

A friendly family invite us to sleep in their hotel and celebrate the birthday of Raphael in a comfortable room. The day after, we are on our way down to the Caribbean coast, nothing easier in Venezuela, we jumped on pick ups, cars and finally a big truck stopped by the friendly policemen and Carlos, our drunken angel who accept to take us to Puerto la Cruz. While driving, he drunk an entire bottle of whisky and told us complicated and confused stories... A chaotic entry in a chaotic zone, the city is pretty ugly, polluted, dirty...a true mess, however we found good people, some Lebanese who invite us for some delicious vegetarian Falafel and a good friend who let us sleep in the commercial center he takes care of. In the morning we are already on our way out...we need nature and wonderful beaches...
Along the way, we have the opportunity to discover the perspicacity and the curious political consciousness of the Venezuelans. No way to have a clear idea about political situation in this country, too many fake stories, lies and propaganda. The big victory of Chavez according to us has been to allow the people to develop clear opinions and to get involved in politics. The 26 millions inhabitants of Venezuela do know about politics and have chosen their side, they are all convinced and strongly in favor of Chavez or fiercely against him. This might be the big loss of the revolutionary president, the country is divided, on one side the Chavistas, poorer, employees of the government, artists, communists or the simplest people, seduced by the active propaganda of the government and on the other side, the richer, business people, owners, the ones who protest against expropriation and don't want to give up a part of their privileges. Hard to say, on each side, there are justified arguments, some socialist reforms are really interesting and good for the people: free university, rights for the indigenous communities, basic minimum wage for all, education for all, common agricultural policies to produce cheap food for all. Chavez tries his best with his motto, “to live well is not to live better than the others”, a theory that his opponents critic saying that he is establishing a “low level equality” like in Cuba. There are nice reforms...contrasting unfortunately with the reality. On the side of the slogan “Patria socialista o muerte”, Mcdonalds, Coca Cola and other big corporations keep advertising, seducing everyday more consumers, inequality doesn’t stop, insecurity jumped to put Venezuela one of the most dangerous places in the world in terms of delinquency, 15 millions weapons in circulation for less than 30 millions people, an anti capitalist politic but a very rich high class, a strange control of the change rate by the government, the United states as the first economic partner...and oil, petrol, the number 1 resource in the country, contaminating the beach and the forest to make more and more money that doesn’t always end in the right pockets. Environmentally speaking, the situation is a disaster, burning trashes along the road, the cheapest oil in the world, you fill up the tank with one euro, trashes everywhere, in the beaches, in the forest...more disposable plastic products...the craziness of capitalism that cannot be stop by some socialist idealism.
A clear lack of coherence in a very difficult context, no environmental consciousness, the people throw away their trashes without knowing if it is harming or not...A land with incredible resources, heavenly beaches, adorable and gentle people...but a history of corruption, deceptions... Nowadays, it is a divided society, chaotic, taken in between contradictory ideologies with the citizens who spend more time praising or criticizing their president instead of thinking what they could do.
Despite of all these difficulties the Venezuelans have to deal with, each person we meet is friendly and open to our story, generous, they never hesitate to give us a hand, offer us a place to stay, a bit of food or a ride to the next village. We discovered the wonder of the Caribbean sea in Sabana, a small village on the coast, there we met Braulio, a pure citizen of the world who call himself Pacha and says his birthplace is the Pacha Mama, he offered us a shelter for some days and shared his visions and knowledge with us...he is a painter, an outsider who draws colorful messages of consciousness on the walls of the places he visits. From there, we head to Caracas discovering the craziness of that city.
Thanks to Eberhard and Ruby who took care of us like mom and dad for a week, we could rest and update our website, spend some nice chilling time and get all our energy to continue our journey. Around Caracas, we visit the “Colonia Tovar”, a colony of Germans who came here in the 19th century, called by the Venezuelans to diversify the agriculture...Today, there are only the descendants who barely speak German, architecture remained intact though, and at 200 meters of altitude it feels like if we were in Switzerland... We made also a small stop in the Nuevo Circo, a bull place that had been abandoned when the government abolished the games and then occupied by some alternative artists. Today, painters, musicians and a circus manage the place with the support of the government.
We continue our journey along the coast to get to Puerto Maya, a small village where we meet thanks to the destiny some fishermen who accept to take us to Choroni with a small motor boat. We can then have a great look at the Andean mountains that came from the southern places of Americas to come to die here, in the blue water of the Caribbean sea. After an hour, we arrive in this charming fisherman village with its bright colors, a festive atmosphere and a wonderful beach lined by a forest of coconuts trees...One of the greatest beach we have been on the journey. Then we hit the road to go to Chichiriviche, another nice place where we met a lot of craftmen from all America, Peruvians, Argentinians, citizen of the world who walked around their continent selling their labors. José is great with us, preparing us oats juice in the morning, he is walking around spreading positive messages to the world. Unfortunately, like in many places in Venezuela, the beaches are really polluted and assaulted by the “minitekas”, big sound system on the back of the cars who spread their insane music along the beach ways...We are happy to leave the drunken people and we follow the coast to get to Coro, probably one of the most beautiful place in the country, a colonial town that was at this time over flooded. Like in many places in the world, this year was the most humid, it had never rain that much before. The Venezuelan architecture was not thought for deluges....there are rivers coming down the streets. A quick look at the desert of Coro, there all type of climate in Venezuela, desert, high snowy mountains, wonderful beaches, a great diversity of landscapes.
Read previous articles:
Across Brazil
Across French Guyana and Suriname
From Guyana to Venezuela
Photos of Venezuela: lien
Across French Guyana and Suriname
From Guyana to Venezuela
Photos of Venezuela: lien
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