Cost pp: bus from Caracas to Maracay 13vef, bus to Choroni 15vef, 2
pkts of biscuits 5vef, natural fruit iceblocks 2.5vef. Sleep on the
beach - free.
We took the metro to La Bandera station and walked
to the bus terminal and caught a bus to Maracay. Every terminal is full
of men yelling out destinations so you are never going to get lost or
get on the wrong bus as long as you know where it is you are going. We
were headed for Choroni which is on the coast. The bus was an ordinary
one and reminded Carol a bit of the buses in Pakistan, the journey was
comfortable and the road good. At Maracay we got straight on to a bus
for Choroni, same kind of bus but this one had a super duper stereo
system that was better suited to a nightclub than a bus. Some other
travellers asked the driver to turn the sounds down (it went down half
of a smidgen) then Carol got him to adjust the bass which was just
about vibrating our skulls to bits and it was a little better after
that.
The journey was great, the road wound up through forest
over a very high pass where it got quite cold and down again through
communities living in the forest and on to Choroni a small old town
with narrow streets and stone houses and out to Puerto Colombia. By now
it was dark and we teamed up with 6 other young travellers on the bus
and walked down to the seafront. There was a bit of discussion about
which was the best option - sharing a room or house for the night or
camping on the beach. The girls went off on a recky and found a great
place to camp over a tidal river to the west of the port. We pitched
our tents, talked, sang, talked some more then us oldies went to bed.
In
the morning we discovered the beach was quite polluted with plastic
bags and bottles and every other disgusting thing but a start had been
made on getting it all cleaned up. The sea was pounding away on the
stoney beach and some local women were in having a swim and wash. Small
boats started arriving from other bays and cleverly entered the harbour
by driving right up by the rocks and backing into the harbour river mouth. We had breakfast with the others and packed up our tent, they were staying another day but we walked into the little town and caught the bus onto our next adventure.
Next stop Valencia
