Arrival June 7th 9:00am.
What a whirl wind day.
We caught a flight out of Miami June 6th at 7:00pm arriving in Port of Spain (the capital of Trinidad) at 11:30pm for a stop over until 6:55 am to Caracas. Therefore we spent the night trying to sleep in the airport- the AC was so high you just about froze and of course a couple of bench chairs are not that comfortable, plus it is raining out side so you can not even enjoy the heat of Trinidad.
While in Trinidad we attempted to extend our stay there as we new we would not be able to pick the bikes up until June 16th so why not hang in Trinidad. To extend the fight would be no problem, only $65 each (cheap) but the problem was when we came through customs the agent stamped a pass just for the day (which is essentially a tourist card into the country –this sort of acts as a visa). Normally you can get one of these no problems for up to a 90 day stay. The tourist card can not be extended for any reason. You must leave the country then return. Ours was only for the night, so if we would have asked for 90 days upon arrival it would have been a done deal. Lesson #1
The next morning we arrive in Caracas, completely seamless entry through customs (much easier that Canada and the US). As we get out of the main doors Brent is bombarded with Taxi drivers via for his business. (Keep in mind we are tired and disoriented plus we are in a different country that speaks a different language and in a country that does not have a good reputation for safety). What a way to start!
We stop to regroup in a corner, get out the maps & books; re filed our id and we decide where we are heading? Why Chichiriviche of course- That sounds happy.
Unsure of what to do or where to go we decided to get of the huge mass they call Caracas and go to something much smaller such as a small beach town of 7000 and on that note I am glad we did that.
In the footprints travel book it talked about the beaches in Chichiriviche, it was near Parque Nacional Henri Pittier Park and they said that there were Posadas for around $7-11 US a night, seemed good.- Right
We ask at the Venezuela tourist counter about busses, of course no one can speak English.
Eventually we communicate enough to discover we need to take 1 cab and three buses to get to where we want to go. We walk out of Simon Bolival international looking for the domestic terminal to the left. Well there are no actual signs for the domestic terminal that we scene but there were a lot of busses.
The tourist office had said that we needed to take the bus to Plaza Venezuela and the take a cab to La Bandera where we can take a bus to Valencia and then another bus to Chichiriviche. Unfortunately the bus had signs for other stops but not Plaza Venezuela eventually we show a guy on the map and he points to Plaza Central. All buses are packed of course they need to make as much $ s as possible (about $6.50 pp) for about a 45 minute drive and no ac or no bathrooms either (for that matter no washroom stops along the way) good thing I had been tired, not eaten or drank for hours!
The first terminal was insane, full of cabbies yelling at you for your business, people walking in all directions, and buses that are driving within inches of each other and the public. A guy on the bus from the airport could not speak English but got enough out to tell us to take a taxi. The taxi was a rip off (we feel) at $12.50 US for about a 10 minute ride (but who knows- It was better than walking or trying to take the subway). He drops us off at the next point we find a bathroom- cost is $0.50 US and locate the bus we need no problem.
You get on and then part way down the road they collect the $s and 2.5 hrs later we arrive. Brent watched others pay and determined it was $6 US for both, it was. Finally we arrive at the last terminal and there are no signs for Chichiriviche we ask and people point eventually finding the bus in a sea of buses we get on, hot, sticky and quite tired at this stage. People get on and when the bus is full we go for the last 2 hr bus ride.
This time we did not have correct change and the guy on the bus did not want to give us change, saying that was the cost of the fair. ($7.50 US each) Next time we will have the correct change.
What a whirl wind day.
We caught a flight out of Miami June 6th at 7:00pm arriving in Port of Spain (the capital of Trinidad) at 11:30pm for a stop over until 6:55 am to Caracas. Therefore we spent the night trying to sleep in the airport- the AC was so high you just about froze and of course a couple of bench chairs are not that comfortable, plus it is raining out side so you can not even enjoy the heat of Trinidad.
While in Trinidad we attempted to extend our stay there as we new we would not be able to pick the bikes up until June 16th so why not hang in Trinidad. To extend the fight would be no problem, only $65 each (cheap) but the problem was when we came through customs the agent stamped a pass just for the day (which is essentially a tourist card into the country –this sort of acts as a visa). Normally you can get one of these no problems for up to a 90 day stay. The tourist card can not be extended for any reason. You must leave the country then return. Ours was only for the night, so if we would have asked for 90 days upon arrival it would have been a done deal. Lesson #1
The next morning we arrive in Caracas, completely seamless entry through customs (much easier that Canada and the US). As we get out of the main doors Brent is bombarded with Taxi drivers via for his business. (Keep in mind we are tired and disoriented plus we are in a different country that speaks a different language and in a country that does not have a good reputation for safety). What a way to start!
We stop to regroup in a corner, get out the maps & books; re filed our id and we decide where we are heading? Why Chichiriviche of course- That sounds happy.
Unsure of what to do or where to go we decided to get of the huge mass they call Caracas and go to something much smaller such as a small beach town of 7000 and on that note I am glad we did that.
In the footprints travel book it talked about the beaches in Chichiriviche, it was near Parque Nacional Henri Pittier Park and they said that there were Posadas for around $7-11 US a night, seemed good.- Right
We ask at the Venezuela tourist counter about busses, of course no one can speak English.
Eventually we communicate enough to discover we need to take 1 cab and three buses to get to where we want to go. We walk out of Simon Bolival international looking for the domestic terminal to the left. Well there are no actual signs for the domestic terminal that we scene but there were a lot of busses.
The tourist office had said that we needed to take the bus to Plaza Venezuela and the take a cab to La Bandera where we can take a bus to Valencia and then another bus to Chichiriviche. Unfortunately the bus had signs for other stops but not Plaza Venezuela eventually we show a guy on the map and he points to Plaza Central. All buses are packed of course they need to make as much $ s as possible (about $6.50 pp) for about a 45 minute drive and no ac or no bathrooms either (for that matter no washroom stops along the way) good thing I had been tired, not eaten or drank for hours!
The first terminal was insane, full of cabbies yelling at you for your business, people walking in all directions, and buses that are driving within inches of each other and the public. A guy on the bus from the airport could not speak English but got enough out to tell us to take a taxi. The taxi was a rip off (we feel) at $12.50 US for about a 10 minute ride (but who knows- It was better than walking or trying to take the subway). He drops us off at the next point we find a bathroom- cost is $0.50 US and locate the bus we need no problem.
You get on and then part way down the road they collect the $s and 2.5 hrs later we arrive. Brent watched others pay and determined it was $6 US for both, it was. Finally we arrive at the last terminal and there are no signs for Chichiriviche we ask and people point eventually finding the bus in a sea of buses we get on, hot, sticky and quite tired at this stage. People get on and when the bus is full we go for the last 2 hr bus ride.
This time we did not have correct change and the guy on the bus did not want to give us change, saying that was the cost of the fair. ($7.50 US each) Next time we will have the correct change.
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