DAY ONE
The day started at 6 am with melodies coming from the birds, having a singing competition for the special occasion of the sun rising above the horizon. The island is near the Equator, therefore the days are equal to the nights and the climate doesn’t change throughout the year.
I went to search for some food and came to realize that food wasn’t offered, and what’s more, I was my own “private” cook and the ingredients were at the local store “for my convenience”. All the local guests at the house offered to make me an arepa. A few moments later I was enjoying the delicious burger made of a corn-flour bun, filled with fried bananas (platanos), an egg, and some veggies. I had a small talk with these wonderful people in Spanish and the day started with a smile. The beach was five minutes away, so I grabbed my camera and went to further explore my whereabouts. According to all the signs I was obviously in Paradise – azure-blue sea, clear-white sand, green palms, and a variety of birds each with their own repertoire of unique Latin songs. I imagined myself speaking the language fluently, enjoying my soon-to-find new job and friends, coming to this beach in the evening for a drink with a straw, and tons of laughs. After a thirty-minute walk on the sand, I decided to take the alley with the shops on my way back.
Right away I was stopped by this nice local, who offered me to dive in the Caribbean Sea as soon as possible, so I could enjoy the number of fish and sea creatures in it. In response, I said I would consider his generous offer and as I was walking off he asked if I was alone on the island. To my positive response, he replied that I needed to get back to the hotel as quickly as possible and that I should never again go out with a golden necklace and a fancy camera hanging off my neck. When I asked why the hell not, he said that the streets were full of muggers who would be very happy to cross my path. I thought about it for a moment, thanked for his advice, and carried on with my walk.
As I entered the guesthouse I noticed that the fence was covered with broken glass pieces attached to its cement top and there were electrical wires going along its entire length. In the evening I also noticed the belted with a gun night guard. Well, I guess crime’s pretty high around here, I thought as I was falling asleep, but crime’s high back home too. Name one place where crime doesn’t exist!
HOW TO GET TO THE CITY AND WILL THE TELESCOPE BUSINESS BE SUCCESSFUL?
On the next day, I decided to go to the city center which was about 15km away from the guesthouse. I wanted to do some research and find a crowded spot for my telescope and me where I could soon begin making money.
I asked Amanda, a sweet lady in her 50s, where the bus stop was and how exactly I could get to the city. My question caught her by surprise; she explained that there was no bus and I had to hitchhike to the city. “How exciting and compelling”, I thought, “my first ever hitchhike experience would be in Venezuela.” The woman also demanded that I get home before sunset. She definitely had that authoritarian parent look on her face. I responded that she was very sweet, but I was a thirty-year-old adult to which she simply answered that there was no age limitation to being robbed or kidnapped. Thrilled by the upcoming hitchhike her words went right over my head.
The journey happened to be not so exciting after all, considering that most drivers stopped and picked up hikers easily. You know my Spanish isn’t all that good either so I avoided speaking when unnecessary.
Porlamar (the name of the city) turned out to be a very picturesque and vivid place. I easily found the main street with many shops, street vendors, and loud music. I walked around, took many pictures, and waited for the sunset to see how many people would hang out in the city center after dawn, which was when my temporary job was supposed to happen.
While I waited I went to grab a phone card; that took me a while since I had to fill out a bunch of documents, and even provide fingerprints. What could I do, when in Rome do as the Romans do.
The sunset came and all the shops started closing. Not long after that, the main street started to look like a ghost town. Along with the vanishing crowds of people, vanished my telescope business idea. All my senses started telling me that something apocalyptical was about to happen, thus I started to look for ways to get back to the guesthouse. With the business card of the house in hand I was able to come to an agreement with one guy with a car, so two other men, he and I drove off north. It was interesting how it got dark shortly after the beginning of the sunset. In only twenty, thirty minutes I was able to observe the night sky. That is how it was on the Equator, or so I was told.
After a while, the driver stopped the car in the middle of nowhere. My companions exited the vehicle, and the driver mumbled something at me. I had no clue what he said, but it was day-clear he wanted me to get off the car too. I was at the point of having no leads on which way to go. I quickly calculated the odds and decided to start walking in one direction and ask the first person I meet for some advice.
After about a ten-minute walk I came to a house and through the wire fence, I spotted a moving silhouette. As I got closer I saw a man holding an ax, going for the neck of a poor hen. My instincts made me scream, “NOOO!”, which made him stop what he was doing and approach me. I explained I had gotten lost and showed him the guesthouse business card. After a brief moment of contemplation, he told me to go back the way I came from and make a turn at ‘that one intersection’. And that is how the hen gained a few more moments of precious life, and I gained something also very precious – hope that I’ll be getting home soon.
After about a thirty-minute walk I arrived at the guesthouse. The night guard Jose scolded me like a father a mischievous child but in the end, we parted ways with a smile. In the next few days, things started to become more and more clear. The country economy wasn’t in its most flourishing state and even the locals struggled to find a job. I made friends with Jose, the night guard, and he told me about his days before this job and how he slept on the beach without food or a place to stay. He also told me about the high crime in the area.
I slowly came to realize that Venezuela wasn’t the best place to fulfill my plan to live a peaceful life on the beach without the problems and worries of the modern Western civilization. Before I gave up on my dreams though I decided to give the telescope another chance. What I experienced in Porlamar after sunset didn’t appeal to me, but there was another city on the island – Pampatar. As far as my knowledge went, there lived wealthier people and it was different.
On couchsurfing.com I met a guy from Pampatar so I went to meet him. He was about the same age as me, with good education and a job. I told him about my idea to offer night sky views through my telescope at the city mall terrace. We went to explore the place together, and it truly seemed fitting. A spark appeared in my eye and we parted ways with the agreement to meet on the next day to start with our business affairs. During our discussion, the guy noted that it would be dangerous to travel with the telescope on a daily basis and offered to store it in his home. On the next day as I was walking out the guesthouse with the twenty-kilogram bag at hand, I was stopped by Amanda, the manager of the house. She politely asked where I was going with “that bag” and I quickly told her about my endeavors. She asked me to wait for her in the office as she brought some juice for her and me from the bar. As I was sipping on the orange juice, she thoroughly explained that the guy from Pampatar most likely didn’t have the purest intentions, as I thought, and also warned me that once the telescope left the house, it would never return.
Now is the time to share something I deeply believe in, which is that in life we can never make a mistake. As we race through it, we are constantly faced with choices, and none of them is wrong. Simply depending on the choice made, life creates different challenges for us to overcome. Everything is a lesson, there are no bad experiences.
I decided to take Amanda’s advice. I brought my telescope back to my room, lay in bed, and dove into my thoughts. I was having a serious inner dialogue with myself. This conversation led to one thing – give up on my dream, the dream to emigrate and start living in Venezuela. Maybe it was the fear that took over, but no matter how I looked at it, it didn’t make sense to fight it. Or maybe that is how it was meant to be…