VENEZUELA
16.11 - 7. 12. 2002
Three weeks across Venezuela
Caracas – Ciudad Bolívar – Canaima – Salto Ángel – Santa Elena – Roraima – Mérida – Pico Humboldt – Los Nevados – Maracaibo – Maracay – Puerto Colombia – Caracas
16.11. – 7.12.2002
Photos from Venezuela
Venezuelan radio stations and newspaper
- Venezuelan Radios 1
- Venezuelan Radios 2
- List of Venezuelan newspapers online
- travel in/out country - airplane to Caracas is cheapest South American destination when travel from Europe. Use highway to Brasil to travel other countrys. We also met people biking from Santiago de Chile to Caracas for a few months. From Venezuela you can go to Colombia (guerilas, near to civil war), Brazil, Guayana or fly to Trinidad and Tobago. Probably connection to Cuba is also working.
- domestic travel - bus is more funny for us gringos - use buses for travel the country. It is much more cheaper than airplanes and you travel with venezuelans. We were only foreigns travelling by buses and it seems that most of visitors moves from Caracas to Sta.Elena or to Merida by planes only. Don't be bored and enjoy refrigerators with constant 16 degrees of Celsius :-).
- why I don't use LP guide - later I found LP as a only usable guide for Venezuela, but best information I found on web (it's reason why I write such jaw). LP is more about city-travelling and offers rich alternatives to get know culture or archiculture, but I doubt if it is way how to travel in nature with LPs. Also unactuality of this LP edition was minus for book.
- food, water - food was quite OK, after first diarrhoea in Canaima we ate everything. We desinfected all watter by pills (X-Pharm, Switzerland) or others did by MSR filter pumps. Both methods work with no problems. Tabs smells from [H_2-S].
- Andes - NP Sierra Nevada - in all NPs you have to pay for entry or in case of NP Sirra Nevada you have to pay mountain guide. It was at about 50USD per day - nothing for us to pay. So if you are adventurous character, try our advice: After we stopped by park guard and turned back, we decided wait till 3am and try to creep to park. Over 4000 alt. there were no people only sick :-). Longest cabin on the world "Le Teleferico" was out of order on Monday so all 4 days here was almost nobody with us. All mountains belonged to two Czech guys those days :-)
- language - spanish language is very, very usefull, more useful I found usefull any foreign language in Europe before. If you speak spanish you can be more than only Gringo - rich white turist generally from USA for everybody you speak english. At least you have to speak little spanish because it is almost impossible to find somebody out of Caracas speaking english. On coastline you can find some europeans living here speaking german (nazi refugees from justice?).
- money - don't trust to cash machines, money in your belt are most safe way to ensure your spends. USD are most common for change. In Caracas's airport there is a official change office. Also later it is no problem to change money on street, but x-change-course is not so good. We were sucessfull on post offices also.
- sleeping - we found safe sleeping anywhere outdoor and also in posada's. Be aware of wild dogs near villages and also deep in high mountains. They aren't so easy to abash out.
Usefull informations for those who want to go to Venezuela
Caracas
Capital city. When you compare CCS with the rest of VZ, you can see that it's a rich castle surrounded by poor suburb. The modern art of glass changes whith poor slums many times during your travel throw Caracas. The rest of Venezuela is much more poor than capital. We had a problem to get out of Caracas by bus and had to wait 30 hours for first free bus. Center of city is not so interesting. Most interesting is underground, university and probably Altamira because of centre of progressing revolution (UPDATED 05/2004: Unbfortunately lasting up today). We have seen Sunday celebration in Baptists church - unforgotable experience.Ciudad Bolivar
Realy nice city, our first familiarization with the spirit of South America. You can try public transport. You can wave by hand anywhere you want stop the bus. The city lays around the wide Orinoko river and you can get over by only one bridge in Venezuela over this long Orinoko river.You can get to known people here.
Canaima
First it's a name of whole national park as a part of Gran Sabana. But here it means name of village you can get to by airplaine when you go to see a Santo Angel waterfall. I was realy disgusting on airport, where you have to pay 8000Bs as a visitor no matter that you spend a lot of money for travel there, to sleep a eat here and you pay to indians living here for guiding. I really dislike charity in robber style. All time I spent here I felt as a dollop of meet ready to pluck. My advice: If you don't have to see world highest waterfall, get out of the travel to Canaima village, there's much more more interesting places there in Venezuela.Salto Angel
Highest waterfall, main destination for fat cats in VZ. It takes 5 hours by boat to get there on the bottom of waterfall and one hour less to get back. It is possible to get there just in rainy season and the end of November was one of the last possible dates. Only nice part of trip is getting there against the stream of rapid watter by indian boat. But be ready you will by share the boat with next 11 tourists sitting by 3.If you can, believe my advice: Save your time and travel another place than this one.
Santa Elena
Provience city near the border with Brasil. We did here nice walk in centre, it may be interesting for from my view absolutely different life style than in the rest of VZ. You can get a Toyota to Paratepuí / Roraima here or buy an organised trip.Roraima
Tepuía / table mountain. This table mountain was a pattern for Sir A.C.Conan Doyle when writing Lost World. One of the highroad one. It takes 6 days to get there and back form Paratepuí from which you spend 2 days on the top of table.If you want to visit primeval times go to Roraima.
Mérida
Fascinating city closely surrounded by the tops of Andes. Main base to start trips to mountains. Because of it, we did here first rest time in VZ. In posada "I forgot the name" we have just positive expiriences.Pico Humboldt
Second highest peak in Venezuela, it is easy accesible if you know right way. If you climb the top, you reach altitude of 4965 meters. Last possible camping place with water is in alt. 4300m, but you can sleep (as we did) in Lago Verde in 4000m.La Traversia
Pearl of Andes and of VZ. Six days trip throw the peaks, mostly moving in over 4000m. From Mérida - Tabay - La Mucuy - walking up one day passing a several biotops - Lago Verde 4000m - Lago ? - Pico Espejo.If cabine cableway doesn't work as in our case, you can walk at about 5 hours to Los Nevados where you can get Toyota at 9am to Mérida (5hrs.).
Pico Especho
Nice peak, but more nice without stopped cableway. Top station of La Teleférico - highest cableway on the World (maybe), built by French in 60-ties of 20th century. Working 5 days a week excluding Mo,Tu.Los Nevados
First village in mountains when you descending from the tops of Andes. Nice square with church and military station like on the Wild West.Maracaibo
City on gulf surrounded by oil towers and near borders with Colombia.Maracay
Bus route last stop when going back to Caracas. City seems not to be so interesting. Large bus terminal.Puerto Colombia
It's a nice fishers village in NP Henry Pittier. It takes just two hours to get there from Maracay. One hour uphill to the mountain pass in 1700meters and one hour to get down to sea level. Only this trip with old Ford bus from 2nd.WW is an experirence. In Puerto Colombia you can spend a few days by swimming in the sea, looking groups of birds migrating from north to south.Caracas
Your last place if you leaving by plane. Maybe think about to travel throw bordering countrys or like Netherlands we met, take a bike to get to Santiago de Chile.ENJOY !
AKTUALIZACE 5/2004: Do Venezuely ani Kolumbie na 30- dní už nepotřebuje český turista cestovní vízum.
Vzhledem k tomu, že tyto stránky dělám i pro své nečeské přatele, omlouvám se všem českým přátelům za to že jsem na tomto místě svůj rodný jazyk vymenil za lámanou angličtinu.
Online news on the BBCi
Venezuela je zemí s největším procentem chráněných území na světě. Chráněné oblasti tvoří 65% Venezuelského území. Venezuela je zemí s největším procentem chráněných území na světě. Země má 43 národních parků, 21 přírodních památek, 7 rezervací zvěře a 2 biosférické rezervace. Tato chráněná území tvoří 65% Venezuelského území (průměr chráněných území v ostatních zemích Jižní Ameriky je 20% a ve světě 10%).