It all started innocently enough and with good intentions. After all, my friend Tomas Manrique had been driving since 4:30 that morning and it was now around noon. And to be honest I looked forward to driving the big Ford SUV. I love driving in Venezuela where the pace and flow of driving is quite different than in the United States. We did make a nice long stop at the fishing village where we had breakfast but still six hours behind the wheel is a long stretch.
It wasn’t long into my drive that we arrived at the pueblo La Victoria. I drove around a bit as Tomas asked directions to our next destination El Nula. Finally after weaving among the streets we came to the alcalbala (security checkpoint) leaving town. The soldiers asked the normal questions about where we had been and where we were going. Quite foreign to a North American who comes and goes where he pleases without question. The soldier then had an interchange with Tomas and finally pointed us in the direction of El Nula.
Then the rain began. Torrential rain. And the road was one of the worst we had been on. Gravel for the most part and studded with immense potholes. The one saving grace was there was essentially no traffic. Only once in a while did we pass a vehicle going in the other direction.
Tomas pointed out a river to my left and we followed it for most of the drive. At one point the road narrowed and was right at the edge of the river. What a time to finally run into traffic. Buses and trucks were coming the opposite direction as I tried to negotiate the narrow road with the river forty feet below. I swerved to the left to dodge a big pothole and Tomas told me to get back to the right. The road had begin to cave in from all the rain so I got back to the right to deal with the potholes pronto.
We finally arrived in el Nula in one piece. Tired from the trip we stopped to visit friends there. Tomas was once the pastor in this pueblo.
Arriving home in Rubio I found out that the army in La Victoria was questioning Tomas about my presence in the region. They were concerned about a North American being in the region. The river I found out was the border between Venezuela and Colombia. The stretch of road between La Victoria and El Nula is one of the biggest hotspots of guerilla activity in Venezuela. In fact right about the same time that I was driving guerrilas killed a group of Colombian army officers across the river.
My nephew, a missionary in Peru, says that God is watching over me and that I keep him busy. Well, I have no plans to return to that region again so He can relax for a spell we do plan to start a Help and Hope Center in El Nula and the neighboring pueblo of Naranjales in Tachira state.
