Day 3 - Upata - Pariaguán:
Fact Sheet: 377 Km
Upata - Ciudad Guayana - Puerto Ordaz - Ciudad Bolívar - El Tigre - Pariaguán
Hotel Turistico Pariaguán - twin std aprox. USD 18 (very good, motel style)
A great feeling to wake up after the two long stints, and not being under such a pressure to reach a particular destiny: from here on, there are plenty of places we can spend the night, unlike the two previous days. We start the day a bit later, after a good nights rest, and a simple, but nice breakfast at the Panaderia across from the Hotel Andrea. By 10:00h, we are tanked up, and back on the road. After Upata, it becomes a dual carriageway, and from here on, we are on tollways for most of the journey. The average tollfare is between B$50 and B$300, implying between USD 0,03 and USD 0,15, for generally very good infrastructure. Definitely worth your money, compared to Brazil! We dashed through Cuidad Guayana and Puerto Ordaz, and head straight for Ciudad Bolívar, to have lunch, and check out this pictoresque town, founded in 1764. Walks in the traditional/old part of town, by the church, and on the Paseo Orinoco, by the Orinoco River, from where we also see the Angostura bridge - the only bridge that spans over the Orinoco, and over 1,600m long. Before 15:00h we are back on the road, and after crossing the Orinoco, the vegetation and scenery changes: it becomes barren and dry - this is petroleum country. The motorway is single-lane, and very busy: most of the southbound/northbound cargo is on it, all the way to El Tigre, after which it becomes dual carriageway again. However, in El Tigre we head off to the west, and are off the beaten track, onto a much less frequented path, heading towards Barinas and the Andes. This is arround 17:00h, and to our surprise, Amarildo's car has a flat. After fixing it, we head on to Pariaguan, were we shack down in a very decent motel-style hotel: spacious, new, comfortable and safe. Here we take it easy, to push harder again tomorrow.
Events:
| Just out of El Tigre, Amarildo's car has a flat. We take it easily: we are at the outskirt of a large town, it is daylight, we are not under pressure to reach anywhere urgently, and the shops and garages are still open. We quickly change the tyre, and close by, get it repaired too. It was a nail - we reckon it was the remnants of a broken cat's-eye/reflector picked up on the busy stretch. This was the only flat of the whole journey, and both our cars had the same wheel size and tyres, so we were prepared for any more serious flats. Luckily, they never happened. |
Pictures:
