My trip 2017 - Stop #1: Puerto La Cruz

With this I'll begin with the story of the trip I made per my country last year. Before starting with the first stop, it seems important to tell you about the preparations. This idea was born last year, when a thought came to my head: How can people leave Venezuela without first knowing it in all its splendor? Yes, that's why I promised myself that in 2017 I was going to start a tour of this beautiful country. To begin, I drew a route from the places where I could go more easily to start the trip (and maybe the next one could dare to go a little further). This route was Caracas-Puerto La Cruz-Margarita-Caracas-Maracay-Valencia-Barquisimeto-Maracaibo-Mérida-Caracas. That route I'd to modify it, but then we'll talk about that.

After planning with dates and places, I dusted my Couchsurfing account. For those who don't know, Couchsurfing is the web page par excellence for travelers, it can say where you travel, the locals can offer you their sofa to stay, guides or simply recommendations to visit in that place. In the same way, you can receive travelers in your home, and thus you can have a very rich cultural exchange, meet new people, and make new memories. When the month of July approaches, for reasons of time and events that interest me, they change my route eliminating Maracay and Maracaibo as destinations, and a bit the order of the other places. After that, I dedicated myself to contacting my relatives and friends who had a destination in the states where, like the Couchsurfing users who offered accommodation in those places. Having everything ready, I put together my backpack and started.

It's funny how the universe gives you things before you expect, I asked for adventure and fun, a different trip, and on the first day, he gave it to me. Presumably my trip from Caracas to Puerto La Cruz would only take 6 hours, I had planned to leave in the morning and at night to stay with a boy named Alejo (whom I met in Couchsurfing) who offered me accommodation in Lechería. However, not everything went as planned.

At 3 o'clock in the afternoon, in a small town called Cupira, the bus was stopped by officials of the Bolivarian National Guard, which isn't uncommon and those who have traveled in Venezuela by land will understand me. Between checking bags and a strong sun from the East, they began to hear murmurs from the passengers of the bus, when from one of the backpacks, which had no owner, the guard got a bomb. Yes, a bomb. Obviously, we all fell between panic and curiosity, giving a little faith in the owner of it and thinking that it was just a perfume with a peculiar design. But it turned out to be true, a tear gas bomb surely found in one of the demonstrations that took place in my country this year. While they were looking for the owner of the bag, the bus terminal was called and the relevant declarations were made, the sun began to fall and the hours to run. This trip of 6 hours became one of 13, when we were 7 hours standing in that little town in the middle of nowhere. But of course, bad weather good face.

It turns out that in those hours we were in that town, that group of strangers who shared a bus began to share and get to know each other. Some ladies, owners of a restaurant right next to the stop, took pity on us and made us some delicious arepas at a very affordable price. And between comic conversations, photos and even a group of WhatsApp created, we spent that pleasant afternoon in the middle of nowhere, waiting to continue with our trip.

At 3 o'clock in the morning we arrived at Puerto La Cruz, and for reasons of the universe, a woman named Marielvis who was on the bus had the same destiny as me: Margarita. It was unfortunate not to be able to spend more time in PLC, but I already had the days counted and the next day I had to go to Margarita, so between this lady and me (who didn't know the site) we waited until dawn and went to the ferry terminal to buy our passage to the island. In the waiting time, I met with my dear friend Katherine Pinto to show me a little the city, in the short time we had. What can I say about Puerto La Cruz? I had not visited him since I was 10, so I didn't remember much, but walking a bit with my friend I saw that it was a very cozy place, with warm people like there can only be in the Caribbean. A very cold nestea and a walk down Paseo Colon, took me back to the ferry terminal. I hope very soon to go back and enjoy its beaches, of which I have spoken very well.

At 2 in the afternoon of that day, punctually, my ferry left for Margarita Island, my next stop, which I'll talk about in my next post.