It took us five long days from the Villa de Pao to the port of Nueva Barcelona. As we got closer the sky became clearer, the ground more dusty and the air more burning hot This oppressive heat does not arise from the temperature but from fine sand floating in the air, which irradiates heat in all directions, and whips your face and the ball of the thermometer. In fact I never saw the mercury rise above 45. once in this sand wind in America.

It was already dark when we crossed the Orinoco bed for the last time. We meant to spend the night near the small San Rafael fort and begin the journey across the Venezuelan steppes at dawn. Nearly six weeks had passed since our arrival at Angostura, we dearly wanted to reach the Cumanà or Nueva Barcelona coasts to find a boat to take us to Cuba and then on to Mexico. After several months on mosquito-infested rivers in small canoes, a long sea journey excited our imaginations.