I really wanted to sleep more, but forced myself to get up. The bed was so nice, especially after having worked so hard and waiting in the airport and staying up late... oh well, I'll get some sleep in the car.
The roads in Venezuela are not the best. They are not the worst either, but they definitely aren't the best. It is a lot like Mexico... well at least Guadalajara, where there are a lot of speed bumps randomly. In Venezuela there seemed to be an equal or greater amount of potholes as well.
Bernardo drove as one would expect cautious Bernardo to drive, slowly and cautiously. He had automatic transmission but chose to drive in 1st or 2nd gear the majority of the time. He would also wave people on to pass him and I guess his reaction time wasn't all that great because he would see a pothole at the last second and veer violently to avoid it. We all got used to it.
The countryside is beautiful. As we drove into the mountains, we got higher and higher and eventually we were above the clouds. It was so interesting to see the change in landscape and vegetation as we escalated. And the further into the mountains we got, the more "Fresas con Crema!" (Strawberries and Cream) stands we saw. They were soooo good and really cheap too. There were strawberry fields everywhere. I loved it and so did everyone else.
We had been driving for a good 7 hours and decided it would be a good idea to stop in Santo Domingo for some food and probably to stay the night so we could do some exploring there. We found a really cheap place that was maybe $10/night and ventured out into the town. It seemed like wherever we went, there was art or graffiti on the walls. I found it really interesting and intriguing.
The first thing we had to do was eat because we were all really hungry. We walked about a mile uphill to the plaza and went into a restaurant. It was full when we walked in but within 5 minutes a lot of people left and we were able to sit at the bar. Our order was taken right away and we were happy. I wanted to try something from there and so I ordered the trout and I also ordered blackberry wine which is made in Venezuela. It was a very, very sweet wine.
An hour later our food came. I don't know if it was because I was so hungry that the food tasted amazing or if it actually was amazing but I was very glad to have it in my stomach.
We walked another mile up the road just wandering around. The air was fresh, cool and chill, the clouds hovering around us. Sublime.
We went back to the town to hang out for a bit and were going to watch a recreation of the last supper at the church... but we were all really tired and ended up going back to the hotel. I immediately went to sleep for the night and it was around 8pm.
The next day I was ready to rock and roll.
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