Day one - March 5

Early in the morning, we flew from Caracas to Puerto Ordaz. This city is not marked on this map but it is right next to Ciudad Guyana. From the plane, we could see the giant Orinoco river.














Just outside Puerto Ordaz, we stopped at this park.

The park is at the rapids of the Caroni River

A scope convention at the snack bar





We then drove to El Palmar.













We saw a lot of evidence of the recent referendum on allowing Hugo Chavez to run for more terms as president. This sign was in a doorway in a town that we stopped in on the way to El Palmar.

Here is a translation of what the sign says:
Uh! Ah! Let's go for the amendment!
Those that love their country, those that want to be free, those that want happiness for their sons, for their daughters. Come with us on the road to socialism!!
We will be victorious!
Hugo Chávez Frias, President of the Bolivian Republic of Venezuela

Uh! Ah! Chávez is with the people.
The Front for Social Missions


One way that Chavez keeps the support of the people is by heavily subsiding gasoline prices. This is a pump in a station where the bus got gas. It shows that the bus got 31 liters for 1.44 Bolivares. Converting both metric and currency is almost beyond my mathematical powers but I think that in US measurement 8.21 gallons cost $0.67, which is $0.08/gallon. (That is converting the Bolivar at the official exchange rate. It would cost even less at the black market exchange rate.)