I was the first one at the Zoo this morning and I was the first one at the coffee stand outside the Zoo to ask when the doors would open. The old man just said “under reform” and I had to look for an alternative program. I had already seen the city center yesterday and I had no more points of interest on my list. I was in the north of the city at the entrance to the mountains. I do not recall the reason but I just continued to drive further up the road and up the hill. I passed a good number of cyclists on my way and realized that I was going higher and higher and was now hoping for a lookout on my way to take some panoramic pictures of Maracay.

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I passed the recreation area of the National Park Henri Pittier. I had the Park marked on my map but not on my agenda but now I was at the entrance. I continued driving and let my curiosity decide up to which point I wanted to go. The road got steeper and the curves sharper.

The nature changed to a highland rainforest and I was now quite happy to have swapped the Park with the Zoo. At one of the next curves a car had turned over and had come to a stop in the middle of the road. It was easy for the bicycle drivers but quite a problem for the cars going up or coming down. The police was already there and had to help out.

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The amount of cyclist was ten or twenty times the amount of car drivers. You had to drive pretty careful on the narrow winding road and I had difficulties to watch the cyclists, the opposite traffic and the stunning nature. After one hour I reached the mountain pass and on the other side I could see the sea again.

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I would have to spend one hour and a half to reach the beach and then two hours and half back again. It was Sunday and I had to consider as well the traffic of weekenders from Maracay going back home. I had seen enough and decided to go back and have lunch in Maracay.

I was looking for the right place to have lunch and drove along the main street but most of the bakeries, supermarkets and snack bars were closed. I followed the sign board to the market and to my surprise the market was open and very crowded. I had found yet another place of interest that I did not have on my agenda.

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I tried some sweets at one stand, had a drink at another and a greasy ham and cheese Pastel. I walked the market three times and before going back to the car I passed the empty baseball stands. Everybody had been busy except for the baseball stand. I had a chat with the owner and he said that his time would come in the afternoon before and after the game.

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Only now I realized that the market was bordering the baseball and the football stadium. The game against Caracas would be at 17:30 this afternoon. I went to the ticket sales office and asked for the cheapest ticket; 570 Bolivares, 4 Brazilian Reais or 1 Euro. I was really short with Bolivares but I could not let this chance pass by. I had to get my passport and only then buy the ticket. I had two more hours at the cyber at the bus terminal before I headed back to the stadium.

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I entered exactly one hour before the game and enjoyed the atmosphere inside the stadium at the food and beer stands, at the Club house and the VIP area and at the stand for the fan attendance. After the third inning a tropical rain made everybody run for cover. I waited for twenty minutes for the rain to stop but had enough baseball anyway and went to the central hospital.

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