Crossing the Border

The venezuelan side of the border control "short cut", during the day.
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Ok, so I forgot to mention... Todo es possible, nada es seguro... was one of the other themes to the Roraima trek.  It means "Everything is possible, nothing is for sure". 

Surprisingly enough after all the rain and torture that the group put up with together, when the trip was over, and we were set free, we still wanted to stay together for one last "excursion". 

Caipirinha background (for those of you who don't know):

A Caipirinha (caipi for short) is my favorite cocktail.  It is made from Cachaça (Brazilian sugarcane liquor), crushed fresh limes and brown sugar.  It is really popular in Germany, but it is from Brazil. 

The Brazilian side, as our guide shows 2 germans how to get around the checkpoint. This is where we drove the night before.
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Somehow it came up on our trek that it was possible for me to cross into Brazil without paying the normal $100 for a visa.  When they said this I realized that I had to cross the border and have my first Brazilian Caipi... and the group decided that we would all go together. 

After a quick shower, the first in days... hey, it was raining every day, that should count for something... the full group left for the border and crossed without a problem.  They just want to see everyone's Yellow Fever Vaccination card.

My luxury bus for the 22 hour ride to Caracus
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We stopped for a beer and a little dancing at the first bar we saw with live Brazilian samba music.  After a dance or two, maybe we even sang happy birthday, we went to a BBQ restaurant.

At the restaurant the meat just kept being served.  All different kinds of meet, and it was totally delicious.  They also served me, my much anticipated, first Brazilian Caipi.  Unfortunately... I don't think the Brazilians know how to make a caipi, because it was much too strong.  (Sorry Brazil, I hope you take that as a challenge, I guess I will be back some day).

My first Brazilian Caipi
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By now it is about 10pm... did I forget to mention that the border closes at 9pm.  We were a bit nervous about this, but they guides just said "tranquilo!", relax!  We have a plan, we know away around the border.

Thinking about all of the international laws we were going to break, just like a Mexican crossing into the US, we were pretty interested in getting back.  After having one more beer at the Samba bar, the guides conceded in bringing us back.

The music was on full blast in the truck, we went down some back roads, and then hit a dirt road.  This is where the lights went off, but the music stayed on.  If we were trying to go stealthily, I don't think we were seceding, we could have been heard a mile away.  We couldn't see anything, but then all of a sudden the truck was tipped to a 35 degree angle as we were diving along.  Ok, the lights went on for a second to see where we were going and then off again.

One of the best BBQs ever
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After about 5 minutes we popped out on the road between the Brazilian and Venezuelan border checkpoints.  We turned the lights back on, the music down, and drove to the Venezuelan side.  Looking like they just woke up, the guards slowly came out of the offices to see who was crossing the closed border... of course they all came out with the typical M16 or other huge gun in hand.

This is where the fast talking started. The guides started bull-shitting something about how we (the tourists) needed to cross the border to catch a plane in the morning.  The guards asked us all to get out of the truck to check our passports and yellow fever cards.  And then somehow it happened again.... feliz cumpleaños a ti!!!... everybody in our group started singing Happy Birthday to Franz.  The guards did all they could to keep straight faces and then finally told us to leave... I guess they had enough of us.  I was pretty relieved when we finally made it through... then of course the music went back on!

The boarder crossing party machine
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An adventure with everything, good food, bad drinks, stress, law-breaking and fiesta.

The next day, we all slept late, then went back to Brazil to see if me and the other American, Rachel could get our visas extended again, without paying the $100 to get into Brazil.  But no amount of fast talking by Puripuri was going to get it for us.

The next day I headed for Caracas, then directly to Merida on the most luxurious bus I have ever been on. I was actually able to sleep. The rest of the group went on a day tour of La Gran Sabana.