March 2025

After we finally managed to get diesel in Ciudad Guyana (still black market fuel by the way) we started driving to the coast. In the middle part of Venezuela, the landscape was far less interesting and reminded us of inland Brazil. Farms, burned fields and more trash. Luckily the drive through this area was much shorter than it would have been in Brazil and we reached a green mountainous area again. Here it wasn’t easy finding a nice spot for the night but we finally saw a nice river spot at the edge of a little village. Here we spend two nights.

The locals come here as well and we regularly had some company. They were all really friendly and told us where they lived in case we needed something. We also got some bananas and on Sunday we were invited by a family to join in in their picnic and we were given a bowl of traditional soup. The soup was, well, interesting… It had some meat in it, still with the bone in it, potatoes, carrots, a few unidentifiable bits and banana! We didn’t ask for the recipe. Later back in the van, washing up our soup bowls I suddenly realised something. The family had arrived earlier at the river bank and I saw them filling up a kettle with some river water. I didn’t think anything of it and just went along my business. I now realised it was the soup kettle! We had been eating river soup!!! The water in the river is quite clear and apparently the source is nearby. But it’s still the same river as people wash themselves in, and their motorbikes. We could only hope it had been on the fire long enough to kill anything in it!

Having survived the river soup we drove on to the coast. And as people had told us, it was indeed easier to get fuel at the coast, most fuel stations sold it, phew! It was really crowded at the beaches since it was Carnival and therefore a holiday. So we deliberately drove to a beach that could only be reached via a difficult 4×4 only track. But of course almost everyone in Venezuela drives a 4×4, so this beach was really crowded too, with lots of very loud music, so we didn’t stay. However on the way back we spotted a little, hard to get in beach where there was no one. It wasn’t exactly pretty but it was quiet, well except for the music coming from the other beach about 750m away. Here we stayed until Wednesday as we had been told most Carnival activities would end on Tuesday. As we were visible from the track, a few people stopped to ask us if we were alright, but other than that we were alone.

Then it was time to visit the capital of Venezuela, Caracas. We already knew this wasn’t the most beautiful city, but we were impressed by the mausoleum for Simon Bolivar. It was huge and there’s always an honour guard. Simon Bolivar was the liberator of South America (getting rid of the Spanish occupation) and was born and buried in Caracas. He also played a major part in the forming of the countries Panama, Colombia, Venezuela, Bolivia (named after him in case you didn’t guess this already), Ecuador and Peru. All the countries have memorials for this hero, but he is definitely most worshipped in Venezuela. The full name of the country is actually the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, and their currency is called Bolivares.

One day in this hectic city with its crazy traffic and dense air pollution was enough for us and we drove on to Valle de Rio Negro. A remote mountain area. We drove to the end of the road and had hoped we would be alone in this remote area. It turned out there were a few houses here. At first we were disappointed but once again the locals were super friendly. Even bringing us fire wood and a wooden table and bench, because it was more natural than our camping gear! We also got more vegetables than we could eat, eggs and some cheese. In the evening they gathered around a campfire to talk with us. We were invited over to someone’s house for coffee and were repeatedly told ” necessita cual cosa” If we needed anything we would only have to ask! So even though we were a bit low on privacy, we couldn’t have asked for better neighbours! Kilian went on a bike ride and Finnley could walk around freely, quickly making sure the dogs knew who was boss! This was another area we could live in. Quiet, beautiful and green. With a nice climate, warm in the day, cool at night and plenty of fresh clean water. On Sunday Kilian was offered another bowl of traditional river soup made by a family that was just there to spend the day, having survived the first time, he figured why not. If I had been there with him I would have politely declined however!

Time to drive on to Merida. In order to get here we would have to cross two high mountain ranges. We hadn’t been high up in the mountains since we left Argentina somewhere in June last year. Here and there we managed to drive up to about 800 masl, but now we reached an altitude of 3780masl At El Arenal. We camped at an altitude of about 3400 masl, which meant we had to get out the winter duvet again. Finnley slept under our blankets and in the morning it was 4C. One cold night was enough though!

After two days of driving in the mountains we arrived in Merida. This city has a nice climate and is popular amongst expats. Here you will find a bit more luxury, but obviously it doesn’t come cheap. By now the van was making quite a few noises. Kilian managed to buy all the replacement parts, but we couldn’t find a good spot to do some repair work on the van. I asked in the Venezuela travellers group and somebody knew someone else and after a bit of a hassle we met up with him and he took us to a building site where there was no work going on. It was fenced of and here nobody would care if we made a bit of a mess. Kilian tidied up the leaf springs, checked bolt torques, adjusted the rear brakes, adjusted front wheel bearing play, cleaned the front brakes and replaced the lower ball joints and tie rod ends, in a day and half. It was great to have a place where we could do the work, but we were close to a road and here the air pollution was so bad, we actually dug out some of the covid masks! I got nauseous from the fumes and Kilian got a headache! So he worked as quick as he could and we left after a day and half.

Out of the city we found a place at a flat spot used by paragliders to take off. While we were there a group of paragliders arrived and we watched them taking off and flying. We got talking to them and especially to a man named Juan. Juan insisted that we should go to his house in the mountains which he described as beautiful and quiet. It was already dark so we camped at the paragliders spot and decided to meet up with Juan the next afternoon.

In the morning Kilian went for a bike ride and after that we drove down the mountain to meet up at a supermarket and from there we followed him to through Merida. Stopping frequently to pick up friends and beer. At this point I couldn’t help but wonder if we were doing the right thing. We were following this car with by now 5 guys, whose names we couldn’t remember. Going to a small town, which name we couldn’t remember either, while having no clue how much further it was going to be. I would be the only woman, although we did shortly meet up with Juan’s mother. It made me realise how easy it would be to kidnap us. Just offer us a nice place to stay, or some food and we will voluntarily follow you anywhere, no violence needed :)) Meanwhile the van had started to make an awful sound which kept getting worse quickly and Kilian was worried it was the crown and pinion gear of the differential, which we probably couldn’t get fixed here in time! We finally made it to the house, just when we felt we should stop driving before something really broke. It was indeed a nice house with a big garden, up in the beautiful mountains. We parked the van in the garden. We got a tour through the house and were invited to use whatever we wanted. Juan had even brought us food! We then sat together in the garden, sharing drinks and stories. So far this kidnapping was great! Finnley got to run around freely and was happy too. After a while Juan and his friends had to get back to their houses in the city. Juan just handed us his keys, told us the WIFI password and asked if we wouldn’t mind watering a few pot plants. Incredible. How many people in Europe just hand the keys to a couple of strangers! The hospitality of Venezuelans is unmatched! More than once he told us it was now our house and we would always have a family in Merida!

The next day he came back and was disappointed we didn’t sleep in the house. Because of all our stuff and Finnley (there were a lot of breakables) it was easier for us to sleep in the van and we also have a good bed in there. He understood but again invited us to please use his house which was now, temporarily, ours. He also told Kilian he knew a good mechanic and he would take us there the following day, a Monday. We spend both days relaxing, doing laundry and Kilian tried to figure out the problem with the van. The next day we sadly had to leave. We met up with Juan in Merida again and gave him back his keys and then followed him to the mechanic. This turned out to be a little garage next to someone’s house so to be honest we were in doubt. The work would have to be done on the street and we doubted it could be done here. Our doubt was completely misplaced! Within half an hour the mechanic figured out and replaced an damaged universal joint and the noise was gone! Luckily we carried it as a spare part. It wasn’t the differential at all! We only paid $20,- and could continue our journey. We were so relieved! We only had one more week left for the rest of Venezuela so we couldn’t afford any hold ups.

We drove to Maracaibo lake. This lake is known for its continuous thunderstorms, causing the Catatumbo lightning. There’s lightning here for about 160 days a year up to ten hours a day. We knew it usually doesn’t start until mid April but we decided to try any way. Well we did have a thunderstorm that night but the rain was so heavy, we couldn’t see much and on top of that, the tented roof couldn’t handle the rain and we had some pretty bad leakage on the bed 🙁 So with a wet bed we drove on to a nice camp spot with some caves.

We also weren’t sure what we would be doing the next few days. We wanted to drive in to Colombia the following Monday (24/3) and it was now Tuesday the 15th. Then we got a text that made the decision for us. We were told that instead of loading the van in to the container on the 31st of March we now had to be in the harbour on Tuesday the 25tht! Bloody hell! We still had to drive a couple of hundred kms to the border and arrange car insurance for Colombia which usually takes a few days. So we packed up early on Wednesday and started driving. We bought a way to expensive insurance that would covers us immediately however. On Wednesday evening we city camped in Maracaibo and then on Thursday we crossed in to Colombia. Our very last border crossing went smoothly.

We managed to arrive at a deserted beach and there we got a text we now had to be in the harbour on Wednesday, giving us one more day to relax at the beach.The Airbnb we had already booked also had room for us a few days earlier so that worked out well. After the beach we drove further and spend our last night of true wild camping at a nice river bank. I must say realising that this was now really it, was a bit emotional. Yes we knew this was going to happen, we planned it ourselves. But then for it to actually happen, well that’s something else! We enjoyed one last camp fire. When we were ready to leave the following morning, Finnley took his time to come back as well. I guess he felt it too.

Of course suddenly changing our plans was stressful, but so far things had been going well. Too well, the universe must have thought. Although we are shipping the van in a container, it will be in the harbour outside of a container for a day or so, so we wanted to build another wooden barrier in the van. We stopped at a construction market in Barranquilla to buy wood. Kilian strapped the big wooden board on to the bike rack. And then noticed our left rear tyre was flat, for the first time in years, so excellent timing! So he took off all the wood again to be able to open up the back, and used the compressor to put air in to the tyre, hoping we could make it to Cartagena. There he would plug the hole in our tubeless tyre or put on the spare one. With the tyre filled up with air, he closed up the back and put the wood back up. All this time we were parked in 35C sun. And then our car wouldn’t start! Some bad words were used but that didn’t help the car to start either. Nothing we did would. There was a garage close by and Kilian went there for help. The mechanic helped push, but the car wouldn’t start that way either. The battery was well and truly dead. Why now?? Anyway an hour and half later we had a new battery and continued our journey to Cartagena.

After struggling through the horrible traffic (we can now officially say Colombians are the worst drivers in South America) we city camped close to the beach. Kilian plugged the tyre and started working on the wooden barrier. The following day we drove to the Airbnb. It turned out there was only street parking, contrary to what the add had said. And there was a power outage in the city so no air condition either. We emptied out the van, Kilian build the barrier in and cleaned the van. The first night he slept in the van. We are in a relatively safe and quiet area of the city, but it’s still Colombia and it’s simply not wise to leave a vehicle like ours unattended at night. The following day we used the van one last time, to take Finnley for an unscheduled vet visit, sigh. Up until know he had been doing fine, but now he was having trouble peeing again. He had an inflammation in his urethra, caused by all the sudden changes causing him stress and the Colombian heat. Luckily we caught it in time so he didn’t need a catheter just some medications. Early in the evening we noticed some of our flag stickers had been taken of the van! Damn! The only other time a flag was stolen was 2.5 years ago, also in Colombia! What is it with these people and flags? Although they are just stickers they do mean something to us and now we didn’t have time to fix it anymore. After 4.5 years on the road the van would have to go in to the container with our flags incomplete 🙁 That night, with the bikes now lying on the bed, we took turns sitting outside on the balcony watching the van. There was actually a night guard in the area. But this elderly man had trouble walking and didn’t even impress me. And of course he couldn’t just sit next to our van the entire night.

On Wednesday Kilian took the van to the port where it was stored in a secure area. The next day customs inspected the container and our van. They even drilled holes in the walls of the container to check for drugs! Fortunately they didn’t feel the need to drill holes in our van or in the van of our container buddy. And that was it! Bye bye van.

We are now in our apartment just hanging around. Working on the website and polishing up our resumes because soon the job hunt will start. We checked out the old city again but of course we have already seen it and it’s also too hot to walk around much during the day. We are also waiting for the boat to arrive. At time of writing, the 31st of March, it’s still not even in Colombia so we have no clue why we had to be in Cartagena 5 days earlier.

I will be writing an April blog as well, but after that? We will see.