‘Venezuela Travel’ Archives
Weather in Venezuela
Venezuela Temperatures Venezuela is near the earth's equator, so average temperatures remain the same all year round. Changes in temperature come only with changes in altitude, dropping about 5.4°F with every 1000ft increase (6.5°C per 1000m). Since over 90% of Venezuela lies below 1000m, you’ll experience temperatures between 70°F and [...]
Beautiful Photos of Venezuela’s Páramo Highlands
The páramo are the Andean highlands of Venezuela. This ecosystem is found in the high elevations, between the upper forest line at 3,000 meters elevation and the permanent snow line at 5,000 meters. The páramo is cold, with animals uniquely adapted to the temperatures, such as the woolly donkey pictured below. These areas consist mostly of [...]
Life in Caracas: lavish malls and BMW dealerships, amid poverty and crime
I enjoy reading the San Francisco Chronicle, but I recently discovered an Alternative Daily called "BeyondChron" that bills itself as "The voice of the rest." Eli Rosenberg, a writer for BeyondChron, wrote a piece back in 2006 that described in precise terms the constant diverging realities of Caracas, Venezuela. He wrote about the haphazardly [...]
Squid Fishing in Venezuela
Geraldine is a young British woman who has done a lot of travelling in Latin America and written about it in her great blog, Mole's Eye View. She traveled through Venezuela as well, and wrote some interesting posts about it. In one, she wrote about her experience squid fishing in Santa Fe, Venezuela. She had a great time, though she only caught [...]
Coromoto, the Venezuelan Ice Cream Parlor with 860 Flavors
Reprinted from the BBC Online, with some photos added from various sources You might imagine that the shop selling the largest number of ice-cream flavours in the world would be in Italy or perhaps the US, but in fact it is in the Venezuelan city of Merida, as Will Grant discovered. After looking in the windows of a couple of ice-cream [...]
Lonely Planet guide out of date on Venezuela
In a blog post titled "Lonely Planet or off the planet?", Cowboy in Caracas complains that the 2007 edition of Lonely Planet's Venezuela guide is woefully out of date, whether as a result of poor research, or political bias. He writes: From Caracas the nearest beaches are west of the airport in Catia La Mar or east of the airport in the [...]
Life in Maracaibo, Venezuela – Part One
Maracaibo is the second largest city in Venezuela, 500 km west of Caracas, with a population of three and a quarter million. In recent years, many people have moved there from Caracas to escape the unchecked crime in the capital. The city of Maracaibo sits on the shores of Lake Maracaibo; it's the capital of the beautiful and agriculturally [...]
Venezuela: Beautiful Sights, Rude People?
Angel falls in Venezuela In a recent discussion on the Thorn Tree travel forum, a traveler with the nickname of Lobito says that he has traveled to every South American country with the exception of Guyana and Surinam, and finds that while the geography of Venezuela is stunning, the people are consistently rude. He continues: I also have [...]
Travel Blogs on TravBuddy.com
I recently came across TravBuddy.com, where people share travel advice. There was a long series of blog posts by a group that traveled all through Latin America. Unfortunately their stay in Venezuela was brief and there were only two posts from there. There are some nice photos, however. I couldn't find the author's name, but I [...]
Afro-Venezuelan Cultural Festival
Global Exchange is offering a three day tour to Venezuela to visit the Afro-Venezuelan Cultural Festival, to take place from June 20, 2009 - June 30, 2009. From their website: "Despite their overwhelming contribution to the everyday life and culture of Venezuela, coastal Afro-Venezuelan communities continue to face racial and economic [...]
