Desert, Isla Margarita, Venezuela
The story take place in Venezuela, Isla Margarita to be precise. Being in South America for many months you hear tonnes of warnings about going to there. We were going back and forwards on the decision, to go or not to go. Most of the horror stories came not from other gringos but from Venezuelanos themselves, which made it more difficult to ignore. Finally we said fuck it, lets do it!
Now to get to this beautiful island, having traveled the entire country on a bus with money literally in our pants! That’s because it’s not legal to have American dollars with you, and the boliviars are worth next to nothing – 1 USD = 800 BOL. A crazy example is $1 lets you tank your car 300 times and it’s not a joke. The whole 20 hour journey cost us 2 dollars each ?
Venezuela is a country with gorgeous landscapes, national parks, waterfalls (the biggest in the world, Angel Falls) beaches were you can eat oysters freshly picked from nearby rocks, and I can go on and on.
Despite the fact it is indeed a very poor and dangerous country, (people have to queue sometimes for hours to be able to buy basic products) people are warm, welcoming, always smiling and helpful.
Pictures below were taken on a warm afternoon on the way back from one of the most stunning beaches on the island. As we couldn’t find the bus that would take us back to our place I manage to convince Oliver to walk over to the desert to take a few shots. The colours of the landscape were begging to be photographed. As we had a few drinks before I ask Oliver to pose naked. He wasn’t too pleased. He was saying:
– “Are you insane? The main road is 20 meters behind us, all the cars can see us, not to mention the police check point is like a kilometre away! Do you really want to end up in Venezuelan jail?” I didn’t care too much, the light was too good not to take advantage of.
If you’re thinking of travelling to Venezuela remember:
– bring your dollars (change them in shops, never on a street) you can’t get it out ATMs.
– stock yourself on lady products (you literally can’t buy them) pm me for more info!
– maybe don’t go to Caracas, its not nice, its dangerous, and there is some many other better places to go to
– have an open mind and enjoy ?
