From the Spine of the Americas

Sitting in an internet cafe in Merida, a city in the Venezuelan Andes, I don´t know whether to start with an apology for not writing for such a long time or with telling you how beautiful it is over here.

I think I´ll just go with the latter :) But of course I´ll give you an update as well as to how I got from the low lying rainforests of Surinam, over three weeks ago now, to this landscape surrounded by snowcapped peaks of over 5000 meters.

In Surinam, while still staying on the boat with Willem and Lea – his partner who had come to sail with us from there – I took a 3 day trip to the inlands. Big spiders, endless rainforests, rides with tough golddiggers and an unexpected visit to a funeral ceremony in the middle of the jungle made this trip as unforgetable as always.

In my mind, though, what really topped the entire trip so far were the dolphins and the orcas we saw on our way from Surinam to Tobago. One of the orcas even dived right under the boat, exactly where we were watching it. Videos available when I get back to anywhere with fast internet!

That is not to say that what came after that is not worth writing about. On the contrary, arriving on Tobago, a tropical island, and my first experience of the Caribbean, could not have been better. We anchored in a splendid bay at Charlotteville on the northern tip of the island in the middle of the night, and when at sunrise the first light came I honestly thought I had arrived in paradise.

White sandy beaches were lined with palm trees and a beautiful mixed forest that rolled down the mountains. Higher up, rainforest began, leaving people further down with just its beauty and not the sweltering humidity. The locals were all very welcoming, and I have to admit: I´ve never seen an immigration officer so relaxed yet capable of actually doing something right.

After a much anticipated dive off the bow of the Nevertheless, I said goodbye to Willem and Lea, going my own way again from there. Hitchhiking down to Scarborough proved exceptionally easy, and as Carnival celebrations rolled through the streets I spent the next few days couchsurfing in both Scarborough and Port of Spain (on Trinidad).

Carnival in Port of Spain is supposed to be the biggest celebration of this holiday in the world, apparently having surpassed the famous streets of Rio de Janeiro in recent years. It´s difficult to imagine something bigger, music louder, or costumes more extravagant than what I saw here, so I´ll just take their word for it.

Also interesting was the fact that, for the occasion, local women seem to have abandoned shaking hands when introducing. Instead, I was very surprised when the first girl I was introduced to turned around and started grinding her ass on my private parts, much like your average rap video on MTV. Thinking this to be an exception at first, I´ll just say that by the fourth introduction I was completely cured of this misperception.

In short, I look back on Trinidad and Tobago as a country I´ll just have to come back some time (alright, that list of places is long anyway, but I really mean it!!), because this first taste was just too good! Although, call me anything you want, but I´ll probably pick a time when introductions are more like what I´m used to, because this definitely constituted a culture shock in my poor, innocent, Dutch mind.

Taking a short ferry trip to Venezuela brought me in touch with several other travelers, and my steady conviction to at least try to hitchhike the first bit to the next major town made two of them want to try as well. Three guys hitchhiking is rarely a success though, and after trying for about an hour we decided to put our faith in one of the ubiquitous ok-priced shared taxis that were driving past while we were waiting.

Saying goodbye to these two fellows the next day, I had plans to arrive in Caracas the next day to meet up with two friends I knew from a student conference in Norway a few years ago. Now, Caracas easily surpasses any other place I´ve been in terms of reputation for crime and danger, so I decided to just relax and take the bus here too.

Even though everything and everyone in Caracas is in a state of constant hyperawareness of anything dangerous and criminal (cars don´t even stop for traffic lights at night, as they fear muggings the minute they stop moving), and they are probably justified in this to a point. My time in Caracas, however, was absolutely great, as my friends showed me around and took me out to taste all the typical foods and drinks, as well as showing me sites that tell stories of how Venezuela became the place that it is today.

Even though I managed to exchange money on the black market (my friends like to travel too, and they need foreign currency for that) at a much better rate that the official rate (at least twice as much!) Caracas remains an expensive city, something that I have luckily found to be less so here in the Andes. Here too, though, I´d have to find people willing to change money illegally in order for things to remain slightly affordable.

The difference between the official exchange rate and the black market rate is a result of the government´s policy to fix the value of the Venezuelan bolivar to the US dollar at a rate of 4.3 bolivars per dollar. Inflation is around 30% average each year though, so this has quickly made dollars (and euros just as much) worth much more than 4.3 bolivars, which is why many people want to pay double that amount in order to get some, as the amount they can get through the government at the cheap official course is very limited.

All this doesn´t make the people any less friendly though, so my experience of the last days staying in a posada (small family-run bed and breakfasts) in a tiny village up in the mountains has been just what I needed to relax a bit after traveling for such a long time.

That brings me to the present, in which I´m just looking at the flight booking confirmation I have received in my email a few minutes ago. These past days of rest have enabled me to take a good look at my plans, the amount of money I have left, and the time I can still spend before that money probably runs out. Sadly, amounts of both time and money never seem to be enough when you´re trying to discover the world for yourself.

The flights I´ve booked are from Panama City to Florida in the United States in early April, and from New York City to Dusseldorf in June. I might still change the dates for the latter, but having it should make it considerably easier convincing customs in the US that I will in fact leave the country again.

Before the time comes to fly, however, I will still have the opportunity to visit some other places here in Venezuela, and later in Colombia and Panama. I haven´t really talked about it, but Venezuela is a country that is much more diverse landscape wise than any other country I´ve been to so far, so I´m afraid it´s going to end up in the company of Trinidad and Tobago, and many others on that list of places to go back to one day.

There, I think I´ve written quite enough for now. I´ve still got a number of stories in my secret stash for those curious enough to buy me a beer when we meet, and I´d like to keep it that way!

Cheers!