Caracas is an amazing city. It is huge and yet feels small compàred to the massive mountains that box it in on all sides. On the plain on the way over we were politely informed by some venezuelans that we were crazy to be doing this trip at all considering we had no tour group and only one spanglish speaker in the group. After an hour waiting in line for a visa we emerged into the hot busy airport and immediately set upon by a policeman. A contact of Daniel´s had booked a Cab and the policemen insisted he escorted us to meet him, obviously some travellers have never made it past the airport! The cab journey in was fascinating, a long winding road around the coastal mountains connects Caracas to the airport as the original bridge the old road was on collapsed. Add to this the winding road being half closed because of a mud slide and you get a long journey. The cab driver told us, reasuringly, that visitors are put off caracas because of the huge gun crime rate. As we apprached the glowing metropolis shanty towns began to crowd around the road, it was quite someting.
We finally arrived at the hotel (view from room pictured) at about 9
, after flying in at half 4 and Dan spoke to Carlos, his contact and we were invited for dinner at his rather plush restaurant. The fact that vegetarianism is laughed at did not stop me having a delicious meat-free meal at a fantastic restaurant. It was a very strange end to a a long day as we ate delicious food and drank free beer and laughed off the fact that none of us hadslept for 24 hours.
Today we have booked ourselves a flight to some Caribbean Islands, eaten strange cheese dishes in a cafe and experienced the local buses. The people here are lovely and without loads of help from total strangers we could easily be one of those gun crime statistics. The city is fantastic as long as you are told where to go and are careful. The gap between rich and poor is immense but you get no hassle from anyone, a testimant to the people of this proud nation perhaps. It feels as though we have been dropped in at the deep end but what a great place to start the trip.
, after flying in at half 4 and Dan spoke to Carlos, his contact and we were invited for dinner at his rather plush restaurant. The fact that vegetarianism is laughed at did not stop me having a delicious meat-free meal at a fantastic restaurant. It was a very strange end to a a long day as we ate delicious food and drank free beer and laughed off the fact that none of us hadslept for 24 hours.Today we have booked ourselves a flight to some Caribbean Islands, eaten strange cheese dishes in a cafe and experienced the local buses. The people here are lovely and without loads of help from total strangers we could easily be one of those gun crime statistics. The city is fantastic as long as you are told where to go and are careful. The gap between rich and poor is immense but you get no hassle from anyone, a testimant to the people of this proud nation perhaps. It feels as though we have been dropped in at the deep end but what a great place to start the trip.
5 comments:
sounds like a urban dimension distant from London streets. Good to hear you have Carlos as some sort of guide. The people on the plane were in part right about you lot being loonies but yeah it would be this mangnificent adventure if it didn't have that element of "DON'T DO IT".
Keep safe my precious(es)
wouldn't* a lil bit drunk
Sounds amazing! I'm green with envy. Oh and you're a pro: e-bulletins leading readers to online content and opportunity to provide feedback. Sheesh.
One suggestion - at the moment you need to have a Google a/c to leave a comment which will deter some people from responding - I'd recommend allowing anonymous comments - if you want to do this, you can either do it yourself or email me your login and password (I've forgotten them) and I'll do it for you.
Looking forward to hearing more.
Okay I've sorted your settings. Anyone can comment now, but they have to fill in word verification. This is easy to do and reduces the possibility of comment spam. Any probs or changes you need just let me know amigo.
Oh and I'm definitely going to mention you on my blog tonight and quote your email. Check it out in 24 hours or so.
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