Day 28 Caracas, Venezuela- Bus (13 August)

(Written at Rosa and Monica´s house in Cartagena on 16 August)

After a good night´s rest we shocked the receptionist at the hotel by insisting that she explain to us how we could use the public transport system, rather than taking a taxi. She explained well and we found our way from little bus, to bigger bus to metro, to the bus station. Here it took us a long time to figure out how to get around our Venezuelan poverty, since they wanted to charge us $350 per person for a bus to Cartagena. We finally worked out that we could get to Maracaibo, the main oil capitol of Venezuela, for much less and then see if we could make our way from there at a more reasonable price.

It was already after 1pm by the time we bought our tickets. We left our luggage at the left luggage place in the bus station, and went into town to see if we could find an immigration official that might help Ethie with her lack of a little green and blue paper that Jansie and Eugenie got on entry but Ethie did not. We found the Ministry of Interior and everyone from the guard at the door to the five ladies that passed the question around among them, was very friendly. They said she did not need any papers. We hoped they were right.

When we came out of the building we realized that all the shops were closing. We wondered if they had a siesta or something, and then we realized the marked increase in military presence. The whole army seemed to be hanging around in their riot gear. We then saw the red t-shirted marchers coming down the street in their masses. We could not work out what they were marching for, but it looked like they were pro-government, so we wondered at all the precautions.

We paid R350 for three big-mac meals at MacDonalds – the last meal we would have till we get to cheaper Colombia – and after that the march was over and business in the pleasant down town area of Caracas seemed to return to normal. We finally found an internet café, and managed to email Emmanuel to find out about perhaps still meeting local believers in Venezuela. Back at the bus station we called him, and heard that the pastor would not be able to come to the bus station to meet us, but that they where praying for us and blessing us.

We boarded the bus and spent the rest of the night in 13 degrees Celsius – it was very cold.