Intercity Transport in Venezuela

When I was living in Venezuela, I lived in a city of the Guaros, Barquisimeto. Today I want to share some information concerning intercity traveling in Venezuela, or the parts that I had the pleasure of visiting. 

First as a foreigner, people might scare you a bit. They might tell you that public transport is dangerous and you should go by car or by plane. They can give you some very depressing accounts of bus raids. 

In fact, in the Christmas I was there, two of my friends decided to take a bus to Colombia from Barquisimeto. But when they arrive at the bus stop, they were told that they should come back the next day as the bus had been raided when coming from Caracas. It was carrying football players. So if I can put it, sorry for the word, shit happens like in many other parts of the world.

Obvious planes are expensive and you might be left with public transport as your only option. What do you do? You take it. Many do and I did also. The later is expensive and the former is not available. 

Buses

They are economical.  In Barquisimeto for example, you can take the bus from the Centro. The area is not very safe, as you will be told and you will have to be careful, you will also be told. Don't take buses much into the night as you might need to wait for a bit. I have done that like two times and nothing happened. And either ways you will be inside. But don't test fate. Stay safe.

You can also take the buses by the name of Aeroexpresos which are running from the eastern part of the city; the safe part as it is known. They are bit expensive but they are more reputable. However, this is subjective  depending on your luck. During my time, I once had a problem with them. As I was leaving Venezuela for good, the bus broke down in the middle of the road and I started worrying about what would happen if I will miss my plane from Caracas. Thanks god I was able to find another means of transport. But generally Aeroexpresos are more comfortable inside and are said to be more reliable. 

Rapiditos

In other words, they are taxis which can take you from one place to another. You will pay more than the buses but they will be fast and you might get where you are going a bit ahead of the time. Having said that, I would like to share some misfortunes I faced with this means of transport the first time I was going to Caracas to catch my flight to Brazil. In the middle of the road, the rapidito broke down in the middle of the highway. Dangerous they will tell you. But the four passengers got out and took another bus by stopping it with a wave of a hand. And in no time we were in Caracas. As far an omen was following me, while coming back from Caracas to Barquisimeto I also took another rapidito from La Bandera station. At around 8 at night, the taxi broke down in the middle of nowhere. The driver didn't want to give our money back until the National Guards stopped and forced him to give our money back. They escorted us to a nearby city and we took another rapidito since it was very late into night to get a bus by then.

At the end of the day it boils down to your luck. But these are the best ways to go around. 

The good things about buses in Venezuela like many in the developing world is their abundance. In the bus station you will always find one to jump on. In some you will have to wait a little bit so they can be full but when they are done you will be ready to go. 

Coldness in the buses

Let no one fool you, the buses in Venezuela are cold. Bring a sweater or something else to cover yourself. In my experience the buses to Maracaibo and Valencia were pretty cold. So get ready. 

One advice I will give is to do your research properly.  Make sure you find the alternatives ways to go to where you want. When I used to ask my Venezuelan friends about which buses went to certain directions, most of them were oblivious since they had never taken them before. Find someone who knows, or go to the stop, or do anything to armor yourself with the information. There are always ways.

I hope I haven't left anything out :)

Chavez No More

I have decided to come back and write something after many months of not writing about Venezuela. One apparent reason for not doing so is because I am not living in Venezuela anymore. But I think when the time permits I will come back and pen something.

When I heard about Chavez's death, I actually doubted it as it has been rumored a couple of times before that he was dead. But after checking online and going to Wikipedia, it became obvious that the man who was leading the country at the time I was living in Venezuela was no more.

Any emotions? I am not sure. I mean I don't know how I really felt about Chavez. I know that is a lot of bull but when I look back I sometimes fail to see the image I want to portray in relation to how I felt about the man.

On one hand, he was advocating something which was good; something that my country used when we got our independence. Socialism, living together like brothers and being connected; at least that is what it means on the superficial level. And probably its most important pillar to me. But living in Venezuela I experienced a country which was divided between the rich and the poor. I experienced the anxiety that comes with the fear of being robbed while walking on the street or something bad happening to you. That is the life of many of the Venezuelans. I also felt and still feel that Chavez didn't do much to address that issue. The jails were not jails but strongholds of very feared gangs that would erupt in violence when they chose to do so, sending many to hospitals. In terms of security, I was not impressed by the pathway he was taking.

He had speeches that went on for hours. He would never stop; a clear feature of many of the socialist regimes, ask Argentinians.

But he really struggled and succeeded to support the poor. He was the first President and many would agree, both poor and rich that he was the first to look at the poor as his brothers. And he really mounted many programs to help them, using as much of the revenue from the vast oil resources to help them and advance the socialism ideals in South America.

I happened to live in both parts of the differing opinions. The rich who hated him really did so with passion. He took away private enterprises or made them hard to function because he believed they were imperialistic.

And we all know how he felt about the US.

But now the answer is what is going to happen to the country. Will things become better or deteriorate even further? Will his ideals prevail behind his supporters in the period where his charisma will never be matched by anyone from his team? These are tough questions and we will have to wait and see.

But having said all this, I am happy to have lived in Venezuela under his leadership and experience what I did. It was a brilliant opportunity and I think I came out strong and knowledgeable, critical and understanding of many things. I know many people ask me why I went to Venezuela among all countries. I never regretted my decision and I never will. It was a dream come true and regardless of how I feel or we feel about Chavez, may he rest in peace.