Leaving Venezuela

This is surely not the way I expected this diary to start

I wanted to write this post before I left Caracas but it was impossible. I didn't have the time. Now I'm in Madrid, but I can't ignore the need I feel to write this, at least while it lasts

I believe Venezuela is going through a very important and critical moment in our political history, although the main actors are not exactly politicians.

The student movement that rose the day after the 'end of the concession' of RCTV (one of the most important, if not the most, private tv network in Venezuela) was like a time-bomb waiting to explode, although nobody heard the ticking, not even the people involved.

Something very profound was awaken, and many people realized that day that they were not the only ones, and I know that because it also happened to me. I feel part of that movement since the first day and I also feel the necessity to contribute in any way I can.

It's amazing how I found many people that like me, were fed up with venezuelan politics, and feel that they now have an active part in finding a solution to a problem that was always there, but everybody was to occupied being part of the problem to bother solve it. We're a very divided society and it's getting worse as the process radicalizes this year after the elections.

I believe that this was the perfect time for Chavez to start the reconciliation, given that it became clear for (almost) everybody that he has the majority, but that didn't happened. His political project is far more important than the well being of ALL Venezuelans, including the significant minority that doesn't support his political project. Venezuelans are not only the ones that support you, and that is something nobody seems to really understand here.

Freedom is a fundamental human value that doesn't distinguish social class, political tendencies or individual believes. It's the catalyst and the glue for this movement, but as I expected is also turning fast into a new voice which speaks loud through action, and calls for reconciliation. Something that our politicians are very good at not doing.

The student movement is like a glimpse of reason among a sea of insanity. It's time for recognition and acceptance of one another. Something that I know it's absolutely necessary for our future, at least if we want to leave in peace

So, to say the least, I have mix feelings about this travel I'm starting right in this moment. I feel now, for the first time, that I have a role in Venezuelan politics. On the other hand, this trip was something for which I worked very hard and wanted to do since a long time.

As I said in my last post, and it couldn't be more convenient at this moment, I realized the world it's not following my plan. I just have to deal with it now

The plan trap

After visiting 5 embassies, googling the whole web and literally pleading for help to people, I was going to write a long post complaining about how it's impossible to find accurate or at least non contradicting information about visas, permissions and conditions of stay for the Schengen countries, and then I realized I was getting caught a little too much in this whole planning thing.

Maybe I went through a pre-travel paranoid syndrome, or maybe after preparing this trip for so long I'm getting the need for everything to come up 'right'. The more you plan something, the more it has to work 'perfectly', right? ... And this is how you get caught in the plan trap, which mercilessly crushes your soul with disappointment when you realize the world is not following your perfectly planned schedule, which is one of the reasons why I don't like to plan too much.

Welcome to my journey

Finally, after over a year of some pseudo-planning, lots of work and seriously saving money, today I bought my plane ticket! The time has come for the pseudo-plan to start coming to life

I leave on the 7th of June at 7:55 pm from Caracas and arrive in Madrid the 8th at 10:50 am. At the travel agency they told me that the schedule for this particular flight to Madrid varies a lot, so you could give or take 3 hours (southern time error margin)

Hopefully I'll document my journey on this blog with some words, images and maybe even videos. I'm also using some of my web programming (geek) skills to create some experiments for this site, like the Itinerary you see at the top of the right panel, which you can also click to see the posts related to those times and places. I don't know if that will be useful at all, but at least it's fun to experiment. I'll try to keep my itinerary up to date so whoever is interested can keep track of my journey

Some other stuff coming soon as this is a work in progress