Day Zero 15.12.2009

It´s a glorious morning in Bogotá.
I´d much rather be sleeping than writing this but I should get Day Zero over and done with. It was 3 C in Barcelona when we left, -5 C in Paris when we arrived, and after a long, non-drug induced 10ish hours we got to a 29-degree Caracas! JP was in good spirits considering he hates flying, and I didn´t get as bored as I had thought, even though I didn´t watch a single film on the plane and barely read. I did have a browse through the Bradt guide only to discover that it´s poorly written and inaccurate. Other than one of our fellow passengers fainting due to too much alcohol, the flight was pretty uneventful.
I loved seeing the mountains literally grow out of the sea as we were approaching Caracas airport and the humid air wash over me when I stepped off the plane. Reminded me of Karachi, something that has already been mentioned more than once during my half a day stay here...but more about that soon. On our arrival at the somewhat austere Caracas airport main building, we were greeted by Hugo Chavez himself! So there was no need to buy any Hugo Chavez memorabilia, which had been my original plan. Unfortunately, Hugo was merely a picture on a big banner, stretching out his arm to us, welcoming us to Venezuela and claiming: "¡Venezuela está liberado! Ahora y para siempre." (Venezuela is free! Now and forever.) It was very considerate of Hugo to greet us in such a lovely manner.:) It was also great to see JP jokingly complaining about how expensive and primitive everything was at the airport...:)
The flight from Caracas to Bogota was a bit more eventful than the previous two - as expected. The Guardia Nacional in Venezuela has been making things difficult for Avianca, the Colombian airline we were flying with, for a few days now, making the planes wait in random places and double checking all luggage...As a result, we were over an hour late. When we got to Caracas I was joking to JP about how the boarding gate for Avianca was at the far end of the airport with all the American airlines...seems it´s more than just a joke.
JP´s dad JR and sister and brother M and S came to meet us at the airport - it was great to see their familiar faces after the long trip. They took us to JP´s mum L´s house where we were met by L, JP´s twin brother JJ and L´s partner P. It was lovely to see them all and eat some tortilla española with them before going to sleep.
About the comparison thing - I have decided not to make more comparisons between Colombia and Pakistan, and will limit my comparisons between Colombia and Mexico, too. Besides, I´m sure I´ll find Colombia to be quite different from both. Other than the trip from the airport to L´s house, I haven´t seen anything yet. But anyway, sometimes you need some point of reference, and for me, in my head, those points of reference will be Pakistan and Mexico.
So, it´s the morning of Day 1, which I will tell you about in more detail soon. But I can tell you that I had the loveliest breakfast of arrepas with queso de savana (???) and scrambled eggs...and coffee...and freshly squeezed orange juice...and now we´re off for a little car tour before going to eat bandeja paisa in M´s mum A´s house. I am sure I will put on about 10 kilos on this trip if today is anything to go by! :)
I´ll try and put up some photos as soon as I have some. Maybe I´ll even find a website with the picture of Hugo´s warm welcome - I couldn´t find my camera quickly enough to take one in Caracas.