Leaving Venezuela...
We avoided Caracas like the plague as it has a serious reputation for being the most dangerous city in South America (along with Rio de Janeiro). We managed to fly from Carupano (close to Playa de Uva) to Simon Bolivar airport, some 25km outside Caracas. We found a place to stay close to the airport and everything worked out fine. (Good we did not try to go to Caracas as one of the bridges of the highway to the city collapsed and travel time to the city is now about 2hrs.)
Today we checked into our Havana bound flight just to be told that the flight has been delayed for 4 hours. Thank you very much. We managed to phone from the airport and arranged accommodation in Havana, a prerequisite for being allowed into Cuba! We further manged to get a tourist card for Cuba at the airport without any hassles (no visa is needed, but you need to buy a tourist card). Our flight should leave within 2 hours and we are very excited!
Culture shocks: Venezuelan ATMs are pretty useless and even locals warned us to only draw money inside the bank - a process that can take up to a few hours. Airport tax was a whopping US$55 per person! No further comment.
Today we checked into our Havana bound flight just to be told that the flight has been delayed for 4 hours. Thank you very much. We managed to phone from the airport and arranged accommodation in Havana, a prerequisite for being allowed into Cuba! We further manged to get a tourist card for Cuba at the airport without any hassles (no visa is needed, but you need to buy a tourist card). Our flight should leave within 2 hours and we are very excited!
Culture shocks: Venezuelan ATMs are pretty useless and even locals warned us to only draw money inside the bank - a process that can take up to a few hours. Airport tax was a whopping US$55 per person! No further comment.
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