Los Llanos, or in English, we would say, The Plains, take up 27% of Venezuela’s land mass and almost 100% of my trip from Colombia over to Porto Ordaz where I had my accident. It was nearly 1700kms to get to where I wanted to start my trip again. By getting to La Pedrera at least I’d made a start. I left the hotel and rode the short distance to where I had bought the fuel the night before. I passed the still closed petrol Station and was glad that I had my 10 litre container. At the shop I borrowed a funnel and filled the bike and then asked to swap the lid because the one I had leaked. They all leaked. The local solution is that you put a small plastic bag across the opening and then screw on the lid. The lady looked at me as if I was dumb for not knowing that.

Los Llanos is flat and green and low lying. And hot. The roads are okay but lots of potholes but not much traffic. One or two cars an hour. The area has a bit of a reputation for tough farmers and miners. It’s also close to the Colombian border and so there was a lot of police and military checks to ride through. Being on a bike usually meant that I could sneak through because they were busy watching TikTok on their phones. But occasionally they were on the ball and stepped out on the road in front of my bike and waved me to the side of the road. They all had guns. All the time.

At one stop I got the whole thing. All my documents and had to unload my bike onto a table while they check through everything. They photographed all my documentation and sent it off somewhere and had to wait for a reply. I was there about 2 hours and they were very polite and apologised for the amount of time it was taking. They searched thoroughly, found all my cash but were almost scared of touching it and insisted I watched them count it and put it back where they found it. As long as it was under $10K it was fine. I had about 2K of $US stashed in different places. No body searches though. Thankfully.

It was good for my Spanish and I finally got to see what was in all those drums I kept seeing around on motorbikes when one was pulled up at the checkpoint and I asked the soldier what was in the drums. He showed me. I just noticed in the photo that the farmer was riding in his socks. I didn’t take any checkpoint photos for obvious reasons but in the farmer one you can see one of the guards and one of my bags over on a table.

After they took a couple of compulsory photos, I said goodbye to my new friends at the checkpoint and continued on. I saw a dead snake that was thicker than my arm, some vultures and I had to swerve around a spider at 80kph! I had decided on a short day to get to the town of Elorza which is where I had initially planned to get to the night before. Going any further just made it difficult to match places to stay with my daily travel distance.  Just before the bridge that google assured me was closed I found a nice little empanada stall next to the place that was selling dried crocodile. The bridge was definitely open.

To get to Elorza I had to drive past another checkpoint but they waved me through and it was only a matter of a kilometre and a bridge and I was in town. 60 kilometres in 4 hours. I had spotted a couple of places to stay on google maps but finding them, even when they were marked, turned out to be difficult. They were there but hidden behind walls. I ended up staying at the Posada Los Chacaros. A lovely little family run posada. Not unlike a traditional B&B at home. I was able to park my bike outside my room. The family fussed over me. No one spoke English.

I went for a wander into town and along the river. Many places in South America don’t take advantage of their river front properties. The rivers are usually just behind crappy old houses. The exception being some of the old colonial towns which had been built by European merchants centuries ago. I found a nice little bar and also discovered my favourite Venezuelan beer. Polar beer. With Spanish pronunciation of the letter e, its Polar bear. It seems to be the most popular beer. Sold in light or Black. About $2.50AUD. After the bar I had a lovely encounter with a lady and her son selling some deep fried goodie on the street. The lady wanted her son to speak English. The kid was terrified and embarrassed. We all had a good laugh. After a couple of beers the food was delicious but I’m sure not a health food.

Back at the house I was fussed over again and talked about my trip while the lady of the house served me up a dinner that I wasn’t expecting. It was nice. We had a good laugh and took some photos. They had moved to Los Llanos because the father/husband wanted to be a cowboy and have a farm. They now have three. I was invited to visit them but I declined politely because I had a long way to go. Next morning the mum wouldn’t let me go without taking a couple of fresh arepas so that I didn’t have to buy them and also a jar of homemade mango treats.

Before I left town I wanted to top up my fuel. The service station was open and I was able to buy it. As I was doing so a cop came over and told me to come over to see him when I was finished. He was lurking around in the corner of the station and signalling me over. It seemed quite odd. I went half way so that I was still in view of the people getting fuel. He kept signalling for me to come to him. I didn’t. He came to me and asked for my documents. I acted dumb. Which was easy. No Spanish. He looked creepy. I decided he wanted to get hold of my passport and then I would have to pay a fine to get it back. I said thanks but no thanks and rode off. As I did, I saw in my mirror, a police bike pull up and he jumped on the back and they took off in a different direction to me.

A few minutes later I was at the bridge that was the only way out of town. And they were there. But 2 up and on a smaller bike. I just opened the throttle and sped off. They had no chance. I went the wrong way around the roundabout to avoid them and then only had to ride a kilometre to the military checkpoint that I had seen on the way in. I knew that they would not follow me there. They didn’t.

It was another long checkpoint and search but only an hour and a half this time. Nice soldiers. Gave me a chair and offered me coffee. Everyone offers you coffee. I did take some water. The bag search wasn’t as thorough but equally as careful. The highlight of this stop though was one of the young guys who was using AI with Aussie translation. It was so funny. I wish I had photographed some of his texts. One asked if the Aussie shiela’s were better than the Venezuelan ones. Another said that I was a bonza bloke and I hope you have a ripper time in Venezuela.

It kept me smiling for many kilometres. But then a big bright green iguana was chased onto the road by another one and the chaser got ran over by the car in front of me. It was injured and just laying there waving its front leg around as I swerved past. I didn’t know what to do. Should I go back? What would I do? I kept riding and thinking. In the end I decided that I was now too far away and maybe it was gone already. It was sad.

I planned to do about 300kms a day and with the checkpoints that was becoming a bit difficult. I was stopped at another one and a guy wanted to get me off the bike and get started but a more senior guy wandered over and asked a few questions and so I told him that I’d had a big search an hour ago near Elorza. He told the other guy to wait and then made a call on his mobile and within a minute he said that everything was fine and I could continue on. Nice. The other guy looked a bit disappointed. I stopped off and had my arepa and home made cheese breakfast. I brought a pepsi to go with it. I can’t find coke very often.

I made it to the Hotel Mantanial VIP ($39USD with Visa) in San Fernando del Apure by mid arvo. A reasonable hotel with room doors that did my head in. Cold aircon controlled by the circuit breaking in the electrical panel. Crap room WiFi but good at reception. I went for a wander. Saw a motorbike drive in pharmacy. A nice fruit and veg market and the traffic lights were cool and gave heaps of info but difficult to see. I eventually ate at the hotel after causing confusion by wanting a salad (without chips and mashed potato). Turned out okay. Oh, and nice safe bike parking under the hotel.

The next morning I headed off early as I had a ferry crossing. The town I was in was a junction and I was now on the quiet road. Long straight isolated roads with lots of green and big rivers. And more potholes. Nice on a bike but you need to be watching all the time. The highlight of the morning was about 80 cows being led down the road by a donkey. Not a human anywhere?

I made it to the ferry terminal by lunchtime. It wasn’t really a terminal. Just a small hot and dusty town with a ferry that crossed a river. Not far away was another ferry that crossed a different part of the river and crossed into Colombia. There was a checkpoint office but they were pretty cool. Only wanted documents. I also managed to have a lunch of fish and rice in a strange little restaurant or perhaps someones front room in their house. But it was nice. I was able to buy a ferry ticket for 8 bucks and about 2 hours after I’d arrived we crossed the river. It was suggested that I buy fuel on the other side of the river. The crossing was simple. But the fuel station was closed. And I actually needed fuel to get to the next town. There was another checkpoint and I tried to ride through slowly but was called to the side and I spent over an hour there. It was getting late and the sky was now black. And I had no fuel and the town was too small for a hotel. After a half hearted search through my stuff I was allowed to continue on. I asked the soldiers where I could by fuel. They looked at me strangely. Apparently it’s illegal to sell fuel on the street. I didn’t realise that.

But 10 doors away and around the corner was a place selling lots of fuel. Motorbikes were filling up 2 x 50L plastic containers from 200L drums and heading off in the direction that I was going. This should have been a sign. I asked if I could buy some fuel but it was nearly $2AUD a litre. So I decided to take the minimum I needed. 3 litres. I had put on my wet weather gear and knew it was only 100kms to Pijiguos, where I planned to stay the night. I was off. The road was okay still and I passed a couple of heavy laden fuel transport motorbikes. Then the road started to deteriorate. The rain was holding off or had passed but the bitumen ran out and the road was wet and muddy. I thought I’d finished with this crap. The base was good, muddy but not too slippery. Lots of potholes full of water and a few small lakes. One looked quite deep and I saw a local bike coming so I waited for them to see the best path through it. It took me 2.5 hours to ride 100kms and a solid pace. It was tiring. I can’t imagine how they do it with 100 litres of fuel on the back.

Pijiguos seems such a cool name but the town was shit. A dirty mining town. Not unlike the ones that I had encountered when I entered Venezuela from Brazil the first time. The hotel seemed pretty basic but okay and safe. Checking in was a bit weird but then I met a resident who spoke a bit of English. Nice guy and super helpful. It had been a long hard day and I was tired. I walked down a dark dirt road into town and struggled to find somewhere to eat non junk food. I’d brought a beer and some water. Then the guest from the hotel turned up in his car. He was buying some groceries to cook dinner and asked me to join him. I agreed and he also drove me back to the Posada Rancho Moro or was it Morichalito?

They had a kitchen there and he said a couple of other guests were joining us. He also gave me the password to his starlink which was superfast and helpful as the hotel wifi didn’t work. I did my internet stuff and then chatted with him as he cooked. Turns out he is a buyer. He spends a couple of months at a time living in the hotel (although next time he will have a rented house) and buys titanium off small local miners. The mines are a three day walk through the jungle and they bring about 70 kilograms each time. The get about $1200AUD for it. Once he has about 25 tonne he sends it off to China. It was all pretty interesting. One of the other guys did the same thing but with a different metal. He has starlink so he can talk with his wife and child. A tough life and I imagine dealing with the miners and China would also be difficult.

He was very interested in my work in Antarctica and we chatted about that. The food was Arabic and delicious. His friend also turned up with another beer for me. It was a nice evening in what could have been a dismal stopover. I had a couple of Antarctic tote bags with me and so I gave him one and his was very happy to have it. Next morning he borrowed a bike and rode with me to get fuel. Turns out I should have filled up with the expensive fuel near the ferry because in this town it was $4AUD a litre. Lucky I’m riding a bike. My most expensive fuel ever. But still happy to get it. And after knowing that those guys bring it to town on the back of their motorbikes along that road I could justify the cost. I left. He stayed. I was happy to leave.

My destination that day was only 180kms and the road was reasonable. Sealed but lots of cracks and potholes. I stopped off for breakfast at a lovely little thatched roof roadside place. They had two things on offer and I had both. No coke but the things I thought were savoury were almost pure sugar. One was like a flat donut full of sugar jam. The other was a bar made of coconut and cane sugar. The couple who made them and had the restaurant? in their front garden were lovely and very interested in my Australian money. They even took photos of it. And asked lots of questions. When I left I gave then a nice shiny one dollar Australian coin. Smiles all around.

I arrived at my destination, Caicara del Orinoco just after midday. I went to the Hotel 911. A weird check in process. I had to pay in cash $US and she said she would give me the change later. I wanted the change in the local currency, Bolivares. She showed me a crappy room without a window or covered parking. I asked how much the other rooms were which had windows and their own undercover parking place. She said the same price. Um. Okay then. I’ll have one of them. No problem. The rooms also had their own private staircase at the back of the carport. I’m guessing this hotel also rented rooms for an hourly rate. Mine was $37USD for the whole night.

I asked about somewhere to eat and she suggested a place down the road. She also hinted that I should bring her back some barbequed chicken as a gift. It was a nice meal and quite big and they had no chicken and so I got a takeaway container and brought her back what I didn’t eat. I think she was hoping for chicken.

I had a nice walk around town and along the river. I also decide to wash my socks and a couple of other things and then creatively hung them around my room. Next day it was convenient having my bike at the base of the stairs. I was packed and ready to leave early. Would she have my change? She did.

I asked about fuel but it was confusing. You could only get fuel today if the last number of your rego was a 1, 4, or 7. Mine is 3. I rode around and then found a place with an old petrol pump out the front and a couple of people sitting around. Turns out that the pump worked. One old guy told me about how he rode to the bottom of South America 30 years ago. I paid twice the normal price which is the normal price for fuel when you don’t buy it at the regular petrol station. And paid in $US.

It was a 385km ride to my next destination. Ciudad Bolivar. And the road was decent. More big rivers and odd statues and another lovely roadside encounter in a little shop where I had Pastilos? which were really just rectangular empanadas and a glass of white juice. No idea what it was but everything tasted great, was cheap and lovely people. I also left them an Aussie dollar souvenir.

I made it into the city in good time and checked out Casa Grande. It was a beautiful old building and I really wanted to stay there but it was $60USD ($100AUD) a night and I had to pay in cash. It was well above my cash budget and my $USD allowance but I stayed there anyway. It just seemed the right thing to do.

KMS 46120