Weapon Insepection at the Venezuelan Border

Well, my prostitute friends were to busy to hang out with that night. I at least I managed to say a proper goodbye. I´m not sure if they were smiling because they were making good money, if they were enjoying their work or both. I suppose with the right mind set, prostitution might have its good nights. I tried to be a gigalo once, but too many guys are giving it out for free. I hung out with some good people I met in the hotel. The tourists that go to Columbia are much more interesting that the other places I have been. I even met a fellow cab driver from Portland. She was a real charactor.

I could no longer linger in Columbia. Father time put his hand on my shoulder and said that it was time to go. He couldn´t stop me from leaving part of my heart there. By far, Columbia has been the best part of my trip.

Leaving Columbia would have been a tough trip had I not met the most beautiful girl in the world on the way out. She even has been looking at emigrating to Quebec - something that would benifit the whole northern hemisphere. She spoke English which is very rare for a Columbian. With some luck we will have a couple of hours together in Caracas.

Everyone on our bus got searched at the border. They went through everything. I got taken into a room that was a little uncomfortable. I had to unbutton my shirt, then my pants. I wasn´t wearing underwear and when I showed him my weapon, the search suddenly ended.

After crossing the border, we all had to show our ID at police checks 4 or 5 times. This was so the police could collect money from Columbians who don´t have proper ID. The last time, we each pitched in about 1000 Bolivianos to get though the checkpoint quickly as it was known for being infested with bugs. That one still took the longest.

Venezuela is full of V8´s. This is probably because of the extremely low fuel prices. It costs them as much to fill a tank as most of Europe pays for one litre. Although I know it´s not the best for the enviornment, it is really cool to see all of the 70's and 80's big luxury cars. Most have big mags. By far the most common car is the Chevy Caprice. The other down side is that there are a lot of cars here and walking is much more difficult. It's the same disaster that has infested North America. Venezuela has't left a good impression so far and I don´t have much time to change that.

Today, I arived in Coro on my way to Caracas. The buildings are prettier than your avergage South American town, but the number of cars really brings down the enjoyment level.

Today was really hard. I woke up early to the houskeeper knocking on my door several times, trying to get me to pay a little more to sleep in until a reasonable time. I left without a shower into the sweltering heat. It is so damn hot here. I took an uncomforatable bus to Coro, a good place to stop before Caracas. When I got here, I went looking to change my Columbian Pesos to Bolivianos. That proved to be a nearly imposible task. After barking up every tree I was told to - every bank and even a trip to the airport, I was begining to accept the fact that I had to sleep in the park. Finally I went to a shop that said they bought gold. The guy ripped me off big time, but I got enough for a hotel and maybe enough for a bus to Caracas tommorow where I know I can change Pesos.

I´m sure glad I'm not sleeping in the park tonight and my hotel has air conditioning. I wouldn´t be able to sleep without. The average temperature here is 30 c. Way to hot. I'm looking forward to freezing my wang off in Canada.