Day 99 - Bienveni2 a Venezuela

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Up early we departed Hostal Marsella for the final time catching a taxi to airport Mariscal Sucre to start our journey to Venezuela. Having read up on the foreign office and its travellers’ advice (including against all but essential travel to certain areas and against all travel to others) the journey, arrival and sty were a somewhat daunting prospect. At the airport, leaving Quito was a bit of a hassle. We had our bags searched for food after declaring we had bread, queue one to check in, queue two to buy airport departure tax, queue 3 to have the airport tax checked, queue 4 immigration stamp out (huge queue), queue five bag scanning, then wait. A number of people in the immigration queue had got to the airport too late and were having their names called out for delaying the flight, but luckily our 3 hours in advance was enough!

On the flight to Caracas we spotted a couple of other gringos and felt secure knowing we weren't the only ones. What was funny though was the flight attendant coming round with immigration cards for Venezuela, asking if our final destination was Caracas and looking at us with a little disbelief when we said yes. The reason became apparent when we landed at Caracas, disembarked, and everyone but us and about 3 men joined a queue for a connecting flight to Tenerife!

We worked our way through immigration much to the official's amusement and next to collect our bags on the other side, instantly approached by a cleaner offering to exchange dollars for Bolivares on the black market. No thanks, we need some official ones first to know what they looked like. We changed some at a bank, getting a rate of 4.3 to the dollar. Walking out to the main court of the airport we were approached by tens of people offering us taxis, money exchange etc. Eventually we found the Venezuelan tourist office, got some useful advice and then Soph changed some money at a tourist office. We caught an official taxi into the Altimira area, very expensive, blacked out windows, but no guns or express kidnappings! We checked into Hotel Altimra, apparently a safe area, but again expensive, and breathed a sigh of relief! Our hostel room was alright, but relatively not worth the money, 5 times as much as last night. Having lived off bread and cake for breakfast and the aeroplane lunch (not bad) we decided to head out for dinner before it got dark. We walked up to Plaza Altimra and eventually dismissed the local options for TGI Friday's, a taste of Western culture and effective comfort blanket! Two JD burger meals! Service, not so good. The evening was spent in our room with cable TV watching the Warner channel until the early hours!

How Sophie Sees It

I could have screamed at all the people who approached us at Caracas airport; I was probably quite rude to a few. But if they would just take no for an answer the first time you say it!! One guy was frustratingly persistent, following us around the airport for 20 minutes, and eventually we took up his offer to exchange some dollars, obviously on the black market (recommended even by the Lonely Planet as the rate is nearly double the official one). He offered me 6 to the dollar but I got him up to 6.5, and he led me to one of the tourist offices where I was taken into the back to do out deal. Not as inconspicuous as they probably would've liked, as my huge rucksack got stuck in the doorway.

I was horrified at our taxi cost - £30 instead of the 50p we were used to. This plus the price of the flights, airport tax and hotel in a city we didn't even want to be in ate up a week's budget! Nonetheless I was excited to be in this relatively untouched country - due to its strength in petrol exports it has never promoted tourism, but it does not lack attractions. My mood lightened further when the waiter at TGI's forgot to add my glass of wine to the bill!

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