Venezuela; a vast, largely unexplored country famed for it’s towering peaks, tumbling falls and insane inflation. Almost everybody I met told me not to travel to Venezuela, some people even made it their mission in life to scare me out of visiting this amazing country. Despite all of the out of date Venezuela travel guide’s that I read, all of the information and mis-information, that was thrown at me, there were 3 facts about Venezuela which nobody bothered to tell me…

1. Venezuelans are incredibly friendly

I didn’t really know what to expect from Venezuelans themselves; they do, after all, live in a politically unstable country where riots, food shortages, rampant inflation and crazy politicians are pretty much the norm. Sure, Venezuelans may not be that keen on you at first; after all, you are a comparatively loaded traveller making the most out of their dire economic situation in order to fuel your lust for adventure. You probably don’t speak perfect Spanish. Do not let that deter you, once you actually get chatting to Venezuelans, especially some of the younger generations, you will find that they are warm, incredibly hospitable and almost always up for a good time; the amount of on-the-spot offers I had to go off on an adventure were truly staggering and the Couchsurfing community in Venezuela is one of the best I have ever encountered…

So, that’s that people – be sure that when thinking about travelling to Venezuela you take everything you hear, even from me, with a pinch of salt. There is a hell of a lot of conflicting information out there and, heck, if you really want to learn the truth – just go. Pack your bag, book that flight, be smart, be safe and learn the truth about one of the most stunning, bewildering, exhilarating and beautiful places in the world. Peace, out.

2. Venezuelans’ want to chat about Politics

Caracas City, Venezuela

I was extremely surprised to find out that most of the Venezuelans I had the pleasure of bumping into were more than up for discussing the political situation in the country. I spoke to die-hard Chavistas, left-wing protestors and everybody in between; the one thing they all had in common was that they were extremely grateful to have somebody listen to their side of the story. On numerous occasions, Venezuelans themselves would actually initiate the conversation which was not what I had expected. In the past, when visiting ‘dangerous’ countries, I have found locals to be very quiet when it comes to discussing their government due to an inherent fear of reprisals. Venezuela was refreshingly different and I felt that, despite the huge amounts of conflicting information thrown at me, I came away from the country with a better understanding of what is actually going on.

3. Powdered Milk is more expensive than an internal flight

I had been warned in advance that getting toilet paper in Venezuela was a real pain in the ass (ha!) to get and that one would have to queue for hours in order to buy some. It turns out that you can actually get toilet paper relatively easily on the black market but that, for a pack of 12, you would end up paying a fair whack. Even more expensive was powdered milk, which is one of the main illegal imports from Colombia and could cost up to $6 for a 2 kilo bag if bought on the black market. A one hour internal flight, on the other hand, comes in at around the $5 – $8 mark. Sure, the planes may have been terrifyingly juddery (tiny planes with propellers) but heck, they sure are cheap!