TWO TRAINS AND ONE BYKE -- A railway on two wheel adventure --
-Guys! Let's go to an exploratory ride this Sunday for a site that some dudes told me. -Nixon says with much enthusiasm to the group. Of course, he knew who was making the proposal to and knew that the enthusiasm with which we were going to respond affirmatively would be the same as his.
-let´s do it!
-Go Go Go!
-I´m in!
We all responded affirmatively without even asking where we were going or how this he was proposing was. Only after confirming our firm willingness to participate Oswaldo (Oz) asked.
-Aha. And where is that?
-I dont know. – Nixon responded.- It is a spot that I was told and that there is a park of a train over there in Los Teques, mountain inside. I want to do an exploratory tour to see if we launch a ride with a large group later.
-Aha, but you know where it is? Have you been there?- Oz insists.
-Naaah, let´s get guided by GPS and Google Map and we´ll find that spot. Let's go and that's it! It has to be on Sunday to be able to go up to Los Teques by subway and then we go to the park ridding. Let's take everything prepared, food and water for a whole day of traveling! Although there is everything there if we want to buy some stuff. Coffe shop, restaurants, hotdogs... It´s a park - Nixon insists.
-Let´s do it! -We all answered confirming our intention.
Nobody knew where we were going, only that it would be an adventure to a park on a mountain. But I, who study everything, knew that the only train that passed through Los Teques was one called El Tren del Encanto (The charm train) and that there are the remains in ruins of the very old Gran Ferrocarril de Venezuela (The Venezuela´s Great Railway), built since 1887 from Caño Amarillo, Caracas, to Valencia, Carabobo state. The most recurrent user of that train was President Gómez (1908 – 1935), since he liked to be among Caracas, La Victoria and Maracay. That train was tried to be recovered countless times, awarding countless budgets that were charged but then thrown to the drawer of oblivion. As they say, the ride was beautiful. The landscapes, vegetation, tunnels and bridges made a paradise of it. I remember clearly that it was said that in the middle of 1950´s, that train was assaulted by some guerrillas and killed a few people there. It seems that since then, that train, never worked back again and was abandoned.
-Nixon, that train is called the charm train. -I told him.
-That, that´s the one. That's how they told me that it was called. There is a park in there where one enters and makes the journey. The Charm Train Park. Right there is where we are going.
Ready. Everything was agreed. Meeting point for our entrance to the Caracas subway, time and attendees.
On the agreed Sunday, very early at 5:00 am, messages started arriving by cell phone. Only one word: "Active." That is the keyword to indicate we are ready, that none fell aslept or backed down. Everyone leaves on their bike from home to meet and travel by subway together to Los Teques. People looked at us with astonishment when we walked in with our bikes to the wagons and were even more surprised when they saw that the subway workers facilitated us by opening the doors next to the turnstiles. People made faces like "What a hell?! WTF!? And they wrinkled their faces hahahaha. We kept walking calmly avoiding glances and murmurs. But then, being already in the wagon, the questions began to arrive and when they saw that cyclists are kind people, always happy and well-disposed to whatever comes out, they began to talk to us and ask about everything. There, they changed their faces and they even turned into our friends and they smiled at us, wishing us luck for the journey. That's how we are people around from here. We arrived to Los Teques and started riding. Everyone in a group behind Nixon. Supposedly, he was very well informed but every 200 meters stopped to check the GPS on the cell phone.
-There's no signal around here. Let's continue later. It must be here somewhere. Comments Nixon totally lost.
We all followed him very animated. Some of us already started to feel hungry. -We cyclists eat a lot. Our body burns many calories constantly. It is a high-performance athlete metabolism-. So some of us stopped to eat while Nixon and Oz continued to bump into their phones trying to find the blessed park. They asked people around about it but nobody knew anything hahaha.
-Well, let's continue this way! Surely we will find it.
We rode our bikes through the city avenues trying to go bordering the mountain hoping to find the entrance to the park, but nothing at all, until we found a cement path that spreaded aside from the avenue and got embedded in the mountain.
-Over here, over here. - Screamed Oz. - Over here´s gotta be that shit. Come on, let´s get in there!
We all kept rolling down that path until we came across a kind of a cave that entered the mountain, all covered in humidity and moss, it looked like a creek of black water. We stopped. The trunk of a fallen tree truncated the path. The water that came out from there did not look good and the tunnel that was at the end looked taken from a horror movie.
-You're crazy? How are we gonna get in that shit? -Some shouted.
-All we could find there is a bunch of thugs. That's not the entrance to a park!
-You´re stoned!
Hahahaha we all started laughing. Some very nervous, but all with the adrenaline running through our blood already.
-I´m going. - I told them decisively. - What the hell is gonna happen there? Don´t you see there´s nobody there? Who is going to do what? Ride Or Die dude!
All of them with a fear that sent shivers to their spine saw me advancing and going under the tree trunk, rode a few meters, stopped and turned to see them.
-Well, let´s do it. That´s true, there is nobody there. What will happen to us? -Said Franco giving encouragement to others.
We went one by one into the gloomy entrance that looked like Dracula's cave hahaha. It didn´t have a bad smell, so it was not black water, besides, where would black water come from if there were no houses and it was the elevated part of that road? It looked more like a spring phreatic level.
-Well, this is not a park entrance. But what the hell, Let´s get it on!. -Nixon said. He came with his son behind him who didn´t say a word. He only kept pedaling with very wide opened eyes and stuck to the group.
Reynaldo began to take out lanterns from everywhere, one in the helmet, another in the handlebar, the cell phone in his hand. That was a wolf mouth, creepy and dark. And who knew where the fuck we were going to get after crossing the tunnel!? Screaming, whistling and joking around while we crossed that dark passage.
-Dude, shut up! Don´t you see that if there are some thugs they will listen to us? -One said in the middle of the tunnel.
-What the fuck? you pussy! Don´t you see these guys are really afraid to get in here. Keep rolling!!
Nervous laughter and the light at the end of the tunnel. We began to feel the rails and sleepers under our wheels.
-Guys, over here! Here are the train rails. -Reinaldo said pointing with one of his lanterns to the floor and letting see the train tracks.
The famous Train of charm. We all hurried the pace to get to the other side and finish coming out of that darkness, with the curiosity to see what waited for us on the other side of the tunnel. Once we left the tunnel, we were all amazed but equally lost. With our eyes more open than usual we were admiring the magic of the place, the virginity of that nature. It seemed that there had not been a soul there for years.
-Hey hey, What about the park? - I threw the question into the air and we all laughed.
It was a wild weed and snakes place and nothing more. Even the train tracks disappeared in the dense forest. There was no road, there was no signal of any route or indication that from there one would reach somewhere. Mount, wilderness, more bushes and very high weed.
Nixon, who was the promoter of the raid, is talking to Oz, who is the most expert in exploration and has ridden a bike all over Venezuela.
-What do you say Oz? Do we go for it?
-I´ll do it. - Oz said - The deal here is if the others are going to be willing too. There is no path, that is the other fact. It would be necessary to go against the wild weed tumbling over the sleepers and that is really hard to do. You have to do your best. I´ll do it, my question is if others will too. Once we start, there´s no turning back. The road is long and we must reach almost La Victoria. It's like 50 kilometers away from here.
-Come on. I'm going.- I said.- I'm not going to turn myself back
-Yes, the problem is that there is no road and the weed is very high and covers everything, including the train tracks. We would have to go blindly jumping on the sleepers and guiding us between the rails. -Said Franco - 50 Kilometers like that is not easy, but I´ll do it. Come on!
We all stared at our faces in silence for about three minutes, got on our bikes and with the slogan R.O.D in our minds, we launched ourselves into the wild, towards the unknown. Not the slightest idea where we were going. If we came to the charm train and we had found the tracks, we were on the right track. Where to? We do not know, but let's go. As long as we stayed on the train tracks, jumping the sleepers, somewhere we will arrive. It was a difficult task, the sleepers stood a few centimeters above the ground and the rails another 10 centimeters more, the straw grass, reached up to higher than our head. We did not see where we were going and if we did not catch the rhythm of the bump between sleepers, the bike was stuck against one of them being completely stopped and we fell. In the following photo, a fall in slow motion on a weed bed hahaha pure straw. I was stopped short by a sleeper, I lost my balance and in slow motion I went sideways on the grass.
A phenomenon that occurs to cyclists is the high secretion of adrenaline. The effect on our attitude is very out of the ordinary. You can fall on rocks, spin around raucously, hit yourself in every part of your body and feel no pain or amazement, much less, fear. While you´re falling you're laughing, when you're on the floor you're laughing and then you can´t get up because of laughing. When your friends come to help you, if they catch the laughter, they can´t help either. Just thinking about it and writing makes me laugh hahahaha. You have to know how to measure yourself because it also makes you more risky and daring and in extreme rounds like these ones, in the middle of nowhere and without access to anything, an accident would be something more complicated than in other circumstances.
-They are like 7 (seven) tunnels and 5 (five) bridges, according to what I was told - Nixon says as they stop to help me get up.
-Shit, that´s gotta be great. In one of those tunnels was the guerrilla attack of the 50s. Let's see what´s the one!. -Commented one of the group.
We continued pedaling for 20 more minutes when we saw the next tunnel. Our mood was improving. We did not know where we were, where we were going to, but the signals that the tracks and the tunnel gave us were good.
We stopped at the exit of the tunnel to make observations and speculations.
-This is it guys. This is where they killed a lot of people. Look, there says the tunnel number. -Reinaldo said while pointing to an inscriptions that said the tunnel number engraved on the lintel.
-Naaaah it wasn´t here of course not. Don´t you see we're still very close to Los Teques? It´s gotta be beyond here.- He was answered by another of the group.
-Let's keep riding boys. - Interrupted Oz.- The place is far away and we still have a long way to go.
We all got on our bikes and continue. Now in a little different environment from the previous one. The straw was thicker on the rails and the vegetation more wooded, greener. It seemed that we were leaving that pile of straw behind on the road. Well, not. It was not so. The bushes became thicker and denser, the sleepers disappeared of our sight. We continued our efforts to keep moving forward. It was greener, yes, but more dense too. After passing a small curve the road opened a little and suddenly we found the first bridge. An old structure of steel and wood that although quite worn out by time, was still firm and standing. We all stopped when we reached to it. Nobody crossed but we all asked the same question.
-Aha? And now how are we gonna cross that shit?- Asked Nixon's son, who was already tired of both the weed and bumping on the sleepers.
-Well, you know, everyone grabs his bike on his shoulder and walks by. - Answered Oz.
-Really? -Claimed crossing his arms, Nixon´s son.
Others did not even come closer to see the bridge. Then I found out they were suffering from vertigo and just thinking about having to cross over there carrying their bikes and balancing from sleeper to sleeper, made them sick and scared as hell. They saw the bridge from far away and slowly approached to see who would dare to cross first. Oz, Franco, Nixon and me went ahead to cross. Then we returned to help Reinaldo who approached trembling. It scared the hell out of him, not to say that he was about to run into the woods to..... hahahaha
-Guys, that shit really gives me goose bumps. -Reinaldo said as he walked trembling and Franco and I helping him.
Although he told me that I was not helping at all but the opposite. He was more afraid to see me walk and even run and jump from sleeper to sleeper.
-Julio, please! Get the fuck out of here while I cross, you already have me... -Reinaldo said. He was really afraid. With nervous laughter and bending down to keep his balance while Oz was taking pictures of us- He finally did it.
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As we advanced, the vegetation was opening little by little, we were already able to see open landscapes when we passed through the outcrops of the mountains but also, as we entered the internal parts of it, it became forested and somber. The road was very varied between wild forests, closed straw and dry arid. We started to see sections with a very narrow path aside to the train tracks where we could roll with less difficulty without jumping from sleeper to sleeper. The impact of the bumps began to cause pain in the wrists, hands and even all over the body. The bridges and tunnels became more frequent and the time between one and another was shortened. We were already getting used to the vegetation and the type of road. We became experts. The speed added emotion to the route. A recondite landscape surprised us after each curve, the tunnels and bridges were impressive, they moved us to remote times, to the times when they were built. We felt we were time travelers exploring in abandoned locations, ghost passages where the Nature seemed to observe us with singular curiosity and discreet stealth. Travelers from other planets in exploration raid where everything seemed fascinating and unprecedented, as if we were the first to pass through there after centuries of total abandonment. Lost, not only in that place, but in time. I say lost because we had been pedaling for hours without knowing where we were going to, or where we were. With an uncertain destination, we followed the train tracks, the Charm Train. R.O.D.
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There´s no need to say that in each tunnel the same affirmations were made.
-Dude, here it was where the guerrillas killed that lot of people
-No boy, are you crazy? It mustn´t have been here, sure it was in the previous one.
-Naaaa. This tunnel is crass creepy. Here it was.
-Naaaaa hahahaha you are smoking a rare shit. Let´s keep going!
They all talked in disarray while others took advantage of the stop to pee or drink water. The train track was still bordering the mountain. Each ledge brought a landscape towards a very distant horizon from a very high cliff of very dangerous slope. Tremendous ravine, as we say here.
-Bro.., if any of you falls down here ´till the bottom, will be fucked up. -Oz said jokingly.- We threw a little cross on him and continue pedaling. Who the hell is gonna go find you down there?
LOL. Many of us laughed, others stared at us with a yellow face, letting us see that they were so scared that hair turned white.
-Hahaha.
That caused us even more laughter. Suddenly, we crossed to an entrant following the tracks entering to a tiny forest that hardly allowed us see one of the bridges. It was the bridge over the biggest cliff. The hole bellow it was deep as fuck. We all stopped and those who suffered from vertigo almost wrinkled (that´s how we say when someone it´s gonna poop the party).
-Man! Another one? -Reinaldo said in a scary voice and breathy- And this one is really dangerous. What a hell?!
-Hahahaha -Oz, Franco and I laughed while going ahead to cross it.
Nixon was mute, since his son was about to wrinkle.
-If I knew this shit was gonna be like this, I would have never come. -He said a little annoyed- I would have stayed at home watching television.
-No boy! You're crazy? Do not say that! We are about to finally arrive.
-Arrive? Where? Every second we go further and further then we´ll have to go back this same way. the fuck...!! Don´t you see? we don´t even know where we're going. pffffff
-But don´t wory! -Replied Franco trying to give him encouragement- This is tremendous experience. You stayed in your house and you´d be lying down, scratching your balls, instead of watching and doing something that nobody else does.
When I could see well the top of that bridge, I said to myself: "Here it is" that was the place to do something that is customary in me with every trip I make. With great excitement I ran towards the center of the bridge while Reinaldo and Jeferson shouted.
-Are you crazy? Stop running through that shit!!. Look!, if you fall there, you´ll be really screwed man.
Reinaldo with nervous laughter, crouched almost crawling. Franco passed his bike over the bridge and Jeferson with his ass face waited for the chance to cross as quickly as possible to pass fastly to make the scare short. He was really really scared the hell out of him... LOL. Oz had already crossed and was waiting for us on the other side, reclining on his bike saying.
-Hurry up guys! Why do you think so long? The more you think about it, the more afraid you´ll get.
A group of five stayed behind with Nixon and his son, grabbing encouragement and strength from where they no longer had. Then, in the middle of the bridge, I went to the shore and took the opportunity to do what I always do. Take a picture on the edge of a bridge.
We wait until the whole group has already passed through the bridge and we continue on the road. According to the account, there would be two more tunnels and one bridge to arrive, but the distance was still uncertain. In front of us, a path opened at the edge of the cliff with the whole burnt mountain and a footpath a foot wide across the edge of the ravine and next to the train tracks. There was no bushes or sleepers to fight against. Eyes wide open and handle tightly held to apply the maximum possible speed. We already wanted to arrive, wherever we were to arrive, but curiosity was killing us and hunger began to play a determining role in our performance, at least in mine, cause I eat a lot, hahaha. Indeed, we passed two more tunnels. The comments that in that one they had killed the crowd became minors, but not absent hahahaha. The climate and vegetation began to change. Each time they were a little more arid on the ledges and the air became different. Although that does not mean that we are arriving, at least it says that we had already advanced so much that we were not close to where we started, besides, we still didn´t know where we were going to arrive, or where we were. The only indicators of ... pffff hahaha of nothing, the tracks of an abandoned train and nothing more, that was all we could tell hahahaha keep pedaling speculating that we would get to the city of La Victoria and there we could eat some, rest and return through the pavement road. The story of The Charm Train Park was just an enchanted tale.
After passing two more tunnels, the road opened on a burned mountain and the little path next to it as I had mentioned. The landscapes no longer seemed repeated, we knew that we were not going around in circles because we continued on the rails. After a curve we saw something different from everything we had seen. We did not know what it was, the vegetation covered and surrounded it . We pulled over. We could not see any ravines and the terrain was beginning to become wide, very covered with straw weed, but wider. What we saw and what made us stop to investigate turned out to be an old train car that was abandoned. Finally we found something besides bushes. There were poles and electrical connections that changed ghost territory to something different.
-You see? - says Nixon- We're going to get to a station.
- Well, it seems to be like that. This didn´t come here by itself and that electric pole says we should be close. -Oz replied.
We stopped by for a moment to drink water, some photos and browse that old car on the side of the road. It was not on the tracks. It was on one side, left out of the way.
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We were there for a few minutes, talking, speculating on everything we saw, and estimating at what level of the road we would be, where we would arrive and how much would be left. Many of us thought that we would arrive to La Victoria, to the old highway. We should be near there already. Certainly we should be closer to our point of arrival than to our starting point. Much was the distance already traveled.
-Well ... Let's continue! I want to get there, whatever it is we arrive. The crossing has been very good so far and I want to see what other things are next. "I said with the intention of moving forward.
We continue. The road was different from the previous one, wider, also with a lot of closed vegetation, something that made us return to the old way of rolling on the sleepers and against the tall and closed weed. We were going again the same mod as we entered the mountain. The train tracks became more deteriorated and the sleepers destroyed and very irregular. Fortunately, that section was short and was the last one. We finally arrived! A strange sensation invaded us all. It was difficult to locate or identify. It is not known if it was for joy, satisfaction or rebuff for all the past hazardous things and the strong journey. Certainly the route, in despite having been a total unique adventure, the forced the track was, made us take it with contempt. Yes, it's fine, I managed it, but the fuc* #% & of your...... That journey is crazy and even having arrived did not cause us great satisfaction, I mean a total satisfaction, full of achievement and success hahaha. But why? We had arrived, we achieved what we wanted. Right? Well the place where we arrived would give us a little explanation of that strange and controversial feeling. I was happy, very hungry but happy to have passed and seen everything we went through and lived.
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These photos say a little about what causes the controversial issue. We arrived, yes. But where? We came to a dead end road filled up with ruins of what had been a repeated attempt to recover a forgotten dream that belonged to some forgotten being in the story of those same repeated attempts to recover that. I remembered the name of the song from the land of oblivion and the phrases: "This is no man's land" and "This has no owner" That is what caused some frustration, since in reality it was an ambitious project that would have been a nice ride through the mountains in a picturesque old train. Something touristically attractive. The place tried to be an inn with restaurant, rooms, terraces and gardens, but it never came to anything. Pfffff when things have no owner ... :(
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We ate ... finally! Hahahaha we sat in the shade of huge trees that abound in the place, everyone had brought their own food and drink. We relaxed for a while talking and speculating about the place. Each one exhibited his ideal project for a place like that. The remoteness of the place and the inaccessibility through any other route made it difficult to find a feasible or very attractive proposal, it was something like the hotel from the movie The Shining, a place in the middle of nowhere totally isolated from everything and without communication or escape. Puuuffff nothing to see there. That is jungle inside, cornered in a niche of a very lost forest. The train ride is the main attraction of the complex but there has never been anyone really interested in the project to get involved making it his dream. Well ... The speculation ended and we started an individual exploration that concluded that there was no way forward out of there. The only way out of there was the same one we arrived from. The train tracks went into a forest so high and dense that it was impossible to pass through there. There was no way to continue, we had to go back the same way we came from.
We said goodbye to this jungle place doing some last pictures. Enjoying that little ghost town, in some places, like that it felt. There were rooms like ruined basements under the terraces where it was bad vibes to enter. We peeked from the entrance and we all agreed that we did not feel good entering there. Nobody wanted, not even me, that I´m usually the daring one. What for? It was very far from home, with a road that we already knew quite rough to travel. I had nothing to look for in that dreary place.
Farewell photo from the balcony of the clubhouse. Place that projected to have restaurant, coffee shop, open kitchens and rooms with chimneys with a view towards the forest in which it was embedded. The way back is a long and rough one and we were tired and somehow spoiled. But the adrenaline still runs through the veins and completing the journey makes a new adventure to be made. Also, if we didn´t hurry, we would not arrive in time to take the subway back in Los Teques and we would have to travel a long way back to Caracas. We undertook the return. With more spirit than we thought we could have. On this occasion we did not make stops to see the places, we had already seen them. Let´s hit the road guys!
Surprisingly, on the third part of the way, Oz, who was ahead and had left the group, ran into an old man on the road who on the edge of the tracks, on a low, had a small farm and a small ranch. When we got there, we found him talking to him. The man was ragged, full of farmland, with a long and unkempt beard and many rags covered him from head to toe and Oz didn´t understand much what he was talking about. We all were pretty amazed, including Oz who was the first one to run into this character.
-Where did this old man come from? If we went through the same way and there was nothing of this, neither he, nor the ranch, nor the little farm. There was no other way, it was the same train tracks we went through.- Franco asked quite confused
-Where are you coming from?- The old man asked in a thin, tangled voice.
-We came from Los Teques, we went to the train station and now we´re coming back to Los Teques. -Responded Oz
-Mmmmm And when did it happen that I didn´t see you all?
-Well, early in the morning and we didn´t see you either. -Oz continued
-By bicycle? How strange that. Didn´t thug guys do anything to you...? -the old man asked- Around here they assault all who pass and later in the afternoon it´s even worse. Do not go there. Go this path up the mountain that there´s a way out to the old highway and it´ll take you to Los Teques.
Oz, Nixon and I did a small exploratory walk on the path that the old man told us, to see the conditions of it and if it was possible to go by with bicycles, while the group stayed down at the foot of the mountain waiting, away from the little old man because none wanted to approach him. Already back ...
-That's right, guys, let's go around here! Right there is the old road and there are some houses and everything. Climbing with the bikes will be easy and very close. -We informed the group.
We were all amazed even more. Where did have that mysterious place come from with that more mysterious character? Franco's face was an intrigue drama, with shrugged shoulders looked at all of as and he wondering so, that you could see in his eyes. Then turned to talk to the old man.
- But, do they really assault a lot?- Franco asked
-Yes.-said the old man- They do not forgive anyone and later it's even worse. Do not go there, go where I tell you.- Are you not afraid?
-No, we are not. We ride in group. But how about you? Are you not afraid? You are alone.
And the old man answered:
-No, not now. But when I was alive, yes I was.- With a half macabre smile that barely showed his thick, tangled beard.
We all saw each other's faces with our eyes peeled like a cuchicuchi and without saying a word we flew out of that place via the mountain to shorten the road.
-WHATA FUUUUCK!?
-Hurry up fellows, do not stop or turn around! go, go, go!- Oz said with a nervous laugh and trembling voice as he pedaled up the mountain without stopping or turning back.
-Ride you asshole! Do not stop! Do not stop!
-Do not stay behind! Franco shouted as he kept pedaling.
In just three minutes we were already at the edge of a paved road in a roadside development. None could believe it. How is all that possible? Without knowing where we were, we went by the only alternative we saw. Lost completely, but there was only one way. Soon we met some gentlemen in a corner and we told them that we wanted to get to Los Teques. They told us where to go trough and that we did. In just 30 minutes, but not before stopping at the first site we saw that sold beers to take one and replenish energy in addition to freshen up, we were already entering the subway station in Los Teques, with only 5 minutes to go until the dead time of bicycles admittance to aboard this train, one of the two protagonists of this story of TWO TRAINS AND A BIKE.
Once in the subway, it was a matter of only an hour to get back to Caracas, where each would go down at the closest station to his home.
From left to right: Nixon, Rosmery, Oz (in the engine room), @ Idon'trememberhisname, Franco, Luis Edgardo, Jefferson, Julio (in the boilers), Nixon's son, Reinaldo.
NOTE: The photos, the stories, the unforgettable memories, the satisfaction and the indelible smile that was left of this trip, are mine. All nature in these photos does not belong to anyone, but we do to her.
R.O.D.
We all agreed that we had a astonish experience there, but we would never go back there hahahaha
