We're Off To...Maybe Not
Saturday, October 11, 2008
Last week we had a great trip to a local rum distillery. It was arranged through the social committee at school. Carrie is a member of that committee. She has been pressing them to branch out a little, so we ended up at the Santa Teresa Rum Distillery.
We were scheduled to meet everyone at the school at 10:00 Saturday morning. A bus had been reserved to take us on the hour and a half trip to the city of La Victoria for the tour. My job was to take Zachary to his friend’s house across town, get some cash from the ATM and buy some credit for the phone. Easy enough… Except we live in Venezuela.
My first stop was the Panaderia (bakery) for the cash machine. I waited in line, observing that no one was being successful. Finally it was my turn to be unsuccessful. That’s okay, no problem, I just hopped the fence to the pharmacy next door and waited in line at that cash machine. It wasn’t giving money either. I left without even trying.
It was getting late and I still had to get Z across town. We jetted off and stopped at another pharmacy to use that machine. It rejected me so I jumped in the car and blazed a trail. The next machine I came to told me that my card had now been blocked. This meant there could be no success so I opted for dropping Zachary off and going from there.
There was still a little time so I thought I might just make it to the bank and get it worked out with them. That would have been a lot easier if this town had been laid out in an orderly fashion. As it was I got turned around and ended up on the Avenida Bolivar going away from the bank. This is a main thoroughfare with a giant median in the middle of it. Okay, so I’m cruising the wrong way down this huge street, looking to make a uee. I have fifteen minutes before the bus is supposed to leave and I have to stop at a pedestrian light.
I will pause here in the story to remind you that there are no laws in Venezuela, especially traffic laws. A red light merely means slow down and make sure no one is coming before jetting through at top speed towards your destination. This is doubly true for lights at pedestrian crossings as pedestrians have no rights whatsoever.
I waited until everyone had crossed and then I ran that light headed for my u-turn when I got pulled over. I tried to play the part of the dumb tourist, pretending not to speak any Spanish, but the guy was relentless. Eventually he called over his buddies. These two guys were the size of small mountains and carried big guns. They interrogated me, refusing to take no for an answer.
I played stupid. It’s already really hard for me to understand people when they speak Spanish really fast so acting stupid isn’t a big leap. I just kept telling the cop that I didn’t understand and I insisted he keep repeating himself. He wanted 460 Bs, right now (that’s $200!!). When I told him I didn’t have the cash he told me I needed to go to the police station to talk to the captain. I kept pointing out that I didn’t have any money (isn’t that the whole reason I’m in this spot to begin with?). Even if I went to the police station, I still wouldn’t have any money.
In the meantime, the first guy was writing down all the information from my car title, ID card, and driver’s license. I suggested that maybe they could just give me the ticket and I would pay it later, but to no avail. I finally told them that I needed to get home and meet my wife. The biggest mountain of a cop shook his head and told me to leave. I didn’t understand him so I made him repeat it one more time. I think he almost smiled as I drove away.
I drove rather quickly to school to fill Carrie in on the details. We boarded the bus and headed for the distillery, but that’s a whole different story.
MJR
Last week we had a great trip to a local rum distillery. It was arranged through the social committee at school. Carrie is a member of that committee. She has been pressing them to branch out a little, so we ended up at the Santa Teresa Rum Distillery.
We were scheduled to meet everyone at the school at 10:00 Saturday morning. A bus had been reserved to take us on the hour and a half trip to the city of La Victoria for the tour. My job was to take Zachary to his friend’s house across town, get some cash from the ATM and buy some credit for the phone. Easy enough… Except we live in Venezuela.
My first stop was the Panaderia (bakery) for the cash machine. I waited in line, observing that no one was being successful. Finally it was my turn to be unsuccessful. That’s okay, no problem, I just hopped the fence to the pharmacy next door and waited in line at that cash machine. It wasn’t giving money either. I left without even trying.
It was getting late and I still had to get Z across town. We jetted off and stopped at another pharmacy to use that machine. It rejected me so I jumped in the car and blazed a trail. The next machine I came to told me that my card had now been blocked. This meant there could be no success so I opted for dropping Zachary off and going from there.
There was still a little time so I thought I might just make it to the bank and get it worked out with them. That would have been a lot easier if this town had been laid out in an orderly fashion. As it was I got turned around and ended up on the Avenida Bolivar going away from the bank. This is a main thoroughfare with a giant median in the middle of it. Okay, so I’m cruising the wrong way down this huge street, looking to make a uee. I have fifteen minutes before the bus is supposed to leave and I have to stop at a pedestrian light.
I will pause here in the story to remind you that there are no laws in Venezuela, especially traffic laws. A red light merely means slow down and make sure no one is coming before jetting through at top speed towards your destination. This is doubly true for lights at pedestrian crossings as pedestrians have no rights whatsoever.
I waited until everyone had crossed and then I ran that light headed for my u-turn when I got pulled over. I tried to play the part of the dumb tourist, pretending not to speak any Spanish, but the guy was relentless. Eventually he called over his buddies. These two guys were the size of small mountains and carried big guns. They interrogated me, refusing to take no for an answer.
I played stupid. It’s already really hard for me to understand people when they speak Spanish really fast so acting stupid isn’t a big leap. I just kept telling the cop that I didn’t understand and I insisted he keep repeating himself. He wanted 460 Bs, right now (that’s $200!!). When I told him I didn’t have the cash he told me I needed to go to the police station to talk to the captain. I kept pointing out that I didn’t have any money (isn’t that the whole reason I’m in this spot to begin with?). Even if I went to the police station, I still wouldn’t have any money.
In the meantime, the first guy was writing down all the information from my car title, ID card, and driver’s license. I suggested that maybe they could just give me the ticket and I would pay it later, but to no avail. I finally told them that I needed to get home and meet my wife. The biggest mountain of a cop shook his head and told me to leave. I didn’t understand him so I made him repeat it one more time. I think he almost smiled as I drove away.
I drove rather quickly to school to fill Carrie in on the details. We boarded the bus and headed for the distillery, but that’s a whole different story.
MJR
posted by Bronx to Timbuktu at 1:24 PM
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