Caracas (August 7, 2006)

Finally we found a room and paid US$25 for one of the worst rooms we have stayed in so far. By this time it was 10:00pm and we were exhausted after being on the go for 16 hours.
The last country of our trip...and full of more exciting adventures! We had originally planned on visiting Canaima & Angel Falls, but we had some bank account issue so we couldn't go. We also planned on hiking Mt. Roraima, but we were getting tired at the end of our trip and opted for more beach time instead. Being the end of our trip and short on money, we also realized we couldn't afford to go to Los Roques! Instead we spent half our time in Merida for one last taste of the Andes mountains, and the other half relaxing on the beautiful beaches of Morrocoy National Park and doing some scuba diving.
Finally we found a room and paid US$25 for one of the worst rooms we have stayed in so far. By this time it was 10:00pm and we were exhausted after being on the go for 16 hours.
Despite the discomfort, it was nice to do the trip during the day so we could see the Venezuelan countryside. Everywhere was green and lush, and we drove along the coastline for a little while with good views of the ocean.
Unfortunately the money transfer hadn’t gone through yet, we certainly didn’t have enough cash on us, and we had used the last of our traveler’s cheques in Ecuador. Disheartened, we decided we would have to miss out on the Angel Falls tour, which was disappointing after we had already decided we would skip the Roraima trek as well.
There was very little communication between the bus drivers and the passengers, so we are not sure what was going on, but from what we could figure out the road was closed for some reason and traffic was not getting through. Our 10 hour bus ride turned into 23 hours and we finally pulled into Valencia at 8am the following morning.
The first place we asked at, called Posada Guamanchi (also an outdoor adventure tour company), said “sure, we have a room for you!” and led us up the stairs to a new section of their posada with rooms overlooking the Plaza Las Heroinas and the mountains and hammocks on the balcony. We were in heaven!