Yann Guyader: second day in Caracas (Venezuela)

As we were telling you yesterday, the arrival of Yann Guyader Venezuela coincided with the death of President Hugo Chavez. We leave towards the suburbs of Caracas to follow the second day of the future coach of the Venezuelan national team …

Yann Guyader

« Every day is a little adventure in Venezuela! After an eventful arrival yesterday, I start another day rich in history! My dear jetlag is never far away, I awake at 3am … After a few moments of pseudo struggle to get back to sleep, I decide to start my day at 4:00 in the morning.
So here I go for a nice morning’s work for the Venezuelan Federation before our next trip to Europe. After 3 hours of work, a break is needed. Nothing like a little muscle building session for an hour to forget the « real job » for a moment… All of this in my beautiful « BUNKER » with a view on the military airport of our « Commandante ». 

Soon after, we learn that the funeral procession of Hugo Chavez will take place in the city … I immediatly ask Fabian to go. His wife tells us that we are « LOCOS » (crazy), but Fabian answers that it’s better to live the Story than to suffer it. So we take the motorcycle to go downtown… in the most casual outfit to mingle with the crowd of the Chavistas. No watches or other valuables items, nore guns or bulletproof vest as this would make things worse.

After 20 minutes of motorcycle at full speed on the ring road of Caracas, we arrive in the center. Suffice to say that the crowd is huge … I’ve never seen that in my life and the atmosphere is just indescribable. Everyone honks, yells, cries, etc. We blend in with the crowd, but I quickly understand that people are not fools and they realized that I am in no way a true Chavista with my phone like a reporter, boat shoes, small cream bermuda , polo and sunglasses of the 60s. That is not the official uniform of the Chavistas! Too bad… this is my outfit of the day.

After an hour in the crowd, the situation suddenly becomes very tense. We feel the tension rising as we approach the funeral procession of Chavez. Unfortunately, we must leave quickly before the situation degenerates and no longer be able to leave. The experience has been amazing and historic.
On the way back, the popular barrios (poor districts of Cararas) are empty. Everyone is downtown. Fabien decide to show me one of the only things that Chavez did well: entire neighborhoods of social housing for the most disadvantaged who lived previously in misery.
Back at home, I realized once again how lucky I am. I lived once again an incredible experience that few people have the chance to live in their life…

Alors amigos hasta pronto y mas que todo hasta la victoria siempre :) «