Venezuela Travel Forum

Hi!
My question is if there is no problem getting into Venezuela from Brasil through Santa Elena de Uairen???
And more...I have heard that Venezuela is very expensive in case you change your money in official money exchange points, but if you get Venezuelian pesos outside the country or change your money in the black market things work out much much cheaper! Is that right? Any suggestions?? What would be the rate difference - official and black market?

Thank you!

Laura:

I am the brazilian who send you a VTmessage some time ago.
One year ago I had read that bus transportation from Manaus to Venezuela was difficult. There was some indian tribes blocking paved roads at night.
Nowadays the journey is not in a tight squeeze anymore... I will paste again some links to you:

http://ascanio.blogspot.com/2006/11/o-turismo-do-norte-do-brasil-para.html

http://www.pacaraima.rr.gov.br/portal1/municipio/galeria.asp?iIdMun=100114011&iIdGaleria=4361

My best hint is you shall be inquiring your bus trip to Venezuela. Many brazilians have done it in a cool way. Ask someone to translate the "ascanio.blogspot" link for you. It's time to go to bed now. I am sleepy now. I wish good luck for you.
Cassiovieggore

Hi! Santa Elena is a very active border, I haven't heard of any troubles and actually many brazilians visit Margarita Island by car, so the drive all the way from Brazil. It's Bolivares Fuertes not pesos, and the Official exchange rate is 2.15 Bs/US$ while black market is around 6 BsF/US$. So if you come from Brazil, I'll sugget to exchange your reais to $ and then exchange your $ to BsF in Venezuela. Where in Venezuela do you plan to go? Margarita? Caracas? You'll find plenty of people willing to exchange $ to BsF.

The official exchange rate is about 2.15 to the USD and the parallel market rate is about 6.5 which is 3 times what the official rate is. For the past few years the accumulated inflation in Venezuela has effected the real value of the Bolivar, and the free-market exchange rate that one finds on the swap market demonstrates this. The official rate stays the same and the swap market rate climbs due to government incompetence, corruption and the fear by many that their country is about to collapse. The swap market is also rather thin and can be rather volatile. There is a tendency for the exchange rate to jump every time Hugo Chavez announces something notably stupid.
suerte
SAM

Thanks for the answer, it will help a lot!
Where do I go in Venezuela???...Hm...I do not know, I basically want to cross it to come to the caribbean coast in Colombia. Can you suggest me some good places to visit on the way??
Ok, so if I get dollars in Brazil, you think it will be easy for me to exchange them for Venez money (black market) even on the border??? Where do I look for the black market :)) ??

Hello again!

It's quite far from the Brazilian border to the Colombian Caribbean coast. You have to from Santa Elena de Uairen to Pto Ordaz, it will take you almost a day, from there you can go straight to Caracas, it will take you another day. While you are in Pto Ordaz you can get a tour to the Angel's Falls, I strongly recommend you that. From Pto Ordaz and on the way to Caracas you'll come across Pto La Cruz, a coastal city. From there you can go to the Margarita Island, a very popular touristic destination and a very nice to place to visit. There are buses running from Caracas to Cartagena, Colombia, it takes almost a day and a half to get there. In Caracas is very easy to exchange at black market exchange rate, most hotel clerks will put you in contact or will facilitate the transaction for you. The Maiquetia Airport, serving Caracas, is another popular place for exchange. A friend of mine used to live in Santa Elena de Uairen, I'll ask him about safe locations for exchange over there. Usually people will just approach you once they realize you are a foreigner and will offer to exchange your money.

Hi Lauren,
Please don't take offense at what I say here, but maybe as part of your trip through Venezuela, it might be a good idea to investigate WHY Venezuela has a tight control on the exchange rate. Porteno's comments on Chavez and his government miss the mark entirely. His government has tried to tightly control exchange rates to try to prevent massive capital flight from a very "unloyal" opposition (who stole everything for decades without a whimper from people who are now SO vocal in protesting Chavez's policies). Curious, no?



good luck
Grumpus

That is certainly an interesting perspective on the economic situation,since Chavez has been in power for the past decade so the exchange issue is just now becoming a problem? Guess the 30% inflation rate in 2008 had no affect on the exchange rate whatsoever? Plus the multi billion dollar shortfall in the national budget due to the collapse in oil prices.In less than a year the Central Bank's international reserves at the end of May 18 had fallen 31%, don't think you can blame that on previous administrations from over a decade ago. Venezuela’s Foreign Exchange Management Committee (CADIVI) – the entity responsible for allocating dollars between importers and exporters - has been strapped for cash because of low oil prices (94% of Venezuela’s income is from oil). As a result, CADIVIA has delayed paying outstanding debt to several South American countries. Sounds like Venezuela's problems are due to more recent mismanagement rather than from the past.

But that was certainly an interesting perspective on the issues currently facing Venezuela.

Suerte
SAM

I recommend you drop by Choroni. It's cheap, nice and on the way to Colombia through the coast. About currency exchange, watch out for black market scams. I suggest you trade with TOURIST OPERATORS at the lower but absolutely safe TOURIST RATE, which is currently at 4.5 to the dollar.

About the Chavez supporter. Gimme a break! I'm Venezuelan. I'm a teacher in Caracas that also helps tourists out. I don't want to discuss politics here, but Chavez is a great communicator/leader of undereducated masses, a fun entertainer (he sings in his sunday 7 hour talk show called "Aló Presidente") but as the administrator of a country, he is the worst we've had in decades (in REAL numbers and quality: on health, safety, education, etc. Numbers, not my opinion), and the ones before him were not great at all. Chavez biggest crime is making his followers fanatical to the point that they kill for him. He has divided Venzuela in two. But he's reaping the hatred he sowed. Read a bit on how Chavez is using Venezuela's wealth to finance his political power all over latin-america while so many Venezuelans live in poverty. Venezuelans don't have free access to dollars because Chavez's puppies like Evo, Ortega, Correa, etc need them. Honestly, I suggest we don't get into politics here. Besides, you'll find that the Chavez supporters on this forum will be mostly 1st world people that "read" about Chavez, while the the ones to give you the dirty truth will be Venezuelans, like me, that live under his ineptness and all-mighty power.

Hi Lauren,
From your "1st world Chavez supporter".
Consider what I said about learning about Venezuelan. Go to the poor neighborhoods (more Venezuelans live in poverty, not because of Chavez, but because of prior governments). My time in Venezuela was great, I didn't take the advice of the middle and upper class people about where it was "safe" to go. You'll really miss a lot if you don't try to figure out what's going on in Venezuela. And you can only do that by spending time with the poor majority.

Remember only a very, very, very, small percentage of Venezuelans speak English, have access to the internet, and can spend time responding to Travel Forums. Typically these people feel very threatened by Chavez, for obvious reasons. The Venezuelan elite is very entrenched and they don't like their power challenged, whatever your opinion about Chavez is, and this is fundamental.

By the way, I live in Brazil and have for years (last time I checked it's not part of the "First World")

cumprimentos,
Grumpus