In Maracaibo

Distance: Merida - Maracaibo 400 km, time on the bus: 9 hours, cost: 11 pounds. It was very cold on the bus again, I was equipped with two extra pairs of socks and three extra summer tops under three jumpers and a jacket. I could not sleep anyway because the cold air was blowing in my face so I used the same tactic that before: I spoke to the drivers and I told them that I had a medical condition and if they didn't switch off the air conditioning, they would have to take me to a hospital. As before, they couldn't switch it off but again, they invited me to their cabin, to sleep on the seat next to the driver. Looks like I will have to lie like this for the next eight months of my trip.
Before I went to speak to the drivers, I had a three-hour conversation in Spanish with a beautiful guy from Bolivia sitting next to me. He was constantly asking the same question: "....but how can you pack all you need in one rucksack for a year???".... ha ha ha..... I was asking the same question myself, before I left London.

My host Dayana picked me up from the centre of Maracaibo, took me home and cooked a very tasty lunch. For the first time I saw somebody in Venzuela eating vegetables as it is very rare to see it here, people usually eat very greasy food and no fruits or vegetables. It is really scary what they eat, I sometimes observe people in the streets eating fried food and they put extra mayo or a lot of olive oil on it. It is really hard to spot a skinny person here, unlike in Europe. On the other hand they look good, tall big men (wow!! :)) and women with proper curves here and there.
In the afternoon I met Jose'. I put a message on the Couch Surfing website with my phone number and he rang me to say hallo and to arrange a meeting. We had a great time and I met some of his friends. We took a carrito to get to the shopping centre where we had a dinner, this is just unbelievable. Carritos are public transport cars, very very old cars, almost felling apart on your eyes, no windows, doors not closing properly, no air conditioning and wobbling wheels. When I got on the carrito, I started laughing and I couldn't stop. I love them although they pollute the environment a lot. You can see a lovely carrito in the picture.
Jose' told me that many thieves steal carritos and then they demand money for returning them (kind of a car kidnapping).
We also talked about the old hotel on the Mount Avila in Caracas (where I went by cable car) and why the government doesn't invest in the rennovation of the hotel. One of the reasons is that the last Venezuelan dictator's girlfriend (one of many) had an affair with a cook working in the hotel. The dictator (Marcos Perez Jimenez) found out about it so she jumped from the window and killed herself (because she knew that he was going to kill her anyway).
We also talked about death of the Polish president in April. Jose' said that there is a joke in Venezuela - people would like to employ Polish pilotes for Chavez.....