Caracas

[Holden Caulfield]

30 minute trip from the airport to Caracas. There is a bridge out as described but perhaps they finished a temporary one? The road goes next to a collapsed bridge so that is my guess. It does go through some pretty spooky looking parts of town. From first glance, every area here is a spooky part of town.

Ford's timid little mountain creatures (or something like that) would be scared.

A couple of money things...

Tons of black market exchangers right at the airport. 2300 seems the going rate on any amount.

ATM scam: This one is tricky. I saw one and a guy showed me what you can do. Generally on outdoor, easily accessible ones a guy will glue on a card reader. Your card goes through his and into the real one. They scan your card and pin and can then counterfeit it. The trick seems to be to smack the card reader hard on the top. You can tell if there is a seam that bends a little. Real ones are one piece of moulded plastic.

[Circle]

Hey guys,

Thanks for the info. I happend to meet a french couple and a spanish girl when I was trying to find someone to share a taxi into caracas with me. They were not all traveling together, but we all met kind of at about the same time and they all spoke spanish better than I, so I decided to hang out with them. And since they were taking a bus to caracas and then taking the overnight bus directly to merida, I decided to go with the flow and go with them. Besides, all the hotels really are booked up in caracas. Even the budget ones I normally find in my travel books. So I'm in merida now, and I hope to have a nice update coming soon. So thanks, and hasta luego

[BayBoy]

CIRCLE -- I was with World Travel in Venezuela and spent 8 days in Caracas. I can tell you there isn't much to see there. I couldnt even get a budget hotel (stayed at the Hotel Las Mercedes, $100 a nite) in town. And to top it off the sexual venues were really lacking compared to other cities in South America. I pretty much went to the 2 *****houses listed earlier.

Merida was a nice town, very safe, with good weather. I highly recommend the Teleferico to the top of the Andes mountains, and also La Venezuela de Antier, an historical amusement park a little out of town. Also we went to the bullfights (which I enjoyed unlike my friend). We didnt find much in the way of mongering though.

Happy travels

[World Travel 69]

I was there in early March.
As far as I am concerned I will never go back to Caracas.
I could not wait to get out of there.
Besides the trouble getting into Caracas and finding a place to stay. Everything was full. Try Hotel La Floresta, hotellafloresta@cantv.net, Fax: 58 212 267 7519 Tel: 263 1955.
There is not much to see, except maybe the teleferico. I was told by a travel agent that lives there that she used to go to the musuems in the Capitolio area, but it is too dangerous to go there even in the day time.
If you want to go to Angel Falls the cheapest way to get there in by going to Isla Margarita and then fly from there. It will cost around $240. for a one day round trip. I waited and tried to go from Caracas. They did not have any one day trip. Only overnighter and they wanted about $800. round trip.
If you are going to Merida, I would recommend getting hotel reservations first. We didn't, and all the hotels were full. We only got lucky with the airport travel agent. She found an apartment for us to rent for four days.
WT69

[Circle]

Hi guys,

I'm on my way to Caracas tomorrow. This will be my 4th country so far out of the 9 that I'm traveling to in the next couple of months. After reading the latest reports about Caracas, I want to know, is there any reason to go to Caracas at all? I was thinking about spending a couple days there before heading to Merida. So if there is anybody living there with up to date knowledge, please give me a heads up. I don't want to stay in such a dangerous city if the reward isn't worth it. If anyone is there that would like to hook up for a beer, please let me know. Also, please check out my latest reports from Costa Rica, Cuba, and Dominican Republic. Thanks for any help in advance.

[BayBoy]

My charge issues are concerning my ATM card. Somebody got ahold of my number and tried to charge some things.The funny thing was that the charges came from Holland, Aruba and Maine of all places; a long way from Venezuela..

Fortunately my bank stopped all the charges. But a couple of banks in Caracas have tried to charge me for transactions that were rejected at the ATM site. I'm in the process of getting them taken off now. Somebody in those banks stole my number.

[Ricker]

Hey guys ... got a call last week from my Master Card company ... somebody was charging up a storm with my credit card number in Caracas.

I haven't been there in a couple months ... got the charges reversed and cancelled the card.

Looks like quite a scam is going on in Caracas.

Ten cuidado!

[Soaring Eagle]

That problem has been going on for years. Chances are the charges were made by a hotel clerk to whom you gave your credit card and copied the numbers and name. They may also have sold that information.

[World Travel 69]

It looks like nobody is going there.
The newest is on the list.
The only thing new that happened is that all three of us has charges on our credit cards that we did not use. We think someone in one of the hotels we stayed in got into our suitcase and copied the numbers off our transactions receipts. We all had separate rooms.
WT69

Anything change in Caracas in the last 2 to 3 months that I should know about?

[Rodney Munch]

Anything change in Caracas in the last 2 to 3 months that I should know about?

[World Travel 69]

That is a tough one.
Be cause the bridge (Viaduct) was out for so long, it seems to me that business meetings that were cancelled are booking most of the hotels.
At some hours of the day the road to Caracas can still take around 2 hours. We went over the old road to save time. It took around an hour.
The only thing we could find was the Hotel Paseo Las Mercedes. B$177,000 on weekends and 236,000 during the week.
I could not stand Caracas, so I flew to Curacao. And one other friend flew home. BayBoy stuck it out, but could not find any cheaper hotels. Everything was full, even hotels in Sabana Grande. We really wanted to stay at the Hotel La Floresta in Altamira around US$50.
So, contact any hotel that you want to stay at, Way before you go.
WT69

I need help with a budget hotel in Caracas. 20-30 dollar, chica friendly and in a safe area. Is this possible?

[Juan Carter]

No responses to Klamydia's below post about budget hotels? I try travel in his $20 - $30 price range and would appreciate any help about inexpensive hotels in Caracas and other cities in Venezuela. Girl friendly, when possible.

[BayBoy]

4th day in Caracas. On Sundays when all the sex venues are closed you can always count on Volta and Cazadors to be open. I notice that there are new chicas every day at those places. My last 2 encounters have been the best. Theres a gal that goes by the handle of Charo, gives good head.

I went over to Rodundo for a drink (basement of Chacacito Comm. Cntr.). 7 chicas floated in and out. One doable the rest average. They wanted BS 170,000 for an hour, and BS 120,000 for half; plus 70,000 for the room. Way too expensive for my taste. Beers are 7,000.

I tried the studio at the Andrea bldg. (close to McDonalds on Av. Francisco de Miranda nr. Calle Muneco, buzz no. 28, 7th floor). Got buzzed in and met a krachity old mamsan who only had 1 average looking chica. She said there were 3 others but they floated in and out and didnt know when they show up. It was a nice apartment, very comfortable. The rate was BS 70,000 complete with massage and blow job. Ill go back later.

These Venezolanas must be real high maintenance. They spent alot of money on clothes, jewelry and makeup. Good-looking but snobby and stuckup.

Nice, modern and cheap metro system. Something for the Venezuelans to be proud of.

OUT

[BayBoy]

First day in Caracas, I had a cabbie take me first to Edificio Volta, where I got a nice blow job from a latina redhead and then to Cazadores, cross the street and down the block a little.

Unlike other reports about Volta, I found the chicas to be fairly good-looking. They all were in their 20s, dressed in short skimpy skirts and tops and sexy high-heels. There were a few scroungy guys hanging around, but they didn't seem too menacing, they were all focused on the girls.

There were about 6 girls on the 1st floor and about 10 on the second. They all looked ready to go. The gal I picked was actually quite friendly and talkative, and wanted to know how long I had been in Venezuela etc. 25,000 BS. set price.

Then the cabbie walked me over to Cazadores and I went up to the first floor, where there was about 10-12 chicas. A few black. Not a bad selection in my opinion. I just looked around and left.

More to come -- OUT

[Curacao]

Hi all,

The Morrison is located about one and a half Square to the east from San ignacio Mall, in Chacao/La Castellana border. Is like passing in front of the mall towards the Altamira Square, at the right side of the road (not visible from the avenue, you have to go a little down in one of the streets)

For what i heard, too costly and no rooms, you have to empty your pockets and sell your family just to cover the exit fee.

They do have rooms, but nothing special. The girls perform better if you take them out of the club. And I never could figure out the fine - it's worse than estimating US taxes.