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Well, we packed up our things and left Puerto La Cruz heading off for what was supposed to be a short and sweet 50 minute ride into Mochima National Park, to a town called Santa Fe. Got to the bus station, and wandered about for a bit before figuring out that the buses (actually vans) left from across the street. Stood in the sweltering sun in a lineup for about 1/2 and hour. One van pulled up, people swarmed it, and then we were left standing in the sun again, baking agains a cement wall. We could see all the vans right down the block, with the drivers just laying around (laying around happens a lot here), and ignoring the fact that there were enough people waiting to fill at least 2 vans. Finally one pulled up, and we ran for it, happy to get on with our bags, although it meant using elbows to keep people from shoving in front of us ( waiting in a line here does not automatically actually give a place ahead of someone else - it all depends on how quick you are and how you can manuever your bags to block other people). 15 of us packed into the van - our bags had to go by the doors, but a nice old man, Victor, who I'd been talking to in line kept an eye on them and kept them from falling out when the doors were open. We were literally sweating buckets on the way out of Puerto La Cruz - there were windows that opened in the very front, and those ones that open at a little angle just behind the driver, and that was it, so absolutely no air flow whatsoever as we were crawling through traffic. No kidding, I was soaking wet in about 2 minutes. We all settled in happily, though, as the van picked up speed once it got out of the city. We had about 5 minutes of blissful cool air blowing through the van, speeding along the road... and then we slowed down again... and stopped. Traffic stretched on ahead of us as far as we could see, and was passing us in the other direction very infrequently and in little groups. We'd crawl along for a few minutes, then stop. The inside of the van was roasting hot, and people were looking for anything to fan themselves with - Victor gave me his newspaper to use. Neither of us had brought anything to drink, as we figured we'd be fine on a ride that lasted less than an hour. The van stopped at one point, and someone asked the driver to open the back door, which he did for all of about 3 minutes, slamming it on the hand of the guy sitting next to me. We stopped again, long enough that the van was turned off, and it was starting to get really unbearable. This wasn't ¨it's kinda hot in here and I'd rather be somewhere nice and cool¨ type of heat, this was ¨it's getting hard to breathe, I feel like I might pass out and can't focus my sight on anything, and Erika is running through first aid for heatstroke in her head as the guy beside me looks on the verge of fainting¨ type of heat. The driver was useless, but I caught Victor's eye, and asked him to please open the door, which made a huge difference as a rush of fresh air came in.
Overall, the ride took 4 hours, and we passed two accidents that had clogged up the road. The most frustrating part was that there was a couple in front of us with a big bag of ice and a cooler full of drinks. I realize that it may be a pain in the ass to buy more ice when you get to the beach, but if I'd been the one with ice or drinks, it would've been about five minutes in that van before we started passing it out, especially since the heat was at a fairly dangerous level. Instead, they used it to put in their rum, which they drank frequently, and to rub on themselves to cool them down. At one point, the woman decided to get out with her 2 kids and walk a ways down the road, which was fine until we actually started moving, and the van stopped for them to jump in (as cars, vans, semi trucks flew past us), and she sauntered over, taking her sweet time to climb in, and we were stuck behind even more vehicles while she sat obliviously sipping her rum and ice.
Finally arrived in Santa Fe, right in time for a deluge - the bus station isn't an actual building, just some metal roofs, but enough to protect us from the rain. We hid under there and drank gatorade and ate hotdogs for an hour as the sky opened up over us, thunder and lightning and everything, and watched boys (or rather, men behaving like boys) fly about on bicycles in the water (one of them in a purple and black wrestling unitard...). There was one cab, but he wasn't at all interested in helping us find a posada, so he said he'd charge us a ridiculous amount, and told him he could b***** off (not in so many words, of course). Finally let up around 3:30, so we hauled our stuff out and waded through calf-deep water in the streets, watching people throwing buckets of water out of their front doors. Stopped at the first place we saw which, happily, was one of the ones we wanted to look for, and even scored the best room in the posada (recommened in Lonely Planet) - the top floor room, open on one side, with a hammock and a beautiful view of the bay. Showered and relaxed, went off for some food, and had a very early night, both of us exhausted by the heat.
Spent some time on the beach here the next morning. I had planned to rent a kayak and go check out some of the coast line for a few hours, but it started pouring again, and instead we sat in a restaurant on the beach and drank a few bottles of wine as the power went out and watched lightning hit the water (which made me rather glad that I wasn't out there in a kayak). The rest of the day was a bit of a haze of wine and rain, and we went for a nice evening swim before retiring.
We're waiting for our laundry to be dry (hopefully) before heading out of here and catching a ferry to Isla de Margarita, for our last couple days of beach time!
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