I had a small adventure yesterday. A friend, Rocio from Peru, asked if I wanted to go to the movies with her.
The dialogue went something like this (by sms):
- Movies? tonight?
- Sure when, where and how?
- Sambil at 7.30.*
- How can I get to Sambil? Can we not meet somewhere and go togehter?
- You can take 5 de Julio to delicias tostados 25 6.30
At this point I took out my map and found a street called Avenida 15 de Delicias. Here all streets have a number and some also have names. So, what the hell was tostados 25? I found no street like that. I wrote Rocio:
- So, we meet at the corner of 5 de Julio and Delicias?
- there is a restaurant called tostados 25, we meet there. It is safer than in the street.
Fine. Some time after 6 I went out into the street, took a carrito to 5 de Julio and stood in line to take another carrito to Delicias. A lot of people, no free carritos. At 6.40 I get an SMS from Rocio asking where I am. I answer that I´ll take a carrito or a taxi if I can get one, and start walking. All carritos that pass me are full, or pirate, and I can´t make out whether the taxis are pirate or not and do not want to take a risk. But it is getting dark. Soon Rocio calls, where are you? I inform her that I just crossed 12 (the street, Delicias is 15). She tells me to, instead of Delicias, go to a shopping center called Kapital. I ask her to wait for me at street 15, she says Kapital is easy to find. OK, I continue walking. When I come to street 16 I ask some people in the street where Kapital is situated. First person says, what kapital, Caracas? and helps me ask another person who knows the shopping center. He says it is very far away, but that I just have to keep walking straight. I am cursing Rocio and it is getting dark. I get funny looks from the men in the street. I ask for directions again, and everybody says "walk straight, it´ll com up in your right". I finally find the place at ca 7.30 and walk into the supermarket called Kapital. No Rocio. I walk around the shopping center and look for her. No Rocio, it is dark. The battery on my mobile fails me. I´m getting scared. I decide to ask the security at the supermarket if I can borrow their phone to make a call, I could instert my chip and they would not have to pay anything. Noooo, Digitel does not work with their phones. One of the guys escorts me to the calling center* nearby. So the guy takes me to the center, of course I am a bit worried, (where is he taking me?), and there I start my explanation again. I need to call a friend, I have no battery etc. They don´t really understand what I want but listen patiently. I am very nervous. Then I try my phone again, I manage to open it and get Rocio´s number and send her a message about by whereabouts. She sends me a message back that she is coming in 5 min. Then I sit and wait for 30 min and finally she comes. Phew!
By the time Rocio arrives I´ve spoken to several people in the phone center, about Finland and how cold it is there, for how long I have stayed in Venezuela etc. (told them my address and given my phone numer :)...hi mom!). When we leave eveybody says: ciao! hasta luego! Rocio laughs and says that I´ve made many new friends. This is what I truly love about Venezuela, how fast people adopt you, how easy it is to make "friends".
The movie was good. I don´t know the name in English but the main actors were Bruce Willis and Mos Def. I enjoyed it. No must movie though.
*Samibil is the largest and most expensive shopping center in Maracaibo.
*There are places with phones people can use to make calls in the cities. There are no phone booths, instead there are centers with many booths. You make your call and then you pay.
The dialogue went something like this (by sms):
- Movies? tonight?
- Sure when, where and how?
- Sambil at 7.30.*
- How can I get to Sambil? Can we not meet somewhere and go togehter?
- You can take 5 de Julio to delicias tostados 25 6.30
At this point I took out my map and found a street called Avenida 15 de Delicias. Here all streets have a number and some also have names. So, what the hell was tostados 25? I found no street like that. I wrote Rocio:
- So, we meet at the corner of 5 de Julio and Delicias?
- there is a restaurant called tostados 25, we meet there. It is safer than in the street.
Fine. Some time after 6 I went out into the street, took a carrito to 5 de Julio and stood in line to take another carrito to Delicias. A lot of people, no free carritos. At 6.40 I get an SMS from Rocio asking where I am. I answer that I´ll take a carrito or a taxi if I can get one, and start walking. All carritos that pass me are full, or pirate, and I can´t make out whether the taxis are pirate or not and do not want to take a risk. But it is getting dark. Soon Rocio calls, where are you? I inform her that I just crossed 12 (the street, Delicias is 15). She tells me to, instead of Delicias, go to a shopping center called Kapital. I ask her to wait for me at street 15, she says Kapital is easy to find. OK, I continue walking. When I come to street 16 I ask some people in the street where Kapital is situated. First person says, what kapital, Caracas? and helps me ask another person who knows the shopping center. He says it is very far away, but that I just have to keep walking straight. I am cursing Rocio and it is getting dark. I get funny looks from the men in the street. I ask for directions again, and everybody says "walk straight, it´ll com up in your right". I finally find the place at ca 7.30 and walk into the supermarket called Kapital. No Rocio. I walk around the shopping center and look for her. No Rocio, it is dark. The battery on my mobile fails me. I´m getting scared. I decide to ask the security at the supermarket if I can borrow their phone to make a call, I could instert my chip and they would not have to pay anything. Noooo, Digitel does not work with their phones. One of the guys escorts me to the calling center* nearby. So the guy takes me to the center, of course I am a bit worried, (where is he taking me?), and there I start my explanation again. I need to call a friend, I have no battery etc. They don´t really understand what I want but listen patiently. I am very nervous. Then I try my phone again, I manage to open it and get Rocio´s number and send her a message about by whereabouts. She sends me a message back that she is coming in 5 min. Then I sit and wait for 30 min and finally she comes. Phew!
By the time Rocio arrives I´ve spoken to several people in the phone center, about Finland and how cold it is there, for how long I have stayed in Venezuela etc. (told them my address and given my phone numer :)...hi mom!). When we leave eveybody says: ciao! hasta luego! Rocio laughs and says that I´ve made many new friends. This is what I truly love about Venezuela, how fast people adopt you, how easy it is to make "friends".
The movie was good. I don´t know the name in English but the main actors were Bruce Willis and Mos Def. I enjoyed it. No must movie though.
*Samibil is the largest and most expensive shopping center in Maracaibo.
*There are places with phones people can use to make calls in the cities. There are no phone booths, instead there are centers with many booths. You make your call and then you pay.
posted by Larubia at 9:37 AM
2 Comments:
I'm glad you made it through your adventure OK. I can't believe your friend wouldn't just meet you somewhere! How mean!
That must have been quite frightening, but I'm glad you are ok now. Another new experience and adventure to add to your list!
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