| Travelog
Twenty
Well, needless to
say we have had an interesting two months since leaving Trinidad and
as the saying goes: time sure flies when you are having fun. As previously
mentioned, our first stop after leaving Trinidad was Islas Los Testigos,
the pretty little group of islands about halfway to Margarita. After
all the rain and heat of Trinidad, it was nice to get out into the trade
winds again. However, the fun started when our new autopilot crashed
on the way and we had to hand steer most of the 96 miles. It turned
out that a bolt hadn't been tightened on the steering arm and it just
disconnected itself. It was an easy fix once we arrived. The next bit
of fun came when our new Mercury outboard died on our second day out.
Oh well, I needed the rowing exercise anyway. It turned out to be a
little piece of debris or lint in the carburetor, easily remedied in
Margarita with the tap of a hammer! I must mention that we had linked up with a young couple, Curt and Ali in Trinidad to buddy-boat with on our trip to Venezuela. Curt was a 34 year old "retired" computer software programmer and Ali, his girlfriend was a marketing manager for a cowboy boot company. They had decided to take a couple of years off, bought a 34 ft boat in St. Martin, and were doing the Caribbean Island circuit. Their youth, enthusiasm (Ali's good looks) and total naiveté about the cruising life matched with our age, experience, wisdom and general level of BS made for good traveling companions. Upon our arrival
in Margarita, we were again amazed by the inexpensive prices on all
the goods and services. The Bolivar had been devalued about 50% since
our last visit, which was great if you hadn't saved any money from the
previous year. Diesel is $.25 US per gallon, $.50 delivered to your
boat. Beer (always a good point of reference) about $.40 US a bottle,
$.20 at Happy Hour. Taxis run about $1.50-2.50 US any where in town.
The restaurants are a particularly good bargain and Pam has decided
it is cheaper to eat out than cook on the boat. Yeah, right! We spent
the first week revisiting the island and all of our old haunts with
Curt and Ali. This is of course where the BS fits in! Their enthusiasm
was quite contagious, and we even managed to stay out a couple of nights
past 9:00 PM The plan was to take a high speed jet catamaran ferry from Isla Margarita to Caracas about 175 miles and then taxi to the airport to rent our car. Of course the best laid plans went awry when after a 45-minute taxi ride to the ferry terminal we were informed that the ferry wasn't running on Mondays due to the slow season. There was however, a ferry running to Puerto La Cruz, about 150 east of Caracas, which meant then taking a taxi to the Barcelona airport to rent our car. Sound confusing? It was. All went well until we departed the Barcelona airport and immediately missed our turn and got hopelessly lost in downtown Barcelona. I'm sure glad Curt was driving. With Pam and Ali we had both back-seat and front seat drivers! The plan was to bypass Caracas if possible, and after Barcelona we definitely didn't want to get caught at rush hour in that city. Fortunately, we only made it about 80 miles before nightfall but we did manage to find a comfortable hotel. The next day it was off again, through the outskirts of Caracas and then through miles of beautiful rolling cattle country. The highways and roads in Venezuela are quite good, many with beautiful landscaping and supposedly some of the best in South America. We passed through several private toll booths and were told that the funds were used to finance the landscaping along the roads. With an average fee of US $.10, we were happy to make our contribution to the highway beautification program. After a full days drive, it was off the next morning to Merida. Within an hour the road started to twist and climb dramatically away from the hot flatlands through some incredibly beautiful tropical forests. In no time we were well above 6,000 ft. with cool mountain air, pine trees, rushing streams, waterfalls and flowers everywhere; much like our own Sierra Nevadas. Merida lies in a
valley between two mountain ranges and we were quite surprised at the
size of the city. Being a university town, it is quite cosmopolitan,
laid back with numerous good restaurants, cafes, posadas and cultural
spots. We had a recommendation for a neat little posada, right in the
middle of town with a good restaurant attached and walking distance
to all the sights. After three years now of warm tropical weather, the
cool mountain air and evenings were really a treat. Having our own rental
car was an added bonus as there are numerous side trips to some of the
small Andean pueblos. These quaint little villages are direct out of
a travel poster. One of the highlights
of a trip to Merida is the Teleferico (cable car) ride above the city,
the longest and highest in the world. There are four different stations
and you end up at over 15,600 ft., 34º temperature and 20% oxygen
level. Needless to say, we weren't in much shape for those conditions.
After a quick stop for photos of the spectacular panorama and gasping
for breath we descended to the third station (13,271 ft) for the next
adventure. We had been told
that we could either take the cable car directly back to Merida or for
a little more adventure we could hire some burros with guides and make
a side trip to the scenic little pueblo of Los Nevados for an overnight
stay. What they hadn't told us was that is was a 5-hour burro ride over
some of the roughest and steepest terrain that we'd ever encountered.
Of course we unknowingly opted for the burro ride. The plan was to return our rent-a-car at the Caracas Airport and then take the jet ferry back to Margarita. Of course we chose an alternate return route and immediately got lost again. Our three cardinal rules were: not to drive at night, pick our hotel before dark and stay out of downtown Caracas at all cost. As you can guess we broke all those rules and our final evening found us driving into downtown Caracas, the first day of the national strike. Our hotel staff warned us to stay off the streets; and since all of the stores and restaurants were shutting down, we made a quick run to a local market to stock up on cold cuts, crackers and rum. After a night of "pan beating" and street rallies, it was off to the airport to turn in the rental car. Luckily, we had allowed four hours to make it there as we once again managed to get caught in the world's worst traffic jam. At that point, we all decided that the short flight to Margarita was preferable to a five-hour upwind ferry ride. Upon our return
to Margarita, we learned that due to the strike, most of the major stores
on the island were closed. Markets were open for a few hours in the
morning, but worst of all; they were running out of beer! Our friends
Curt and Ali had departed for St. Martin, so we decided with a few other
cruisers to spend Christmas at Isla Blanquilla, a beautiful little island
about 60 miles north of Margarita. Blanquilla was really
delightful, a little like the Testigos, only more remote and deserted.
It is quite isolated with only five permanent inhabitants and no town
or services. With clear water and great snorkeling it seemed like the
ideal spot after all the excitement of the week before. The weather
has been sunny but quite cool, which made it a little hard to get into
the holiday spirit. We were soon joined in the anchorage by a sprinkling
of European cruisers and ended up the holidays with some nice beach
and boat parties. Most of the boats were decorated and one couple even
decorated a palm tree on the beach. Upon our return to Porlamar the strike was still in effect. Most all the stores had reopened after taking a bath over Christmas, but things are getting pretty serious now since they have run out of beer and tonic on the entire island! Enough to start rioting in the streets! Our plans currently are a little vague as we are waiting to see what will happen with the political situation, but we plan to remain here for about a week and then start heading up island. We have gotten so used to the cheap prices, I'm not sure we are ready for all the "charterboat islands". In closing, we hope you all have had a great year and best wishes for 2003. Keep us in you thoughts and we will try to keep you entertained with our exploits in the coming year All the best, Steve & Pam |
