ittam

The measure for luxury changes so easily. Today when I stepped under the rushing but cool water I felt content. For the last two weeks washing yourself meant standing into the knee deep stream next-door and being bitten by the numerous mosquitoes. Now this part was over. It was definitely very interesting but had little in common with comfort. So today we got out of the taxi here in Boa Vista, our first stop in Brazil, and checked into the Hotel "Eusebio". It even has Wifi (a bit slow but it works). Here we will refill our batteries and then off we go to Guyana.

Beforehand I did not think about how hard this hike could be, but after four hours on the way with a full backpack (75 Liters) it became clear that this would not just be be a walk in the park. After one day (7.5h) of walking I felt the fatigue in my legs and this even before we got to the really hard part, the steep up-the-mountain path that would bring us to the top of Roraima.

The sun went below the horizon at about six in the evening so under we went too, to sleep. You really get into the habit of going to bed this early when there is not that much to do after the light vanishes.

Rise and shine to the new day. After breakfast at the next base camp we set out to conquer this pinnacle. Up we hiked, climbed on all fours and struggled over big stones, but finally there we were at the top. An exhilarating feeling standing there and looking back the way you came and enjoying the panoramic view. When you look around you, you believe yourself to be in a different world. No wonder they named it at one time "the lost world". The sand stone structures are really different than anything I have seen so far and the table top mountain gives it an island kind of feeling, especially when the clouds are covering the ground below which happened on the second they up there.The view is magnificent.

A lot of walking to different spots like the highest to get a view of all of Roraima and to the lowest called "Tunnel". This is a long, dark cave where you would get lost if you had no torch and guide.

All in all this has been the high-light of the whole Venezuela trip and I do recommend to do this too if you happen to be in the neighborhood.

If you want to know more about this mountain see Wikipedia.

Last tuesday (09.02.10) we packed the things we needed to go on our trip to the gold and diamond mine where Jaime hoped to find some riches. He informed us that we should be ready to go at 06:30 in the morning. 10 minutes late we walked off to the main road passing through town. He gave me the impression that a transport was organized but I was wrong. So waiting for more than two hours in less than 200m distance from the house we took the regular bus.

We arrived at the starting point for the hike with all the supplies needed and some tools for mining the gold and after taking some nurishment we went on our way. Jaime in front then Annelie, Alex (friend of Jaime from Caracas), me and Jeff (Jaime's son).

The Gran Sabana is a savanna as the name suggests and is a grassy plain with few trees and a lot of sand between. There are hills froming the land and rivers going through it. After a while Jaime informed us that by crossing this stream we have crossed over to Guyana. The mine it seems lies in Guyana and not in Venezuela. I felt a bit hesitant because of the illegal border crossing, but went on nonethless. Annoyance for not being told beforehand crossed my mind.

After more than five hours of walking and taking breakes we arrived at the camp next to the mine. A friend of Jaime was already there (Antonio). The mine is not what I expected but a stream with gravel around it. The gravel contains small flakes of gold. This gold you can then extract. Although it was late Jaime gave us a demonstration of how to do that and clearly in the end there were some gold flakes at the bottom of the bowl. Alex was really excited, a bit like Christmas.

At first we should have gone back to San Fancisco right the next day but in a change of mind Jaime informed us that we would not, but one day later. This made me a bit worry about the realiability of him especially in respect to the tour to Roraima. So the next day I witnessed how the gold mining would by machine would be.

A short description of the process: for the manual gold mining you use three sieves with different sized meshes. The first holds back the big stones, the second the smaller ones and the third the even tinier ones. The sand with the gold flakes passes through into the bowl underneath. Since gold has a higher density it has the tendency to go to the ground of the bowl. By moving the bowl in the water in a circular motion the sand on top of the gold gets washed out while the gold sinks deeper. After a while there is no more sand and all that remains is a very fine black sand and tiny gold specks.

The difference using a machine is that there you use a funnel that is covered with carpet and the graves (without the big stones) is washing over it. The water to do that comes from a gasoline fueled waterpump. Since gold is heavier it again will sink down and get caught in the carpet. Voilà! This in a way reminds me of Jason and his quest for the Golden Fleece.

We also made a little movie. Check it out on Openspacetrace.org under "Mixed feelings about Gold and Trash".

So far we have visited two countries, one was Trinidad&Tobago and the second was Venezuela. In both countries it is written on the drinking cans and on the plastic bottles at lest to recycle and to look after your nature.

In both countries nobody heeds this wish. Thinking about it the question comes to mind who might have initiated this commendable writing, was it the state or the producers of the beverage? I don't know. Here in Venezuela nobody knows what recycling is. Yesterday in the bus we took from Santa Elena to San Francisco people were drinking beer in great quantities. After emptying a can it was discarded thoughtlessly out the window. Today we went on a walk to see the nearby mountains from a closer distance. The hike was strenuous but satisfying. The only fly in the ointment were the empty beer cans that we spoted every 10 meters along the way. In instances like that you think as a material scientist of the aluminium that could be reused in the production of new aluminium. You would save up to 60% of the energy used to produce primary (non-recycled) aluminium.

Nothing is being recycled to my knowledge. Glass bottles are maybe collected by the restaurants and bars and returned to the supplier but apart from that this place is a desert for recycling.

We have now been staying with this indio family from the tribe of the Wapishana here in San Francisco de Yuruani for 3 days. It is an interesting experience. We are staying here in conjunction with Wwoofing (see wwoof.org - willing worker on organic farms) to help a bit on the farm.

The family we are staying with are the mother and her six children of ages between 7 months and 11 years. The father and the 13 year old son are at the moment looking for gold and diamonds in a nearby mine and should return tomorrow. The father is also a guide for Roraima and we hope to be able to do a tour with him.

All the amenities of normal life back home are missing, only electricity is available (and I am charging my computer just now).

Just some examples. We stay in a hut without walls, to be exact 270° of the walls are missing. The dogs and chicken and all the little insects have free access. The toilet is in the field and you march there with a pick and toiletpaper. The shower is the stream next to the patch where the hut is. The kitchen is open, meaning an open fire with a grate over it.

It's all good here except the mosquitos (puri puri or Caborra) are really swarming here so near to their nesting ground (the stream). They look like little flies but unlike the flies they bite and it itches like hell. Despite the repellant I have been bitten somewhere between 50 and 100 times. The worst situation is when you go to the toilet, as you can imagine. The repellant supply is slowly running low and we hope to replenish it soon before going into real dangerous areas where they have Malaria and alike. 

The food is mainly Arepa (corn flour mixed with water and salt) in different forms fried, boiled or roasted. This can also be made with white flour. Porridge we also had many times made either of corn flour or of grind plantain (cooking banana) boiled in water. Add a bit of sugar if you like. Fried plantain pieces are also very good. All in all I do like the food but the diversity is missing.

The work we did so far was do some plowing and planting on a small field. It was quite hard work for a city boy and girl. Blisters, 16 of them, materialized within an hour and hurt quite good. After two days we were done and in a way proud of our accomplishment.

Some interesting things I noticed where that here everyone seems to be a bit of a pyromaniac. We raked the field and made a pile of dry grass and branches. We thought for compost but no, shortly after it was set on fire. And fires you see many times a day all around the area, despite the dry season. Not only do they set fire to compost but also their garbage (plastic bottles, cans, plastic bags, paper,...) is lit. Not really my kind of way to do it. Despite all this country is, concerning recycling and garbage disposal this country has a very long way to go. 

I was warned from many sides and at least 10 times on how dangerous this south american city is (the last time today in a pharmacy). The second dangerous city in the world right after Mexico City. Not to carry anything shiny (gold watch and alike) was obvious and not to go in many places after dark. Luckily our hotel is in the district of Altamira, which is the "rich" part of town and therefore more safe even after dark. Following all these good advices we stayed safe so far and intend to continue so.

During the day we went out for strolls mainly in the city center to see how it looks like. Last saturday there was quite a racket on the main road that leads through the district. We wondered what it was and asked: "A rally against the government" was the answer and yes the masses of people passing by were carrying banners of how bad the government and Hugo Chavez in particular was. We stayed for a while and watched the procession of the normal clothed people (although the colors of blue and green were often seen). The mood and shouts were slightly aggressive which is understandable under the circumstances that Chavez changed so many things to the disadvantage of the better settled among other things.

Then someone said that there is a pro government rally going on in the city center. Off we go there. All red. T-Shirts, caps, pants, jackets, flags, banners and many more things. There was no real procession but more of a crowding of people on the one place. After talking to a local who asked where we were from and Annelie answering from France a short discourse followed about our disliking of Sarkozy. Later he (the local) told us that Hugo Chavez intended to give a speech on the stage there in two hours time. Voilà, two hours later we found ourselves there again within the masses of red clad "socialistas" and no kidding he was there going on about how bad everybody else was and how good he was and how nice his socialist friends were. I wondered if he did say something about his political plans or what he intended to do for the people of his country. We did not stay that long - his rambling about the evil european conquerors and about this revolution of his was not really interesting and sounded more like a man who likes himself being cheered. The mood on this place was relaxed and everybody enjoyed it.

Strolling around town I got the feeling of a city let go. So many buildings in bad repair and partly abandoned. I guess the money is spent elsewhere. The south of the city is crowded with "shantytowns". This means there are so many really basic buildings there that were just put there by there inhabitants made up of some bricks for walls and corrugated iron for a roof. If there should be an earthquake sometime in the future all that will remain are piles of rubble and a lot of sorrow and accusations.

So far I have not a very high opinion of this city. It is dangerous (also when crossing the road since almost no rules apply), dirty and very polluted (after a short while you can feel the pollution stinging in your eyes and drying you out as the dust particles settle down). The people here will probably all die of lung cancer or something related to pollution. The "old" town could be nice (if you are ever in Quito you'll know what I mean) but it is not - neglected you start to guess how important history is here - although they make a saint out of Bolivar and Chavez calls him a socialist - which is kind of funny since at that time the word probably meant nothing at all.

After changing US$ to Bolivares fuertes at some store getting a better exchange rate (1:5 or higher) than at the bank (1:4.3) we (Jiri, Jean, Annelie and I) got into a por puesto Taxi to make our way from La Güiria to Puerto La Cruz. Jiri is a czech on his way to find good coco and coffee beans and Jean is a french taking some time off. A "por puesto" is a long distance taxi where you pay for the seat, so it is like a cramped bus but a little faster. Where was I, oh yeah - we got into the slightly tuned KIA car and started to drive out of town. Luis soon mentioned that he had to get one tire changed before we really set off. He did not know the town so we circled around for another half hour before finding a backyard with helpful people. 10 Minutes later it was done and we were finally on our way.

There are no real rules on the street, except maybe that you drive on the right side of the street. Other than that... no street signs apart from guideposts. The speed limit of officially 80 km/h is not heeded by any man. The law is non-existent or just not enforced by the police. The many check points were we sneaked by were only to search suspicious cars for weapons and drugs. 

The only thing keeping the drivers in line is the power and the state of the car itself and the many speed bumps, that are responsible for the occasional full braking.

So there we were, flying at 140 km/h over the road, swerving the random pothole, towards our destination.

Conclusions after one day in Venezuela:

- It is dangerous, especially when crossing the streets.

- It is more expensive than expected (about the same as Trindidad&Tobago)

- There are much more police and military than in T&T

- The fuel is insanely cheap with 0.1 BsF per liter (=0.025$/l), meaning you could fill the whole thank of your car and it would be cheaper than a bottle of water. Crazy, isn't it?

Chavez country, Cowboy country, a socialist country? From the view of a taxidriver/lawyer Chavez is a bad person. He lies and lies and lies about more or less anything. Chavez gives away present to other Countries in South America to get them on his side - fighter planes for Ecuador, Oil for Cuba, $ for Argentina were among the things our taxi driver Luis enumerates. He does not like Chavez and thinks he does it to increase his own power by amassing friends and polarizing against the USA. The health care in Venezuela is abmissal and other insurances are as good as non-existent. Driving people around in his car is not his real job he mentions, he is a lawyer by profession but there is no work. The unemployment is still there despite what the CIA says.

Well this was the message we got from him. Now I hope to encounter someone who is a supporter of Chavez to get the other side of the picture.