Fantastical Arepas by the Orinoco
Venezuela personified: Oddities abound in Ciudad Bolivar.
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On an early morning walk around Ciudad Bolivar, I am reminded that it is Chinese New Year when I see a large rat down near the Orinoco River. I also see some dolphins, which don't remind me of anything but are great to see. I walk into a cloud of thousands of gnats while strolling along the shore and this reminds me that this sucks.
I return to my hotel, the Posada Don Carlos, have coffee with the two house dogs, and then check out more of the collection of typewriters, radios, WWI shells, and masks that adorn the posada. There have been no takers for the Angel Falls trip, and to make the costs come down we need at least six people. Another walk around town and I start to ponder where else I could go. Along the way, I stop in a strange shop filled to the brim with plaster statues. Almost anyone you can imagine is available: Simon Bolivar, the Virgin Mary, apostles, Nazis, Buddhas, Charlie Chaplin, Indian chiefs, Hindu gods, and what looked like the Bee Gees are squeezed onto shelves among hundreds of other representations of historical figures in all sorts of colors and sizes.
I stop for arepas at a small cafe and then head back for a hammock nap. In my dream I am bitten by a radioactive gnat and become a superhero called Gnatman. I travel around Venezuela annoying bad guys before sucking out most of their blood. Their flesh becomes white and they wander around zombie-like until they confess their sins to their parish priests, who convince them to turn themselves in to the Policia. And so I rid the land of criminals. A drunk official accidentally swats me to death at a ticker tape parade, but to honor me the name of the country is officially changed to Genezuela. What, exactly, was stuffed into my arepas?
At Posada Don Carlos, in Ciudad Bolivar: Pre-swat Gnatman behind the bar.
I grab a dinner of dorado fish fresh from the Orinoco while a Ricky Martin concert DVD rocks the restaurant. Back at the Don I sit at the antique bar and try to figure out what I am doing. I only have a week left.
Will our hero visit Angel Falls on some group tour? Will he visit the Caribbean coast? Will he lie around in a hammock for a week? Where will he go? What will he do?
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Fantastic blog!
Posted by: benevolentlovemama | March 09, 2008 at 12:45 PM
hello and thanks for your comments and compliments. i had a great time on the trip and a wonderful experience writing about it. maybe i'll do this kinda thing more often.
gene
Posted by: moongoober | March 13, 2008 at 01:41 PM