Having decided to return a few days early, to attend Virginia's 50th birthday celebrations, we had changed our flights and were looking forward to going home. Not 24 hours after all the new arrangements were in place, we get a call from Clare that she has been selected for the Australian team and will be travelling to Venezuela in three weeks time to compete in the biannual World Cup Baseball Tournament. What to do? We have never missed one of her tournaments yet, so why stop now. Back to our very good friends at Qantas and Martin the local tourist agent.
It had been getting a bit cool in Buenos Aries so we thought it might be nice to go to Venezuela a bit early and soak up some of their Caribbean sunshine. Be careful what you wish for. It is very hot and humid here.
On arrival to our hotel in Caracas, we were immediately warned not to go out walking at night and to be careful on the streets. Security at the hotel is a premium with iron bars on all doors and windows and electric fencing around the top of the building.
Even the police cannot be trusted. During our stay a couple of tourists in our hotel were accosted by the police and asked for their passports. When they produced them, they then had to pay to get them back. Apparently a common occurrence.
The Venezuelan women have their own particular shape. A walk along the very busy main plaza shows 99% of the women here have very large thighs, huge bums and big boobs which they love to flash. The dress of the day is tight jeans and tight fitting low cut t-shirt tops that show every bulge and they are proud of it. They are very beautiful and well dressed but big girls.
The poverty here is obvious. There are lots of homeless people sleeping in the streets including women and children.
Caracas is the only city in Venezuela that has a metro but it works beautifully and is very cheap. Once we found it, we were using it all the time.
There is always a noise factor living in the city but the noise that seemed to affect me the most here was the numerous ice cream vendors. They push a little cart along with a series of bells attached to the top and they tinkle them nonstop. The noise is very high pitched and goes right through you. I must be getting tired because it was driving me mad. I would cheerfully have shoved it somewhere unpleasant given half a chance.
Rubbish in the streets is horrific. There are no bins and people just throw their bags of rubbish on the street corner for collection. It is collected every couple of days but not before the homeless and stray dogs have pulled it to bits and strewn rubbish all over which of course doesn’t get picked up. Added to this problem, I am told, is that after the rubbish has been collected it is dumped anywhere in the countryside because they don’t have official rubbish dumps.
THE LOST STADIUM - Jose A. Casanova Estadium
We found it at last, hidden deep within the Caracas military barracks.
(Venezuela's answer to the nuclear war??)
During our first week in Caracas, before the tournament started, we spent three days looking for the stadium. When we asked anyone, they had never heard of it and when we googled it we came to a dead end. Finally we went to the Minister for Tourism (Mintour - a bunch of true public servants). They knew of the tournament (considering they were handling the tourism for it) but had no idea where the stadium was. After spending an hour trying to find out for us, they said they would endeavour to find more information and we should come back on Thursday.
We spent the next two days finding our way around the metro and getting used to the city. On Thursday we went back for the promised answer. The information we got was "ring this number - they have some information, but not much" and of course they only speak Espanol. This from the department who are responsible for tourism for the tournament (they have huge posters advertising the tournament all over the airport and metro stations). On our way out of the government building complex, on a whim, we decided to pop into one of the other Tourism Departments (Intour). The people there were a little more helpful but only because another customer at the service counter overheard the conversation and said that if it was in Feurte Tiuna (which we had already established) they knew where that was but not the stadium. So with their instructions, all in Spanish and lots of hand waving, we spent the next day getting to Feurte Tiuna (a military base in the outskirts of the city - and a very nice area). We took the metro, arrived at the correct stop and started walking in the given direction. After about 6 km in the hot sun we found the Feurte Tiuna sign and a very long military parade area. We came to a hotel near a beautiful lake with huge turtles, fish and lots of ducks and birds - time for a rest and lunch. We asked at the hotel and they pointed us in the direction of the closest baseball field which turned out to be a softball field (I must say, this field would be a great disappointment if the tournament were to be held there). There were some men there about to start a game. We asked them, and they had no idea. We were starting to get very tired and frustrated by this time. By chance I overheard one of the men, speaking in Spanish, say ‘if it's a baseball tournament it will be at the Casanova Stadium’. Hearing the word "Casanova" I spun on him for more information. With a lot of difficulty they gave us more directions. After about another 2 km along the military parade area (which is huge) we saw the lights of the stadium in the distance. When we eventually got there we were wrapped - it was a very impressive stadium, in immaculate condition. We walked around it and sat and had a coffee in one of the small cafes attached to the stadium and just wallowed in our good fortune at finding it at last.
FEURTE TIUNA
This military area is so different to the rest of Caracas that you would think yourself in a different country – none of the poverty is obvious and all the roads and buildings are in good condition. It is a place to educate the military services – air force, navy, army, military police and special forces – and there has obviously been a lot of money put into developing the area. A full military parade on the parade ground would be a magnificently huge display of military might and power. Puts you in mind of war time Russia.
It had been getting a bit cool in Buenos Aries so we thought it might be nice to go to Venezuela a bit early and soak up some of their Caribbean sunshine. Be careful what you wish for. It is very hot and humid here.
On arrival to our hotel in Caracas, we were immediately warned not to go out walking at night and to be careful on the streets. Security at the hotel is a premium with iron bars on all doors and windows and electric fencing around the top of the building.
Even the police cannot be trusted. During our stay a couple of tourists in our hotel were accosted by the police and asked for their passports. When they produced them, they then had to pay to get them back. Apparently a common occurrence.
The Venezuelan women have their own particular shape. A walk along the very busy main plaza shows 99% of the women here have very large thighs, huge bums and big boobs which they love to flash. The dress of the day is tight jeans and tight fitting low cut t-shirt tops that show every bulge and they are proud of it. They are very beautiful and well dressed but big girls.
The poverty here is obvious. There are lots of homeless people sleeping in the streets including women and children.
Caracas is the only city in Venezuela that has a metro but it works beautifully and is very cheap. Once we found it, we were using it all the time.
There is always a noise factor living in the city but the noise that seemed to affect me the most here was the numerous ice cream vendors. They push a little cart along with a series of bells attached to the top and they tinkle them nonstop. The noise is very high pitched and goes right through you. I must be getting tired because it was driving me mad. I would cheerfully have shoved it somewhere unpleasant given half a chance.
Rubbish in the streets is horrific. There are no bins and people just throw their bags of rubbish on the street corner for collection. It is collected every couple of days but not before the homeless and stray dogs have pulled it to bits and strewn rubbish all over which of course doesn’t get picked up. Added to this problem, I am told, is that after the rubbish has been collected it is dumped anywhere in the countryside because they don’t have official rubbish dumps.
THE LOST STADIUM - Jose A. Casanova Estadium
We found it at last, hidden deep within the Caracas military barracks.
(Venezuela's answer to the nuclear war??)
During our first week in Caracas, before the tournament started, we spent three days looking for the stadium. When we asked anyone, they had never heard of it and when we googled it we came to a dead end. Finally we went to the Minister for Tourism (Mintour - a bunch of true public servants). They knew of the tournament (considering they were handling the tourism for it) but had no idea where the stadium was. After spending an hour trying to find out for us, they said they would endeavour to find more information and we should come back on Thursday.
We spent the next two days finding our way around the metro and getting used to the city. On Thursday we went back for the promised answer. The information we got was "ring this number - they have some information, but not much" and of course they only speak Espanol. This from the department who are responsible for tourism for the tournament (they have huge posters advertising the tournament all over the airport and metro stations). On our way out of the government building complex, on a whim, we decided to pop into one of the other Tourism Departments (Intour). The people there were a little more helpful but only because another customer at the service counter overheard the conversation and said that if it was in Feurte Tiuna (which we had already established) they knew where that was but not the stadium. So with their instructions, all in Spanish and lots of hand waving, we spent the next day getting to Feurte Tiuna (a military base in the outskirts of the city - and a very nice area). We took the metro, arrived at the correct stop and started walking in the given direction. After about 6 km in the hot sun we found the Feurte Tiuna sign and a very long military parade area. We came to a hotel near a beautiful lake with huge turtles, fish and lots of ducks and birds - time for a rest and lunch. We asked at the hotel and they pointed us in the direction of the closest baseball field which turned out to be a softball field (I must say, this field would be a great disappointment if the tournament were to be held there). There were some men there about to start a game. We asked them, and they had no idea. We were starting to get very tired and frustrated by this time. By chance I overheard one of the men, speaking in Spanish, say ‘if it's a baseball tournament it will be at the Casanova Stadium’. Hearing the word "Casanova" I spun on him for more information. With a lot of difficulty they gave us more directions. After about another 2 km along the military parade area (which is huge) we saw the lights of the stadium in the distance. When we eventually got there we were wrapped - it was a very impressive stadium, in immaculate condition. We walked around it and sat and had a coffee in one of the small cafes attached to the stadium and just wallowed in our good fortune at finding it at last.
FEURTE TIUNA
This military area is so different to the rest of Caracas that you would think yourself in a different country – none of the poverty is obvious and all the roads and buildings are in good condition. It is a place to educate the military services – air force, navy, army, military police and special forces – and there has obviously been a lot of money put into developing the area. A full military parade on the parade ground would be a magnificently huge display of military might and power. Puts you in mind of war time Russia.
