Caracas & Vergas

In December of 1999 all eyes were on this area do to the largest natural disaster that Venezuela had ever scene. Today the evidence is still visually scene.
A gentleman we met (Henry)
had taken us around the area as he experienced the disaster first hand. On that day he was not at home but his daughters, and their mother were, in addition just a block away his father and mother were home as well.
He drove us by his old house and had shown us his father’s house and talked with emotion about his experiences of that shattering day.
The most obvious devastation was his neighbour’s home, it was still missing the side of the house (like many others) and it had a bolder 20 foot by 20 foot still sitting in the house.
The devastation was caused from a weeks worth of heavy non stop flash floods that created land slides, mud, rock, and trees. Killing about 30,000 and leaving about 400,000 homeless.
As Henry said the most shocking and gut wrenching part of this was not just the human suffering and loss due to the natural disaster but how could people in a time of human anguish actually steal, rape, beat and kill there fellow human beings? HOW?
At this time hotels, houses, shops etc.. have simply been abandoned and are now full of garbage. What was possibly a fantastic developing beach town is now simply a call for help locked in time.

Well we have been waiting for our bikes and checking the LAN cargo web site for a week now with no action as of yet. So we decided that early Monday June 16th we would simply go to the only LAN (a South American airline) address we have in Caracas to get our bikes back.

Up early not like we had much of a choice as the Posada Ranchero Pueblo Nuevo had such thunderous traffic noise you were up all night.
First we get on the 8:00am bus that did not leave until almost 9:00am as we had to waited for more people to fill the bus, then we drove through mountain roads that were barley big enough for the bus yet still we would stop in the middle of the motorway to pick up more people. The one good thing is that all these buses are party busses the music is blaring, enough to take our mind of your near death experience, hot smelly garbage on the side of the road and the fact that you are cooking right in the seat that you sit.- so far so good J
Then we hit a traffic jam and the fun started!
The driver decide to cross over three lanes of traffic and drive on the shoulder of the opposite side of the highway- seemed to be going well until the traffic in the traffic jam started to move and we could not get back over to the correct side of the road do to a cement blockade.
What does the driver do about this situation? Well of course the same thing any sane person would do he inches out into oncoming traffic stopping all lanes to turn the bus around to go back to a point where we can get in the proper side of traffic.
Well the fun does not stop there; he then finds a spot where he can get back onto the correct side. You guessed it, he stops in the traffic and swings the bus out far enough so he can drive over the ditch and back on to the correct side stopping traffic on all sides.
They say cowboys are crazy- yahoo.
One last giggle for you, on our last bus to Caracas I noticed that there was a guy who got on with an entire 2lt bottle of Sangria. He proceeded to drink out of that bottle like it was cool aid, dumping a small portion out the window of the bus that of course came back in our window. The best part was when he tried to get off the bus, tried is the optimum point here. He fell three times and literally took a nose dive out of the bus. What makes this scène even better is that right across the street is a National Guard compound.

Finally we arrived in Caracas.

Well now things get expensive.
Day 33

16-Jun

Puerto Columbia to Maracay
$9.00
Maracay to Caracas
$5.50
Taxi to LAN cargo
$20.00
Hotel
$75.00
Taxi to airport
$50.00
Taxi to customs
$40.00
lunch
$1.50
Torte
$1.00
Dinner
$38.50

$240.50


Day 34

17-Jun

Hotel
$75.00
Lunch
$6.00
Snack
$0.25
Paperwork fee
$41.00
warehouse fee plus 9% tax
$113.65

$235.90


Day 35

18-Jun



Hotel
$75.00
Taxi to Caracas- Brazil council
$75.00
Taxi back
$75.00
Cost of Brazil passports
$165.00
Lunch
$10.00
Dinner
$15.00
Lunch for 2 days plus breakfast pastry
$20.00
3 beer
$3.00

$438.00


Day 36

19-Jun

Hotel
$75.00
coffee
$3.00
Shampoo & cream rinse
$6.00
beer
$5.00
Dinner in room
$22.00

$111.00


Day 37

20-Jun

Posada
$45.00
water
$4.50
Coffee & pastry
$4.00
beer drinks in small jungle town
$9.00
Taxi to Brazil council
$75.00
back to Vargas
$75.00
gas
$0.75
beer on walk back to hotel
$4.00

$217.25

Arriving at LAN and they told us the bikes where there but we had to go the airport in order to get them. Okay, where exactly at the airport do we need to go? Their response was at the airport.
What do you do; we hopped in a cab to the airport, it is now around 2:00pm so we go to the LAN check in as the taxi did not know anything about LAN cargo plus there were no visible signs we could see. We find someone that can speak English and he wrote the directions on a piece of paper to give to the driver.
Arriving at the location we find LAN cargo, they said the bikes were in another warehouse, not quite comprehension the directions he has someone drive us up there. Kind of them, right!
The warehouse then said it was not there we needed to go to another warehouse. So we walked and looked for the location.
That is when we met Henry.- Thank you lord (and I am not that religious!)

Well the above expenses could look a lot worse if we had not met Henry!!

I must admit I was a little uneasy and expected this guy was going to try and get big bucks out of us. I believe that sometimes in life you do truly meet great people and that is a large portion of what this journey is about for Carrie. There are simply so many malicious untrustworthy individuals you meet along the way that you do become defensive and on guard which can help to protect you.
Henry is such a magnificent guy; he not only gave us 30 hours of his personal time but also had two of his staff members help us as well.
Henry took us from the warehouse that we met him in and brought us back to LAN cargo. They told him that the bikes had not been shipped by LAN Chile but by another carrier and had been in the warehouse since Tuesday June 10th. That the bikes were in the correct warehouse we just needed to give the warehouse workers the correct fight info.

Sure enough, they were there but we needed clearance from customs and that is a couple of kilometres away.
So Henry drove us there; as well he used his connections to get us into speak with the second in command for customs. This was great she, new we were simply travelling and were no harm so she told one of the agents to get the paper work together no problem. It is now 4:45 pm and there is not enough time to finish as we need a letter typed up, photo copies of our passports, registration and the carnies.
Henry then drove us to Verges (just outside of Caracas as we needed to go back to customs and the airport in the AM). While in Vergas he bought us a few beers and showed us around the disaster area that impacted his family and 400,000 other people (see above). He found us a Posada and said he would have the letter typed up for us and pick us up in the AM it is now 9:00pm and he still needs’ to drive back to Caracas approximately 1 hour away to have dinner with his mom.
The AM arrived early again as these rooms are all tiled and voices carry plus suit case wheels running over them are loud and people are leaving at 5:00am to catch flights.
In the AM Henry sends over two guys to pick us up and bring us back to his office where we get all the needed documents together. He then drives us back to customs and has another English speaking guy from Trinidad work with customs to get things done. This takes from 11:30 until 3:30pm (and they could speak Spanish plus they even gave a minor bribe of chocolate).
From there we go to the warehouse and the workers were to bring the bikes down for us to start to assemble them. This does not quite happen as they said we needed another stamp back at customs. Henry drives back himself as the guys in the warehouse tell him they will bring the bikes down for us to get started on them. Not quite, the way things went.
While over at customs they hit Henry up for a paperwork fee, which he paid out of his pocket knowing we would give him the money back. Upon Henrys return we still did not have the bikes and it is now 4:25pm. The lady behind the counter asks for a tip to help get the bikes down- Henry makes fun and light of it and did not give her anything. We did however have to pay a warehouse fee. Finally the bikes are down and the mad rush starts to get them assembled!
Which Henry helps with again!

We were a big hit all the wokers were watching us.
Out of the customs office Henry got us a letter from the head of customs stating to the National Guard that we have full passage- EXCELLENT!

After the bikes were together, Henry had us follow him back to Posada where we had stayed the night before. It was late and the traffic in Caracas was crazy so we decide to stay outside of the city again.
Of course within the first 5 minutes Carrie gets split us from Brent and Henry due to a bus cutting her off. The bus was too big to get around and she could not see what direction they took. Recalling the direction Henry had taken the night before she headed that way into a busy crowded area. Upon arrival Brent and Henry were no where in site. To save the day the two guys that were working for Henry seen the entire thing and honked to let her know they were there and would show her the way to meet up with Brent and Henry again. All is fine!
Lastly we go to a bit of an upscale location where Brent and Carrie had full intention of paying for dinner and drinks. No having it Henry said the waiter lost the bill and we had nothing to pay. J Yet again another big act of kindness!

If you are wondering Henry is a broker (www.hrmca.net or email: hrmca@hrmca.net) and he imports Polar beer and all Fed Ex shipped material into Venezuela Polar and Fed Ex are his two largest accounts. This is why he was at the warehouse and why he knows some of the agents. Henry said that he could do something like this and can arrange shipment either by boat or by air. His brokerage fee would be about $500-$1000 depending on the situation and if you want them out in a couple of days or a week. If you can use his services call him, he knows his stuff and is a good person with great staff in three cities throughout Venezuela. (0241) 832.04.54 – 832.79.06 Is the phone numbers in Valencia, Henry or should I say Hector is mainly at this location.

The following day we are off to the Brazilian consul for our visas. Not to bad we just needed cash and had to pay at a local bank plus get more photocopies of our passports. They took all info plus our passports and gave us a recite explaining that they would be ready for pick up in 48 hours- so we wait back at our pricy posada- Just slaughtering the budget at this point.

At long last we have all we need and are off to Parque National Mochima park.