VENEZUELA

Summer 2006
INTRODUCTIONVenezuela is an incredible country from the landscaping point of view, from the snows from the Andes to the Caribbean coast, from legendary rainforest and amazonian forests, to the rich flora and fauna (faone), dominated by unique mountains with vertical walls and flat tops denominated tepuis (kind of mountain) and lonely landscapes of the Gran Sabana.

You can practice adventure sports or relax. One can visit indigenous colonial cities and villages that conserve old customs. We also found great shopping malls and centers with all the world-wide trademarks in Caracas.

Venezuela is famous by its wealth of natural resources but, surprisingly, these do not seem to be enjoyed by the Venzuelans at least this has been our impression.  Hugo Chávez, the country’s famous and charismatic leader can be seen and heard on televising regularly and seems very convincing but when one speaks with the local people such as  the drivers of "por puestos", with taxi drivers, waiters, posada owners, a doctor of Caracas, several people of medium-high class of Caracas, we must say that we did not find absolutely anybody favorable to Chávez; It was all  “displeasure”. Curious.

Summarizing we think that Venezuela still has far to go to advance in its tourism offer, but is a very recommendable country to visit. Here you can find anything you could  wish for and more!

Curiosites:
- The legendry oft spoken beauty of Venezuelan woman is a total myth! It should never be repeated !. We saw a pair of beautiful girls, just one pair literally, but a lot Venezuelan women are of normal aspect or, frankly, rather ugly. We would emphasize, the essential difference in the way Venezuelan women dress comparared to how the majority do in Europe. Venezuelan women adopt a very exuberant style, worn very tight, regardless of whether they are thin or fat, and this exuberance is especially notable in the way they wear tight t-shirts!
- Icecream brands in Germany are called Frigo, in Italy – Ola, and curiously in Venezuela they are called Tío Rico (from Spanish “Rich uncle”)
- 80% of the cars have tinted windows. We asked why and were told that although the law forbiddes it Venezuelans prefer obscure windows so that from outside one cannot see what is going on inside! Besides that, it offers sun protection.
- Although Venezuela is producer and exporter of sugar, this product is rationated and very often the Venezuelan do not enjoy it as they cannot easily obtain it.
- Everywhere there is a very curious system for making phone calls: you can find a lot of simple plastic tables with 3 or 4 mobile phones and you can call with them and they charge you in Bolivares by the minute. Everone is therefore a potential entrepreneur, even children. If you want to pay less, you must look for a “Centro de conexión” where you can find telephones and internet. Internet costs per hour in Venezuela is between 800 y 1.200Bs.
- There are many agencies for lotteries. Playing the Lottery must be extremely  popular  as the number of agencies is not proportional to the size of the population.
- Curiously there are a lot of shops specialising in lingerie from Colombia. The most famous ranges of intimate clothes or maybe those with the higher quality are from Colombia, and the extensive publicity always majors on the Colombian quality brand.

General information on Venezuela:
http://www.tourismparaall.org.ve
http://www.venetur.gob.ve/
http://www.mintur.gob.ve/portal/index.php
http://www.venezuelatuya.com/
http://www.consulvenbarcelona.com/