Venezuela

With the three of us all suffering from trench foot after the previous soggy days we crossed into Venezuela. Nearly all reports that I’ve had point to a dangerous country on the verge of civil war, run by an unpopular dictator President Chavez. Still, apparently Nigeria was more than iffy but both myself and Mick were impressed by its people and anyway if you listen to what’s supposedly bad for you you’d never leave your house. Or eat.
A three man faff including Venezuelan insurance, customs and shipping from Columbia issues resulted in us spending an extra precious day in the not particularly nice border town of Santa Elena. Border towns never are nice though to be fair and so all judgement on Venezuela will have to wait for now. Also up for discussion was whether to attempt Angel Falls or not. With time now pressing and having already visited Iguazu Falls at the start of the trip I wasn’t keen, especially seeing as it involved a two day plane and boat journey costing £200. Plus it’s out of season and a question mark remains over whether there are any boats operating now at all? And anyway, the road north through Venezuela’s Grande Savannah offered several free waterfalls albeit none of them as spectacular as Angel’s. BJ though was adamant and so off he went with me and Lenny making for Cuidad Bolivar a couple of hours behind. Something worth a mention though is the cost of fuel in Venezuela. 0.097 Venezuelan Bolivars for a litre of the higher RON95 equates to...just a smidge over 1p a litre!! In fact it’s so cheap that BJ managed to get a free tank full as the petrol (NOT “Gas” Lenny!) attendant couldn’t be bothered to give him change from a fairly large note!!
As for the ride itself, it was the usual hot, long and tiring day with pretty much the same scenery as Brazil once past the beautiful Grande Savannah. On the road there’s plenty of old American beaten up cars and Toyota Land Cruisers. Unsurprisingly if you’re Venezuelan and don’t drive a V8 you’re in the minority and at 1p a litre I can see why!