the world at 1024 metres high!