This morning was the same drive as yesterday only today I expected of course more traffic and delays as it was the first working day of the week. Today I wanted to see the Zoo and the Botanical garden. I arrived at the final station of the line number 2 and walked to the entrance of the Zoo just to learn that Monday was the day for all animals to have a rest from the weekend. I could have thought about this, pubs and bars and animals are off on Monday. I had spotted another area with several historical buildings yesterday when I drove with the bus and decided to replace this destination with the previous.

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I went with the metro and it was not too much of challenge to identify on the map the area in question as the metro station Teatros. I left the Teatros station and saw a different Caracas than yesterday. Already the metro had been very busy and at some point people did not make it into the train as it was full.

The city now was busy as well and I walked to the historical buildings and along the justice department towards the Botanical Garden. Already in the metro I had two men reminding me to be careful with my camera and at the entrance of the Caobos Park a police officer felt obliged to do the same. Thank you.

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I entered the park and was impressed by one sculpture in particular, a golden elephant in one of the mirror pools. The gold was so bright that you had to notice the elephant already from a good distance and getting closer you realized that it was a full size animal, totally in gold, walking in the water surrounded by bamboo trees. This was in several ways a highlight.

The Botanical Garden was located besides one of the most central and busy motorways of the city and to get there was not easy as I had to cross several pedestrian bridges, intersections and the motorway. The Botanical Garden joined the entrance with the entrance to the university and after an extensive walk through the garden from one end to the other I entered the campus of the university to continue walking to the metro station.  I wanted to go to my office to speak one more time to Europe and Brazil.

I could have spent a week in Caracas to continue and visit all the museums and the Zoo that I had missed today. I could have gone to the theater where they were showing the Nutcracker ballet and the opera Madame Butterfly.

I could have visited one of the stadiums and watched a baseball or football game.

But I wanted to go back to nature and stay in more calm areas and close to the beach. I wanted to get to the border and talk to some officials to find out about my possibilities. I have to be honest though and pay my respect to Caracas, a city that can compete with any mega city in the world. What I probably liked about Caracas was the fact that the city was located within a valley, was very green, offered cooler temperatures than on the coast and most important did not have heavy industry within the city limits, Caracas was an administration capitol.

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