Venezuela

-Caracas-

After Cuba, I went back to Mexico to grab some stuff and flew out to Caracas Venezuela. It was really hard to find a cheap hostel in Caracas. And what confused me first was that, like in Cuba, Venezuela also has this strange exchange rates for their money. The official exchange rate that the government and the banks offer is $1 for 2 bolivar, which in the black market (like at the street or at the jewlry store) they give you $1 for 5.8 bolivar. If you withdraw money from the bank, you get the official rate. So you really need the cash(Euro or dollar) in your hand to travel this country or else you are forced to pay almost 3 times as much for everything. Luckly I had just enough dollars to live for a few weeks.

Center of Caracas

I saw many political propaganda.

Downtown Caracas.

The area I stayed was a bit dodgy at night. (even during the day)

but the subway was very safe and clean.

Gran-sabana station. Shopping area in Caracas.

Many street performance.

Bus station in Caracas

from the bus station

Caracas is surrounded by the hills

City of Caracas

overlooking the dowtown area or caracas.

It's a huge city.

Like in Mexico, I found tamales!

Cachapa. Pancake of fresh corn dough with ham and cheese.

Many chinese restaurants in Caracas. Fried rice, always my favorite.

Arepas. Venezuela's traditional food.(also in Colombia) Inside the wheat kind of wrap, you can put almost anything you can imagine.This is arepa with little eggs/Mayonnaise. It's really filling.