I have to agree with all of this! You have to be wary and be careful, but there are lots of places in the US that are much more dangerous than most of Venezuela. The buses are pretty good, especially the overnight ones. It helps to know some spanish obviously, but its a place that isn't terribly difficult to get around. Also, its cheap, about a third the price or so of the US. Sometimes its closer to 1/4 the price.
Hello, I'm from Venezuela and have lived in the US for 12 years, so hopefully me and some of my friends from Venezuela here in Bigsoccer can help you out. Crime: If you are worried about crime, here's my advise: Don't go to Caracas, it has lots of things to do and is surrounded by beutiful mountains and close to the beach, but I'm pretty sure that that's the most dangerous city in Venezuela. Also, don't wear "brand names" such as nike, adidas, watches that look nice, nice hats, nice sport shoes, etc. Just dress like if you go shopping for clothes at walmart or K-mart and you should be fine. I was putting some information in another thread, so I'm going to go ahead and move it here: I want to go ahead and welcome all the US fans that hopefully are going to go to Copa America 2007. I'm very glad that the US is going. The main reasons I opened this thread: - To clarify that americans will be more welcomed in Venezuela than in Europe - To help americans with any questions about traveling to Venezuela. Yes, there's some political problems, but that's just politics. When it comes down to it, everybody that organizes a tournament wants to make money, have a good tournament and leave a good image of the country. Here's an excellent "Info Thread" about Copa America 2007 that has LOTS of pictures and information https://www.bigsoccer.com/forum/showthread.php?t=418093 Here's a map showing most of the cities where the stadiums are located Some tourism information: - Venezuela is the size of Oklahoma and Texas together but its geography is very diverse. - There's no hurricanes, tornadoes or volcano in Venezuela - Venezuela is the country with the longest caribbean coastline (1750 miles) - Venezuela is one of the countries that dedicates the largest percentage of its territory to national parks. - Renting a car might be a little expensive, but gas is extremely cheap, a little less than 2 years ago I filled up my mom's car that is just like a Chevrolet Cavalier with a little more than $2. Some of the best tourism webpages: This is "Lonely Planet" comment about Venezuela If you could channel-surf for landscape, Venezuela would tire out any remote. http://www.lonelyplanet.com/worldgui...ica/venezuela? http://www.discovervenezuela.com/index.cfm http://travel.discovery.com/fansites...ralwonder.html http://www.venezuelatuya.com/indexeng.htm http://www.angel-ecotours.com/homeslides.html A nice picture of the longest cablecar in the World (8 miles long and goes from 5,000 to 15,000ft)
The airport for Caracas is by the sea, and people have to take a highway past a mountain and go up 3000ft above sea level to get to Caracas (about 30 minute drive) Caracas is on the other side of the mountain on the left. If you want to see pictures of the Caracas airport, do a image search for "Maiquetia" I'm sure that you wonder how the roads are like, narrower than in the US, but I've heard that Venezuela has the best highways in Southamerica. Here's a map showing the highways (keep in mind that Venezuela is the size of Texas and Oklahoma) The nice highways are the thick red lines and the thin red lines are highways similar to country 2 lanes roads in the US. http://img238.imageshack.us/img238/1...ialaltaxt0.jpg Here's a picture of an average highway in Venezuela http://img208.imageshack.us/img208/7100/vln083yg9.jpg A nice highway in Venezuela (similar to the ones in the US) http://img158.imageshack.us/img158/7...6487066lf3.jpg The main highway that goes through Caracas http://img291.imageshack.us/img291/8...10largena9.jpg http://img291.imageshack.us/img291/5...08largepo9.jpg http://img508.imageshack.us/img508/6...15largell2.jpg Here's one of the prettiest malls that I've seen, is about 30 minutes from Caracas. (as you can see in the picture of the Mall, the weather is ALWAYS nice)
I went to Venezuela in January 2006. I made a few trips, but one of them was in the area surrounding Caracas, mainly the mountains. My brother and I decided to just go around for one day and we visited the following places. Colonia Tovar German town in the mountains South-West of Caracas (about 2 hour drive) To get there you drive from Caracas (3000ft above sea level) up to the town that is about 6000-7000ft above sea level. Many people there still speak german and wear traditional clothing Cerro Avila (Avila Mountain) There a big mountain that separates Caracas from the Caribbean sea. It's highest point is 8500 ft above sea level. There's a brand new cable car that takes you up the mountain to a nice area where you can take pictures of Caracas on one side and the cities by the sea on the other side. I'm pretty sure that there's a skating ring at the top of the mountain. Here you can see the line where the cable car goes up. You can hike up, bu
So about how much would I be needing to save to afford to go to Copa America for the group stage? Airfare, hotel, food, transportation, tickets, etc.
For transportation... Venezuela has excellent roads and really cheap gas (about 20 cents a gallon) Back in 99, I took a "luxury" bus for a 6 hour trip. It costed about $10. I'm not exagerating, but it was nicer than a plane (no food, sorry) but it had air conditioner, 2-3 tv, and it was brand new. "Expresos Occidentes" is the one I used to ride when I lived in Venezuela. Here's their webpage so you all can see pictures of the inside of the bus http://www.expresosoccidente.com/confort.html 1st picture is how they used to look like. 2nd & 3rd are their newer buses
Spend the money for the newer, "luxury" busses and increase your chances of relative safety, but don't count on the roads being in great shape throughout Venezuela. Chavez may advertise an interest in disbursing money to Venezuela's poor (and some of it does that's not going in the pockets of his amigos), but the infrastructure is going to pot due to insufficient reinvestment. Even with all the recent oil riches, roads aren't getting the attention they need (and that says nothing about the crazy drivers). ;-)
Some small roads are crappy, but Venezuela has have nice highways since the 50s. When I went last year, we drove from Caracas almost all the way to the West and the highway overall was about as nice as a state highway in the US. Now, here's a bad road This is one of the roads that you have to have extremely large balls to drive through when is dark. It's the old road conecting Caracas to La Guaira (city by the sea) That's a highway that you can see at the bottom
Nice posts Dan. But, you have failed to mention a key element, the women aren't too shabby. Hopefully, the people of Venezuela can get rid of that payaso peligroso Chavez.
Chavez re-elected last week and calls President Bush the devil... not sure this trip just got any safer...
Or more dangerous. There may be some demonstrations, but do you really think Chavez is gonna make a big deal about the US team coming? Please!
Not too worried about the team, they travel with more than enough security and undercover agents...I'm a little more worried about us (the fans) that don't travel with all that... I doubt Chavez himself is gonna do anything, but I would imagine that anyone that has enough people to re-electe him also has enough people that feel the same way he does (towards Americans) and that might cause a few problems...hasn't changed my mind, I'm still going....
Based on my experiences there you've got nothing to worry about. They aren't electing him because they hate Americans (although many don't like Bush and the US government... and can you blame them), but not at all because they don't like American people.
Chavez has never said he hates Americans; his criticisms have always been directed squarely at Bush. If he hated Americans so much, he would have never sent doctors, rescue personnel and free oil to New Orleans after Katrina. The biggest danger any tourist will encounter comes from regular street crimes which were a problem before Chavez was elected and will probably be around after he steps down. Take standard precautions and you will okay.
If you guys don't think this guy is anti-American, then you have completely let the tortoise get away. My only point was that Chavez being elected doesn't help matters. He's gonna turn Venezuela into the next Cuba. As I stated earlier, I'm still in...
There's a big difference between Anti-American Government and Anti-American in any way that would be a problem for American tourists. We still have dollars. Also, its going to be Cuba, but WITH oil money.
Forget about the government, worry about the street crime. I've talked to people who've been there, and it is very dangerous.
I've been to many places that are "very dangerous" throughout Latin America with few, if any, problems. That's not to say there isn't an element of risk - there certainly is. But take precaution, don't be flashy with your money, and be polite tourists. You will be amazed at the warmth and friendliness of the people there. Shit happens everywhere. A lot of it is unavoidable. But do some research and be careful while you're there and you should be fine. Besides, going to a place with zero risk isn't any fun anyway!
Anyone have an idea on the feasibility of a quick side trip to Trinadad and Tobago from Venezuela? I read there was a weekly boat, but I don't know how long the trip is or how frequently boats leave. I also read the border with Guyana is closed and the Colombian side of the border a bit dicey. Any thoughts?
Justin O., you could do a 2-3 week pentagonal or hexagonal route out of Port of Spain, Trinidad, taking in the Copa America in the process. After years of keeping an eye out, I have been able to confirm that there is a weekly ferry from Port of Spain to a tiny Venezuelan port called Guinas, on Tuesday or Wednesday. Evidently it is cheap, leaves late, around noon, and finally clears customs around 4, when the boat goes back the 40 kilometers to Port of Spain. The taxis are very high so you walk the 1 ½ km to the little town, where you stay overnight. The next morning there is good transport to all major cities. One of the venues for the Copa America is about 150 km away. You can get to Guyana by going south from Caracas through Ciudad Guyanas. There you could get a local price to see Canaima and Angel Falls, From there, the bus takes you through the Yanomami Indian area as well as Mount Roraima, where you could do the 5 day trek. You change buses at the Brasilian border, then on to Boa Vista, a city every Brasilian sees on the weather report but no one has ever been to. This involves spending the $190 or more to get a Brasilian visa, good for 5 years (handy, since it takes 6 months off your life expectancy to get the visa in the first place). There is an early morning express bus to the Guyana border, where you change buses and can see an incredibly waterfall on the way to Georgetown. Guyana has big crime and efficiency problems but you can take the bus from Georgetown to Paramaribo, Surinam, itself a UNESCO site, and fly on BWIA to Port of Spain. Trinidad is getting some crime problems too. All the travel books say that the Colombian Venezuela border area is bad news but I think the situation has improved. Colombia is a lot safer now while Venezuela’s crime is going sky high. Cartagena, a gem of a place, is near this border crowing. I would only do it in the day and I would get my Yellow Fever Card updated too. I think Cartagena is safer than Port of Spain. Both are a lot safer than Caracas.
I lived in Venezuela 16 years ago and even then the level of street crime in Caracas was high. I believe it has risen exponentially since then. Overall, however, Venezuelans are very friendly and courteous people. Follow the normal precautions you would in any large city in the Americas and I think we should all be fine. Be warned, however, they like ketchup on their ham and cheese sandwiches.
Any idea where the final is going to be? I fear that it's going to be in Caracas, as it's the biggest city in Venezuela, but I would like to avoid that city as much as possible. There is a serious lack of info available for people planning on taking the trip. Wikipedia has some info, like venues and cities, but I haven't been able to find anything official yet.