Manaus - Boa Vista - Ciudad Boliver (Venezuela)

HELLO!


Well we are in Ciudad Boliver in Venezuela...hiding in a hotel waiting for an urgently booked flight to Caracas after the most harrowing, stressful, frightening trip of our lives!

We left Manaus on Saturday morning at 9 am.. after being confident (based on prior bus experiences) that we would have air-con and stretch out room aplenty, we were disappointed - this bus had no room, the air-con was non existent, the windows didnt open and there was no suspension. We endured a sweltering hot, cramped rickety ride to Boa Vista where, on arrival at 2am, we were informed our next bus was delayed til 7.30 on Sunday morning.

Exhausted, fed up and hungry, we hosed ourselves off (literally) and proceeded to camp out in the (outdoor, unenclosed space) bus station. Sprawled across metal seats and being mauled by bugs we managed to snatch 1/2 an hour sleep before being woken to blaring speakers and freezing cold winds at 5.30 am.

Scoffing back a $10 hamburger and revolting coffee we borded the next bus at 7.30 and began the next leg...this time the bus had room and air -con, but was set to freezing (we cant win) but we managed a blissful hour sleep before reaching the pre-border stop at 11 am. We got off the bus amidst a flurry of black market cash vendors, drunks and crims all trying to hustle us, sell us money and blind side us. Hastiliy wolfing back miscellaneous greasy pastries we queued at the border crossing to be stamped out of Brazil, then crossed no mans land to be stamped officially into Venezuela.

Elation and excitement kicked in as we trundled across the border into the mountainous terrain of the Raurima state, however, this soon turned to fear as we went through our first security check - machine gun toting baby faced guards are more intimidating than the older ones! We were stopped every hour and asked to show our passports which became frustrating but added to our exhaustion as we couldnt get to sleep due to being woken so often.

It became very apparent that the guards were pin pointing us as gringos and were hoping for cash.

At one point the boys were hauled off the bus, taken into a station and their bags checked, but on the presentaiton of money they were let go and all was fine. Corruption, black mail and bribery all a commonplace part of the Venezuelan military, and apparently something that the locals accept as status quo.

Shaken up and beyond repair tired and hungry after 2 days of no sleep and only a snatched meal the day before, we reached Ciudad Bolivar at 2 am only to realise how stuck and vulnerable we are.

With no cash on us we were at the mercy of the taxi driver - who, after driving us round to 6 banks started threatening us (in Spanish) as we had no way of paying him, although we suggested he take us to a hostel and come for money in the morning, so he took us back to the bus depot where he made a huge scene attracting the attention of all the other cab drivers who came to his back up....screaming at us in Spanish, making threatening gestures and generally breaking us down. Thankfully (or so we thought) another driver took pity on us and offered to take us to a hotel and come and collect payment in the morning!

Bedgraggled, sideways with exhaustion and hunger and utterly incommunicado we checked into a hotel (a cool $240 for the night) and managed to get some sleep! The 'nice; taxi driver showed up first thing this morning whisking the boys to a cash machine and charging $200 for his services withe the friendly heads up that the other taxi driver is looking for us! We have now decided to skip right to Caracas tomorrow on the first available flight (another cool $300) and then on to Colombia (I never thought I would be looking to Colombia as a 'safe' option!) ... Broke, tired and generally scared we are now hiding in a hotel waiting to leave tomorrow morning!

Talk about an experience! Definitely a story for the autobiography!

I will write to you as soon as we arrive at Caracas to let you know we are safe and well!

xx Missing home a lot today!!!