The view from our balcony window onto one of the fancier apartment blocks in CaracasThe most striking thing from my first few days in Latin America is just how different things are. This may sound obvious but I guess flying into a big capital city I’d assumed there would be at least some measure of familiarity, but really, everything is different – from the yelling from taxi drivers, money exchangers and general lack of organisation as soon as we came through customs; to the bus we took into town, dark with curtains drawn and music pumping - more reminiscent of an 80s youth club in décor. The airport road to Caracas climbed steeply the whole way as we passed pedestrians in the middle of nowhere following the dual-carriageway, whilst people without helmets undertook us on motorbikes.
The cars are hilarious, new and old, American, Far-Eastern and European, every car ever made appears to still be on the roads in Venezuela, some miraculously so, like the taxi we took. People stand in the street selling snacks in the middle of 3 lanes of traffic or beg on crutches. We pass shanty towns of houses on sticks and decrepit concrete tower blocks, crumbling with bars on the windows and yet full of life.
Food, plants, shops, hotel rooms, everything is different. And this is all tremendously exciting. Just peering over a balcony or from a bus window is a joy. South America is hot, chaotic and unfamiliar, and I’m looking forward to every minute of it.
2 comments:
We are loving your blog. We have been in an apartment in Rio with a kitchen as tiny as the one you had from us in London - so now really understand what you mean about having to be organized!
Glad to hear you didn't get stuck under that underpass in Caracas - remember it and the horror only too well.
Funny that you have been wading through rain in the streets; we have just done the same in Rio today. To our shame we had to take refuge in a Marriott hotel and buy dry clothes (two dodgy tourist t-shirts) in its gift shop. We sat in the posh bar on towels looking like North American 'dorks' straight out of Pulp Fiction.
Mad what you say about the exchange rate. We are finding Rio as expensive as London.
Venezuela is very American; think you will have much more fun in the rest of South America and especially Columbia.
Much love
Jane and Iain
xxx
I loved this post! J and felt EXACTLY the same way when we first came to London. It felt like we had gone to another planet...
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