Carousing in Caracas

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I have been wanting to go to Caracas for the past year now. There were many obstacles that did not let the trip happen.

I was set to go on November 4, 2010 but my mother passed away the day before, so I obviously had to cancel.

On Thursday January 27, 2011 I finally flew to Caracas. Luckily, the hostel that I reserved back in November let me have credit for my reservation.

I left Indianapolis at 2:24pm on Delta flight 1613, which was an MD-88 aircraft. I was in coach seat 16B for the one hour flight to Atlanta. I had about 2 hours of waiting in Atlanta until my next flight. At 5:30pm, I was onboard Delta flight 589 to Caracas.

I was seated in Business Class seat 1C for this 4 hour flight on a 737-800 aircraft. I had a pasta meal and some gin and tonics. I also watched the movie "The Social Network" which I thought was pretty good. The flight was smooth and the arrival into Caracas was easy. There were no other flights and so I was out of customs and immigration within minutes. I quickly spotted the driver who would take me to my room at Nelson's Place. It was about a 30 minute ride to town. When I arrived, I talked to Nelson for about an hour and then went outside for a minute to see if I could get a snack and some water. There wasn't anything open though so I went back and fell asleep.

The next morning I went out and walked around for a bit until the time when I would go to meet TravelBuddy (AlexandraTheGreat7).

We met at the Hard Rock Cafe at 11am. The first place we went to was the Parque del Este. We walked around for about 2 hours and saw lots of animals, such as birds and reptiles. The next place was the teleferico that goes up to the Avila. It was a fun ride of about 10 minutes and gave us a great view of Caracas. The top was fogged over and so we could not see anything at the peak. It was fun to walk around though and see the little shops and restaurants. We also toured the Hotel Humboldt. The hotel is closed but looks like it was a very classy place the past. We stayed at the peak for a couple of hours. The weather at the top was great, as it was in Caracas in general. After the teleferico ride, we rode the metro to the Capitolio stop and toured the area, seeing the Capitol, Simon Bolivar Plaza, and the Bolivar House and Museum. The metro in Caracas was very nice and I thought it was clean. It even had cool air conditioning! It is cheap too, at about 23 cents USD for one ride. Lastly, we went and walked up the Sabana Grande Boulevard. It is a pedestrian street with lots of shops and is great for people watching. We went to get an arepa for dinner, which was so good! It is corn dough tortilla that you fill with what you wish. I had chicken and cheese. I loved it!

After dark, we went to Nelson's Place because Alexandra wanted to see it. At about 7:30, Alexandra and her husband came back over and we all went out to a bar at the El Recreo mall across the street. Alexandra and her husband were wonderful to talk with.

We all said our goodbyes at about 11pm or so. I hurried back and went to sleep because I had to get up at 4am. The morning came too quickly and I got ready for my ride, which was at 5am. The ride to the airport was longer this time because we were at a standstill for 20 minutes due to an accident on the highway. The check in process was quick and some people tried to scam me with the airport departure tax. I thwarted them though and went to the waiting area. At 8:59am I was on Delta 582 to Atlanta. This was another 737-800 aircraft and I was in Business Class seat 4C. I had a great breakfast of a Spanish Tortilla. I mostly slept after the meal. We arrived in Atlanta at 1pm and I cleared immigration quickly and without any hassle. I went to my connecting flight back home which was Delta flight 1534. I was in coach seat 5B on the DC-9-50 aircraft. It was just over an hour and I was back in Indianapolis at 4:15pm.

I must say I enjoyed Caracas very much! It really surprised me. All I read were negative things and yet I did not experience anything bad.

I hope to return someday and see more, especially Angel Falls and Merida. Alexandra was a great host too!

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