The first few days of the trip were non-stop moving around and going places. This was probably the only day we'd have without anywhere to be.

We spent the rest of the day wandering around the area by the hotel. Wes liked Maracaibo, but I think the rest of us were ready to move on. It was hot and the city didn't seem to have much going on.

We took one more picture of the "Gringo Go Home" wall. Here's Patrick, Andre, and Wes:

The plan was to fly to Merida on Saturday to begin the paragliding and canyoning adventure, but all the flights were full. We went to the bus depot instead and bought tickets on one of the "Ejecutivo" lines, which are the deluxe overnight buses. It would depart at 10:30 PM Saturday and arrive the next morning around 6:00.

After securing transport to Merida, we took a taxi back to the hotel. The driver wanted to show us around a bit, so he drove us to the nicer area by Lake Maracaibo, the gigantic lake whose western coast is where the city was located. The area was a lot cleaner and the buildings newer than where we were staying. Maracaibo is the big oil city of Venezuela, and the lakefront is where all the money was concentrated.

We spent the remainder of our time in Maraciabo just relaxing and eating and drinking. We stopped in an internet shop for a short time to check email and things, but there was not enough time to post anything to the blog. Internet access cost about a dollar per hour.

We went back to the bus station at 10:00 on Saturday night. Most of the small shops had closed. The place was dirty and dark.

It was just Wes, Andre, Patrick, and me at this point, and we were all hungry. The only place that had food other than snacks was a sort of sandwich place. I guessed that the empanadas and sandwiches there had been sitting out all day, so I passed on it. Wes and Andre and some other customer bought all of the empenadas they had sitting out, so when the guy brought more out I thought they would be fresh. I ordered two and ate them before we got on the bus.

The ejecutivo buses have reclining seats so you can sleep over night. The air conditioning was on full blast all through the night, and it got cold in there. Andre and I were using some USA banners he had brought as blankets.

About half way through the bus ride, my stomach started churning. The bus was flying down the highway at 90 MPH and the driver was swerving through traffic, as they tend to do in Venezuela. By the time we got to Merida, I felt terrible. I think I got food poisoning from the empenadas.