Venezuela 1: MAracaibo and Caracas, on my way to Cuba

18.04.11

I'm meant to be on a plane to Cuba right now, but the announcement board went wrong and we're now 16 passengers stuck in Caracas airport....

Anyway, here's about Caracas and my experience so far in Venezuela.
People are actually nicer than I thought. They're just all very narrow minded. They love their sociolist policies and their president. I don't tell people I'm english or french hgere. As far as people here are concerned, I'm chinese. People are nice, and the country is beautiful. Nothing touristy to see. There're actually no tourists at all. Even the international airport seems to be only used by locals... So best thing to do is to get involved in local life, walk around, go to markets, chat with people randomly... best things to do when visiting any new country really.

Maracaibo is really big, it's hot too. People all hang around in bars and I got to meet loads of people there. Caracas is a much prettier city than Bogota. MIt's not as active nor as rich, The're's an underground here. Could make the difference in Bogota. Temperature and weather seems good. May trip fronmt he center up to the inetrnational airport was interesting. The driver didn't know how to take me there, so all the passengers got involved and it eventually worked out.

I was on time for the flight at firstm especially as the board had announced that my plane was goign to be 1h30 late. So I went off for a coffe and to make a few international phone calls. Obviously, when I got back to the desk an hour later, they'd changed that silly board again. I never managed to get on that plane... I was furious, and the soldiers had to get me out of the office where I went to complain about the situation. So here I am, stuck in Caracas with another 15 unfortunate passengers. The company recognises that most of us had shown up at the desk at the right time: 3 hours before departure. So they said they'd try to fit us on tomorrow's flight. I hope its not just a way for them to get rid of us. Things here are much less serious than they are in Europe. If so, I guess I'll have to buy aother ticket to Cuba in order to not waist my return ticket too....

"Not surprised, this is Venezuela" said a spanish guy stuck with me.
None of us said it, but we all had it in mind: "s**t happens..."




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17.04.11

I'm in MAracaibo. I got accross trhe boarder at MAicao, in the desert north of Colombia. It's near the coast. This is the second biggest city of Venezuela. First iñpressions: well, people are far from being as nice, friendly and smiling as they are in Colombia. I thought it was a latin thing to be so nice. Apparently not. People are not unpleasant though. They're just "latin". They're like the french or the italians, int he way that their ordinary behaviour is naturally a bit rude.

Changed some money for som Bolivares. It so happened that Colombian Pesos were a much better deal than dollars or euros. Strange really.

But here I am anyway, place is fine and I'm about to explore the city center. Should be taking a bus tonight to Carracas. Will try to post something again from there.