Things to do in Venezuela
We arrived into the international Caracas Airport at 2:00 PM. Customs was very easy and our bags came up as we walked up to the baggage claim area. We exchanged $200 US and used the Tourist Information counter to make a hotel reservation in Maturo at the Hotel Posada del Hildago.
The people working the Tourist counter did not speak English so communicating was by trial and error. We asked how much the Taxi cab ride to the hotel would be and they guessed at 14.00 U.S. dollars, it actually cost 10 U.S.. As we approached the Taxi stand we were approached by a man who took us to the front of the Taxi cab line. One bag was already in the trunk before we could ask the price. We both froze forgetting what town we were going to and the name of the hotel. After fumbling through we were quoted $25US and then $20US. Karen was only going to pay $14US so we took our bags and worked with the Taxi captain. The published price on the wall for this hotel area was $8US. We however, had to wait for a not so nice cab to pull up from the street. The cabs in the taxi line were nice but a step below New York taxi’s. They are all dark with dark tinted windows. You ask any cab driver who waits a hour, in the taxi line at the airport what kind of fare they want-THE HIGHEST. They want you to be going the farthest possible distance from the airport.
The ride from the airport to Maturo is not pretty. Lots of kids playing baseball on any kind of lot they can find. The lots have trees in the middle and do not resemble anything like a baseball diamond or even a playground. They were playing with a ball that looked like a soft sack. Easy to throw but hard to hit any kind of distance.
The Hotel Posada del Hildago is very nice for the area. It cost us $36US for our room. The room is average size with a shower and toilet. According to Karen you are not supposed to flush any toilet paper. You are supposed to throw it away in the waste basket… I would like to ask the front desk but nobody speaks any English. The first thing I tried in the room was testing the analog phone line. I have a little tester which indicates if the line is Ok and if the polarity is reversed. The phone line tested ok, so I set up my Internet dialer program for Caracas. I wrote down the number and tried to dial it by hand. The phone uses pulse dialing and makes all kinds of beeps and boops when you dial. I could not get the phone to ring so I wrote down the number and went to the front desk for assistance. Did I mention that nobody speaks English, and I speak even less Spanish?
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