Hello beautiful people of Hive, I am very happy to be back with you to share another weekend adventure.
This weekend was quite busy because we decided to go to Apure or ''el llano'' as they say here, it is called llano because it has no mountains, I will show you pictures.
Our trip started on Saturday at 8am, we prepared arepas with meat, some suitcases and we left, the trip has a total of 5 hours but making stops to visit other towns it took us much longer.
The first stop we made was in San Juan de Los Morros, the capital of the state of Guarico, entering there is a very big wall with the coat of arms of the country, that is the entrance to the state. There in the city there are some mountains (the morros) that have a very strange but beautiful shape and they are the attraction of the city because they are really beautiful and you can see them from any part of the city.
This is the wall I tell you, see how big it is.
And these are the Morros that you can see from any part of the city.
In the town square there is a very large statue of St. John the Baptist, it is a beautiful sculpture made of concrete.
St. John the Baptist was a Jewish preacher, a saint in various branches of Christianity and venerated in Islam and other confessions as a prophet. The Christian tradition considers him the forerunner of Jesus. You can still google to learn more
San Juan de los Morros is a very nice town, we spent some time there, had breakfast and continued on our way. Guarico state is very big so the road was endless, the most beautiful of all was the road, the landscape, the beautiful people and the cows ajajaj there were cows all along the road, there were more cows than cars on the road, you really had to drive very carefully to avoid hitting a cow.
To show them the cows I had to capture them on video as taking pictures of them while driving was really complicated.
After a thousand years of driving (or at least that's how it felt) we arrived to a town called Calabozo, there we made a stop to buy gas and go to the bathroom, drink water and buy beers hahahaha.
When we were going to queue at the gas station they told us that it was already closed, that we could not get gas (if you do not know now in Venezuela there are many problems with gasoline because it is not available, you have to queue from one day to another because it is by license plate number that you are allowed to get gas but you have to pay a lot to get gas, it is really quite delicate that issue). We stopped at the entrance of the gas station and there my boyfriend went to talk to some people in line to see if they could help us and we paid them to give us gas, a very nice guy said yes, he could help us but he told us that in Apure (where we were going) there was no gas and the gas stations did not work on Sundays, we were going to have to wait until Monday to return to Caracas because the gas issue was very complicated.
Here's a picture of the closed gas station
At the gas station we saw a giant fig tree that was scared by the amount of cars, I got as close as I could to take a picture of it because it was really very beautiful.
After the guy sold us gas we panicked because it was really risky to go all the way to Apure without knowing if we were going to be able to get gas there, so every time we saw an open gas station we stopped to get more gas so the tank wouldn't get so empty.
After many cows, gaolina, fig trees and hours of driving we finally arrived in San Fernando de Apure.
On the border between the state of Guarico and Apure there is a very nice bridge that passes over the third largest river in Venezuela, the Apure River, it is really big and has a fast current, we coincided with a boat competition that they do in San Fernando, where several boats travel the river to win something, unfortunately we could not see the competition but the town was full of people excited about this competition, according to the people there is a tradition to make this competition, people gather on the banks of the river, on the bridge and anywhere near the river where they can see the boats compete.
I want to show you a picture of the bridge and the river so you can see how big and beautiful it is.
And this is me in a restaurant overlooking the river, look how big it is.
In that restaurant we decided to have lunch, it was 4pm and we were very hungry, we ordered carne en vara, that is the way they cook the meat in Apure, they cross the meat with wooden sticks and put it over a fire with firewood until it is cooked, it really gives a very rich smoky flavor to the meat, we ordered carne a la leña with shredded salad and cachapas (a traditional Venezuelan food, it is a corn dough with milk and salt that is filled with cheese).
This was the lunch
This is what the meat looks like on a stick
After lunch we went to the hotel, we left our bags and then we went out again, we went to know the town, we visited shoe stores, clothing stores, we went to several squares, we ate an ice cream, bought more beers and then we went back to the hotel, because we were very tired. I have to admit that in Apue it is very hot and because of the river there is a lot of humidity so the sweat is crazy, it is really a bit desperate.
Sunday arrived, we got up early and left everything arranged to return but before we had to have breakfast so we went out to walk a little to find where to have breakfast, in Apure people eat very heavy breakfast, they eat fish or meat on a stick, they eat meat soup and very heavy things, I was looking for arepas with something else (arep are also a traditional food here, also made of white corn dough with water and salt) was quite complicated to find that breakfast but we did it, you see what a delight.
It was two arepas with cheese, egg, shredded meat and then we added avocado. To drink I ordered a coffee that can not miss in my breakfast because I am a coffee lover and if I do not drink coffee my head starts to hurt a lot.
I had asked for a small coffee and they gave me this one hahaha I really didn't mind because as I said, I love coffee and that size cup was fine for me, in many places when you ask for small coffee they give you a cup smaller than that and I always end up drinking two of those because it's never enough coffee hahahah.
After that powerful breakfast we went to walk the town, we arrived at a fish market, there are not near seas but rivers so people eat a lot of river fish, I have eaten it and it tastes very different from the sea, the meat is thicker and drier, I really prefer the sea fish but all you see is this one, we did not buy it but we saw many stalls.
I also saw a store where they sold typical things like, cowboy hats, wooden chairs, ornaments and souvenirs for the houses, I saw alpargatas (typical sandals from here) and I will show you.
these are the espadrilles, they are woven, quite basic and comfortable for the "llaneros".
And this is the store with typical things, it was closed so I took pictures of it from the outside to show them
Apure surprised me, it is a very beautiful town, the people are very helpful and respectful, things are super economical compared to the capital which is where I live, the landscapes are something incredible, the energy of that place is wonderful, plus the amount of animals you can get on the road as cows, horses, monkeys, snakes, eagles, pigs, it really is very nice to have a close contact with nature, I am in love with Apure, no doubt I want to return to learn more about this beautiful state.
I want to say goodbye with this picture of Saturday night on the bridge, look how beautiful the moon looked and what you see there are not mountains, they were the clouds that took that shape, I really fell in love with Apure, the plains and its beautiful landscapes, I feel very fortunate to be able to live these experiences and to share them with you.
My advice: when you go on a trip take lots of pictures of everything and make videos, this is the best souvenir because when you see them again you will be transported to that place and its energy.
