Blogs from Caracas, Capital, Venezuela, South America
Caracas, Curaçao, Canada!
Published: March 8th 2012South America » Venezuela » Capital » Caracas » Altamira
March 3rd 2012
Caracas Saying goodbye to the Southern hemisphere, we left for Santiago airport at 5:30 am on February 24th and we finally boarded a plane that left on time! This will definitely be our last early morning flight. After one stop and two movies (Due Date and Just Go With It) we arrived earlier than schedueld in Caracas, Venezuela and breezed through customs and luggage claim. However after that we had quite the experience, to say we were bombarded by the locals is an understatement. They were expediting their taxi services to the city as well as their "cambio", which is the money exchange. In Caracas there is a black market for money exchange and some people can fetch up to a maximum of double the bank rate, needless to say we made use of "no, gracias" ... read more
More Caracas Adventures
Published: February 12th 2012South America » Venezuela » Capital » Caracas » Altamira
February 12th 2012
Hellooooooooo So it has been quite some time since I've blogged or whatever. Never really seems like there's much to say, but I suppose I should give it a go! I left off in November I think before the awesomeness that was Britney. Awesome it was! The Zuelans are mental at a pop gig! Hilarious. Epic journey to get there, one where we genuinely thought that the taxi driver was taking us somewhere remote to kill us. Nice. Got there safe and sound, however, and had a great time. Ignore the reviews, she's wonderful. End of. Christmas term brought lots of rain to Caracas, flooding the roads and meant that school was shut for about a week. The mighty Chavez decides that if one school has to close due to flooding, then we all do! Happy ... read more
The Beach, Halloween and Margarita Island
Published: October 30th 2011South America » Venezuela » Capital » CaracasOctober 30th 2011
Hola! Thought it was about time for another wee installment...not that I've got much to report here actually! Life is good here, pretty much settled now and into routines and suchlike. School is still totally mental but we've just been on half term break which was LOVELY! A couple of weekends ago a big bunch of us went to the beach for the night and stayed in a lovely posada which is like a wee bed and breakfast on the beach! Delightful! There is literally nothing else out there - all just posada houses all the way along the beach, no shops for miles or anything...perfect actually! It was way hotter than in Caracas - we forget we're actually quite high above sea level here so it doesn't get too hot most of the time. So ... read more
Arrival in Caracas
Published: September 13th 2011South America » Venezuela » Capital » Caracas » Altamira
September 12th 2011
Hello all... So I thought this was a more efficient way of keeping in touch and gives you a choice as to whether you want to hear my ramblings...or not...heehee. Firstly a big, huge hello and sorry to those of you who have emailed me and who I have very rudely not replied to yet! It's been a BUSY time since arriving here. I promise I'll get on top of it in the next few weeks. So. After a NIGHTMARE journey to get here (do NOT fly Air France! Organise, piss up and brewery spring to mind..) we - 7 of us travelling together - arrived in Caracas airport relatively unscathed to begin the nightmare that we expected immigration and customs to be. Everyone else seemed to get on fine. Obviously I got pulled up straight ... read more
Caracas, Venezuala
Published: June 6th 2011South America » Venezuela » Capital » Caracas » Sabana GrandeJune 6th 2011
Finally!! South America. Well, Caracas is'nt the friendliest place on earth. Just dont stare and don't acknoweledge people who won't to help you. Ha, find that pretty ironic. 12 hour layover here in the airport. Pretty boring. We leave again at 5:00 P.M. to get to Quito, Equador and that's our last stop. I will blog again when we get to Quito....... read more
Things I've learnt in Venezuela - 30 Mar 2011
Published: March 30th 2011South America » Venezuela » Capital » Caracas
March 30th 2011
A slightly misleading title because this is really things I've learnt in Venezuela and Argentina but it isn't quite as catchy a title! Also apologies for those looking forward to this last week but was travelling and from now until May don't expect much as I have a wedding to prepare for then recover from! Venezuela hasn't changed much in 4 years...apart from Chavez's grafitti which is much bigger and shinier than before Banking isn't easy in Caracas...it took my friend over an hour to withdraw about 100 dollars in cash, from his own bank account, involving numerous phonecalls and emails to authorise himself to take out his own money. The Caribbean is always warm...even on a cloudy day I was loving the Caribbean Sea more than the air around me! I love seafood soup...had it ... read more
Por la costa - retki alkaa Caracasista
Published: October 13th 2010South America » Venezuela » Capital » Caracas
October 13th 2010
Maailmalla jälleen! Tien päällä jälleen - vuosi ehti vierähtää edellisestä turneesta mutta nyt on taas päästy asiaan oikein toden teolla. Edellisellä keralla kiertelimme Andeja, Amazonia ja Atacaman autiomaata, tällä kertaa pysyttelemme rantojen tuntumassa eli ‘Por la costa’ - Pitkin rantoja. Matka alkoi samaa reittiä kuin viimeksikin, Madridin kautta lento Caracasiin jossa nyt olemme muutaman päivän totutelleet kuumuuteen ja kosteuteen. Lennot sujuivat tällä kertaa suorastaan erinomaisesti, ajoissa matkaan ja lentokin kesti vain vaivaiset 9 tuntia, oikein pikataival siis. Kentällä suoriuduimme pitkästä maahantulotarkastuksen jonosta ja tullistakin suosiollisesti, tavarat löysivät tiensä samaan paikkaan kuin me vaikka jonkin aikaa erossa niistä olimmekin. Ensitunnelmat Caracasin Simon Bolivar lentokenttä sijaitsee... read more
The Orinoco - Rivers, Waterfalls and Jungle
Published: August 26th 2010South America » Venezuela » Capital » Caracas
August 26th 2010
Hi Guys Greetings from Caracas again - I is made it back full circle to my point of landing on the South American continent, one month later, and with so many great experiences since the last time I was here. I fly back to London tomorrow evening, via Madrid, and am taking back with me some memories of some fantastic places and people that I have met along the way, and it really has been just amazing (I´m not just saying this!). This last week has to have been the most amazing yet though, really. I hope the photos I´m gonna attach to this blog shortly will testify to the beautiful places I´ve been and seen - incredible! Last time I wrote I was in the Andean highlands of Western Venezuela, from where I took two ... read more
Day 99 - Bienveni2 a Venezuela
Published: July 26th 2010South America » Venezuela » Capital » Caracas
June 29th 2010
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 ... read more
