Before the owner of the snack bar could finish his preparations, I was ready for breakfast and ordered the ham and cheese sandwich. The quality had not changed overnight; I was just too full from yesterday to have a second one. I asked for the way out of the city and continued back to the Caribbean, back to a historical center, this time of the first and therefore the eldest settlement of the continent, the city of Cumaná.

I had left the National Park Guatopo and the mountains disappeared slowly. I drove through a pretty nice valley and arrived at one more military post. The superior wanted to speak to me in person. He was sitting at his desk in front of the office in military uniform except his shirt.

Please click on “View Album” to see pictures in a Google+ Album.

He was just wearing his muscle shirt and was cleaning his pistol. He paid attention to my story of my roundtrip in Venezuela but continued cleaning his pistol with a special spray and tissue.After he was ready he put the pistol back together, entered the magazine with ammunition and loaded the shaft. The soldiers close by walked away as if they expected a test shot from the superior now. He had something of these psycho characters that you see sometimes in a war movie.

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I had no problems to pass the military post and arrived at the city of Barcelona. Already two month ago this had been the worst drive due to the traffic jams and the amount of road construction. The situation had not improved and I spent more than one hour in the traffic just to pass the city. Once outside the city I was hoping again to see the beautiful bays and beaches along this coastline. It was a grey and dizzy day today and it looked more like rain; nothing of the beauty that I had seen before. It started to rain and it really poured down which affected the traffic again and everybody drove extremely slow and careful now. The roads were steep and winding up and down the mountains and the rain was flooding down in small rivers. The streams brought with them brown earth, small stones and bushes.

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At one point a tree had broken off and blocked half the road; I had not seen a tropical rain for a while but I enjoyed the rain and the drive. I arrived in Cumaná and the rain had stopped, it was still cloudy though but I could see the first sunshine at the horizon already. I drove to the center and had a drink at one of the snack stands.The stand was opposite the local sports game betting office and the television was running and showing the beginning of a Champions League game. They did not show my team, so I went to search for a cyber.

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I drove twice through the center and entered four or five cyber but none had a cable for me to connect with my computer. At the end I chose the cyber which had left the best impression on me. I entered the private parking of the small commercial center and the security handed me the ticket. The ticket showed the stamp of the commercial center and the stamp had the name Manzanares written in big letters on it. Obviously the name reminded me immediately of my friends in Spain, Miguel and Antonio Manzanares.Here in Cumaná they had their own commercial center with parking; no they even had their own river Manzanares. The river was coming from the mountains, passed the center of the city and was running into the sea.

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Río Manzanares, déjame pasar,

que mi madre enferma me mandó llamar.

Manzanares, Manzanares,

con tu corriente p’arriba,

por una mujer bonita

yo quiero perder la vida.

 

Manzanares, Manzanares,

con tu corriente pa’ un la’o,

por una mujer bonita

yo quiero morir ahoga’o.

 

Río Manzanares, déjame pasar,

que mi madre enferma me mandó llamar.

Mi madre es la única estrella

que alumbra mi porvenir

y si se llega a morir

al cielo me voy con ella.

For a small understanding of the days travel, I have included a Google Earth map. The red pins mark the locations I have stopped and taken pictures. At the bottom of the page you will find a link for all the pictures I have taken. The link will open in a Google+ Album.

Please click on map to enlarge!!!

See map and distances / Siehe Karte und Entfernungen / Ver mapa e distâncias / Ver mapa y distancias

0 km                     Altagracia de Orituco

85 km                   Valle de Guanape

145 km                 Clarines

170 km                 Puerto Piritu

220 km                 Barcelona

310 km                 Cumaná

Please click on “View Album” to see pictures in a Google+ Album.