While crossing the border to Venezuela, the Canadian couple that was with us was not able to stamp their passport. Apparently, the government released a new requirement for Spanish, British North Americans and Canadians. People from these countries need an invitation letter. They did not have one, they did not want to go back to Colombia, the police did not accept their bride and they entered illegally (they didnt add us on Facebook so we don't know how are they, probably well!)
Our first stop was Maracaibo, a Petroleum city. We did coucsurfing and saw what is Venezuela today, was interesting to hear some things about the government: The first thing we heard is that "Chávez ya murió" (Chavez is dead), claiming that the picture released in February was fake. Then, they told us about the nationalization program, telecommunications and hotel chains and that these companies became inefficiency because the government put their friends and people close to the party. The minimum salary is 2000 Bolivars (100USD). Chavez changed the hour and Venezuela is 30m later than Colombia (the only country with 30m and not 1h).
Chavez portrait is everywhere. The cars in Maracaibo are very old.
The second city we visited was Mérida, one of the most beautiful towns in Venezuela. We stayed in Edder´s house. We had the opportunity to do Paragliding,something that we wanted to do since Chile. With Edder we visited some natural therms, with a nice trecking around the mountains and nice signs.
Pico Bolivar, the highest of Venezuela
Here, we ate the best Arepas, uff so delicious!! These were "arepas socailistas", the business belongs to the government and is cheaper than the others. We must say that they are better than in Colombian ahahaha (different because hey are not fried and are filled with chicken/chesse/ham/etc.) and we tried Pavillon, typical dish.
Gas´s prices are unbelievable. 1L = usd 0,0032 or eur 0,0024, meaning that filling up the tank (eur.0,15 for 50L) is cheaper than a bottle of water. The gasoline is subsidized by the government, a freiend told us that the cost at a gas station is 0,37Bolivars.
On the last day in Mérida we did Paragliding, a really nice experience!
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