Hi,

I came out from Venezuela (Santa Elena de Uairem) two days ago

I didn't had any problems in enezuela, I entered through Maracaibo (I don't remember the name, coming from Guajira in Colombia) driving during nighttime ;)

no problmes, but there is a lot of tension, people are really scared about safety. I cannot tell how much I risked ,since nothing happened, but local people are really scared

for informatin, road from Santa Elena to Manaus is almost perfect, but the initial part on Brasilian side and same hole during the way to Manaus, but 90% is really good

ciao,

Nelik (Nelinkas | Le ruote come le ali … volano in Sud America seguendo sogni e suggestioni)

I just went through Venezuela for the last 2 weeks. Entered From Brazil via Santa Elena and exited west of Maracaibo into Venezuela.

One big thing is that a guy i ran into (not on a bike) said that he could not enter Venezuela by land from Colombia. He tried the crossing west of Maracaibo a few times with different shifts of staff. They all said no without any further questions. He had a meeting with the Immigration chief and was told bribes will not help - they are stopping English, Canadians, US and Australians from entering by land from Colombia.
He told me he had previously heard from other travelers who had the same problem but they had tried at the Cucuta/San Cristobal Crossing - hence he tried the other one (Maracaibo), but without success.

To enter Venezuela he went from Colombia down the Amazon to Manaus then up to Boa Vista. Spoke to Venezuelan represenatives there who phoned the Santa Elena border and confirmed he should be fine to enter. He entered by Santa Elena fine, as did I (Australian too).

Exit from Venezuela into Colombia by Land is supposed to be fine, and indeed I went through today... eventually with a few hicups.

I searched the internet for more info on this but found nothing exactly the same - only that some immigration officers sometimes require proof of onward journey when you enter by land - bus or plane tickets.


Venezuela was interesting. Super cheap gasoline. Bring US dollars for sure and you should get 30 to 35 Bolivars for $100 notes. Euros are also good too apparently. This makes this country cheap for westerners.
Most people were very friendly and helpful. A few people that are supposed to be in the service industry were a bit useless and rude, but you get that. Overall people were nice to me and I was glad I went - I was a bit worried a few months ago if I should go or not. There are some amazing sights in this country and the waterfalls in the wet season (now) are well worth a look - especially the biggest of them all.

I never saw or heard of safety issues directly, but everyone was pointing out what was safe or not. I kept my head down and planned my routes and options for where I could stay each night just to be sure. No riding at night as usual.

Had a few stops by police at checkpoints and only at one did they ask for money to let me pass. I feigned ignorance and poor spanish understanding and he eventually gave me my passport and License back without any money changing hands. At two checkpoints they were interested if I was carrying a gun, and one thought my extandable walking stick might be a gun until it was proved otherwise. All the locals are searched a lot so no problems with this happening to a foreigner too.

Nelik I saw you on the road somewhere about a week ago! I think we were both going over a speed bump (I don't remember which one) and nodded to each other.

I have two french friends who travelled around South America with a Pinzgauer. In Venezuela, near Maturin, a guy got machine gunned two cars behind them and the girl recieved a lost bullet. Fortunatly, the wound was superficial and the surgeon managed to take the bullet off the muscle without consequences.

It s all about not being in the wrong place at the wrong moment. They off course left Venezuela for Colombia fairly quickly after that unlucky experience.

I met a guy who'd blown through a roadblock just north of Santa Elena de Uairen and almost gotten machine gunned off his bike. But then again, my own closest encounters with gunfire have all been at home in the USA.

None of this discouraged me from travel in Venezuela, which is a good thing. At the few roadblocks where I was asked for money I told them I was related to Fidel (beard, you know) and they thought that was funny and let me pass. Wonderful scenery and generally very good people--just like everywhere else.

I'd be interested in hearing more about the border closure, which would make it impossible to enter from anywhere but Brazil. Awkward.

Mark

Great info guys, we are looking to go from Colombia through Venezuela down through Brazil to meet the Dakar in January in Bolivia, either that or via Ecuador and Peru, stilling tossing which way at this point, both options are quieter than Colombia at the mo :eek3:

What's going on in Columbia
In Suriname heading to Guyana and boa vista to Venezuela

Riots, strikes, road closures, road blockades, the Farmers, truckers, students and some general public are having street pubscraps with the militars and Police, massive piles of truck tyres burning in the streets and so on, apart from that it is dead quiet.

We as have many other travellers have been stuck in various places while the thick of the action was on.

Hey guys
Day 3 entered saint Elena cool
Aduane even took the copies
Stayed night
Changed money Brasil side good rates
In upata
Except for being short of stock in some places
People great friendly

Hugo

Sent from my HTC Desire HD A9191 using Tapatalk 2

Hi. We toured earlier this year, we never really felt very safe once out of the Gran Sabana. It's a bit difficult and hair-raising and people often seem to have a bad attitude, but still we have a pretty awesome experience.

We have a number of posts with details about the places we visited, hostels, cost, etc on our blog
http://www.2fortheroad.co.uk/

Keep your eyes focussed on the road surface coz anything can happen!!!

green backs and red lights
 

October 2012, I entered VZ from to border east of Maicao, Colombia. At the frontier a cambo guy offered me an exchange rate that didn't make sense, it was too much money in my favor, so I figured I wasn't using my currency calculator correctly and passed on the deal. i just didn't know about the black market rates... Later exchanged USD at our hotel for a better than bank rate.

The roads by the border were the worst, followed by the condition of the cars. Many of the vehicles looked like they had been in several demolition derby contests, and lost every one. The drivers are a touch aggressive and took passing notice of traffic lights. Yellow definitely means speed up because it about to turn red. And you better be moving into the intersection when the light turns green or you'll get run over by the car behind you. Look at it this way, you get lots of time back in your life that is usually wasted at traffic lights. After dark the locals slow down at red lights. No one is going to come to a stop and take a chance of being robbed.

Went out with a local in Caracas to hang out with his friends. When it was time to leave the host slipped a Glock 9mm into the back waist line of his pants and walked us out to street. There were several of us chatting before getting into out respective cars, strength in number, so we were in a hurry. While talking on the street a police patrol went by, a pack of 15 or so motorcycles on a suburban street. Seems they like to travel in numbers too.

I personally never had a problem in VZ. Rode to Cuidad Bolivar, flew to Angel Falls, rode down the south eastern parts to Brazil. Camped out in a gold miners garage on night, in El Dorado. Well, that town was a little rough. I went there alone, but would recommend going in larger numbers if you have to go there. No real reason to stop, the hotels are permanently rented out to gold miners.

Last thing, spend all of you VZ money before leaving. Even the locals call it monkey money, and no one wants it once you leave.

Venezuela now Oktober 2013
 

Venezuela now Oktober 2013


Crossed at a small border crossing near Cucuta, and than got my bike import documents in San Antonio (just over the bridge from Cucuta)

Changed money in Cucuta .... 45,7 BSF for 1 USD (100 USD note), in San Antonio they only wanted to give me 35 BSF

took about three hours to do the paperwork for the bike, but it is easy if you speak a little spanish. Insurance was 195 BSF, the first office asked for 1200 BSF so I went to the next.

so far the only problem was getting fuel in the province of Tachira (near the border)

Saludos de Upata
mika



[QUOTE]
Last thing, spend all of you VZ money before leaving. Even the locals call it monkey money, and no one wants it once you leave. [QUOTE]

this will be difficult, even I can not drink that much jeiger

road work designed to take out motos!
 

When it comes to safety, the thing I hated the most about VZ are the extra deep grooves they cut into the asphalt when they are resurfacing. Its like crossing a metal bridge, where the surface pulls you wheels this way, then that way. Totally nerve bending. I couldn't figure out the best speed to manage my way through the gauntlets. For sure you can't go too slow as someone in a car or truck will ride up behind you. Some times the stretch of road work is short and some times I almost pulled over to take a break from the grooves that are clearly designed to make riding as dangerous as possible.

And then the torture was over, the highway opened, the road surface was great, and because the gas is so cheap you twist the throttle like there is no tomorrow. That part I loved.

45.7??!! Wow, I heard that after the currency adjustment a short while after we'd left one should be getting around 25 (compared to the 18 we had got)... but 45.7??? Incrrrredible!

I rode through three years ago, at which time the black market rate was 7 or 8 per dollar. Think about what that means to local people--if you're holding national currency, anything imported from the outside world is now 6 times as expensive. If you're holding dollars, anything produced in Venezuela is now one sixth the previous cost.

I'm ignoring a few factors, of course, but in terms of economic devastation that pretty much captures it.

Mark

Harsh point. And as you may have noticed, EVERYTHING there is imported! Aside from petrol maybe.

I wonder how much the poorer classes are shielded from the impact given the social welfare benefits.