We spent a lazy morning relaxing and deciding what we were going to do. This was to be the last day that the original group of four of us, me, Andre, Patrick, and Wes, would be together. Juan, Wes, and Patrick were staying in South America for a while longer; I think Wes had at least another month set aside, while Patrick and Juan had a couple of weeks to spend. On this day, they were trying to decide if they should stay a while longer in Barquisimeto, go to one of the resort islands on the Caribbean coast, or split up and head for destinations such as Colombia or Peru.

Andre and I had flights back to the States on Saturday, so we needed to make our way back to Caracas. We decided we would go to the airport and try to get on a plane in the afternoon. The others decided to check in to a hotel owned by the same people as the Loral that was supposedly in a better area.

We got in taxis and headed to the other hotel. It was called Camelot, and when we pulled in to the parking lot we figured out why. It was shaped like a castle and there was a Medieval Times-style knights and armor motif inside. Unlike the Loral, it was clean and comfortable. So the others checked in and then all of us walked to get some lunch at an Italian restaurant nearby.

Nearly every hotel, ariline, bus company, and restaurant we had visited during the trip asked us for our passport numbers. The Italian place was no exception. They would bring out a small notepad and ask us to put our names and passport numbers on there. Venezuelan citizens were instructed to put their national id numbers on it. Apparently they were trying to keep tabs on what people were up to. Early in the trip, Andre had hinted to us to just make a number up, so I adopted his idea and did so each time. I don't think the people asking us to do so really cared what we wrote, they were just following the law.

After lunch, we said our goodbyes and Andre and I took a taxi to the airport. The Barquisimeto airport is a tiny little place with an international gate and a domestic one. We bought tickets to the next available Aeropstal Airlines flight to Caracas, which was to depart in a couple hours. It was getting late, and we'd be arriving at Caracas after dark. We did not have a place to stay yet.

In typical Venezuelan fashion, the flight was late. We waited and watched out the terminal windows for a plane to arrive. We could see the entire tarmac from the terminal, and it wasn't much bigger than the parking lot at a US shopping mall. In fact, most of the airport itself reminded me of Apache Plaza, a 60's mall near Minneapolis that died a slow, painful death before being demolished a few years ago. Andre and I explored every corner of the place while we waited for the late plane.

The sun was sinking into the horizon and storm clouds and wind seemed to be threatening a show when the plane we were waiting for appeared in the distant sky. It landed and pulled in front of the terminal and emptied its contents. Andre and I watched some workers kick around a soccer ball at the far corner of the airport grounds. After an eternity, they finally started boarding for the departure to Caracas.

After less than an hour, we landed at the Caracas airport. We wasted no time in getting our bags and finding a taxi to take us to a hotel. We had decided to try to get a room at the Hostal Tanausu that I had stayed in my first night in the country. Unfortunately, there was some sort of local festival going on and none of the hotels had vacancies. We drove around to several places only to find that they were full. It was looking like we'd be staying in the airport that night.

The taxi driver took us back to the airport. I didn't know what was going on because he was talking to Andre in Spanish. He dropped us off at the international terminal and walked us inside. Still talking in Spanish, he pointed up to the roof and said some things to Andre. We paid him and he left. Andre said that the taxi driver told him the international terminal stays open all night and the safest place to be was on the third floor in the food court area.