CARACAS, VENEZUELA | January 2001

plinko · #1 Posted **May 24, 2008, 9:25 PM**

Those of you really old school forumers might remember that I once went to Venezuela and posted my photos here (7+ years ago). At that time I had a cheap Canon 30mm box camera and my friends that I was staying with let me borrow like a 1MP Sony Mavica while I was there.

Caracas has one of the most beautiful inland city settings I've ever seen. Set in a valley between the stunning Avila and the jungles to the south, the Caribbean trade winds blow into the valley regularly which eliminates much of the smog problems you see in other cities with similar geography (Lima, Bogota, Mexico City).

When I was there in 2001, Chavez had just been elected and there are a sense that things were going to be wonderful under his authority. Well, that's another discussion depending on your point of view, but I found Caracas at the time to be fairly unkept, chaotic, and in some cases downright startling in terms of its poverty (particularly in that Venezuela is a fairly developed and fairly wealthy country). The subway however was immaculate and highly efficient.

Some friends of mine were living down there and one was working at the US embassy in the hills above the city. Being picked up at the airport in an armored suburban driven by a heavily armed marine was pretty cool.

So I thought I'd share my pictures again since there are thousands of new regular members here now since the last time I put them up.

Hard to say how safe it is there now for Americans. I'm not really sure.

Enjoy.

plinko · #2 Posted **May 24, 2008, 9:30 PM**

From the 35th floor of Parque Central Officina Torre Oeste:

The eastern portion of the city (Plaza de Venezuela and Altamira) from the Avila:

Top Of The Park · #3 Posted **May 25, 2008, 12:24 AM**

I see a lot of concrete in their high rises. Interesting shots

Surrealplaces · #4 Posted **May 25, 2008, 10:24 PM**

South American cities always look so interesting.

FREKI · #5 Posted **May 26, 2008, 1:02 AM**

Very nice!

skellergroup · #6 Posted **May 26, 2008, 2:52 PM**

I wonder how different it looks today. Nice pics.

ltsmotorsport · #7 Posted **May 28, 2008, 5:05 PM**

Looks like a beautiful place. Thanks for the re-post.

RafflesCity · #8 Posted **May 30, 2008, 5:40 PM**

Very concrete...many of the buildings there look pretty old...dont see too many glassy ones (not that glass buildings mean they're necessarily new)

staff · #9 Posted **May 30, 2008, 5:52 PM**

Wow, great tour plinko. I really enjoyed it!

Urban Zombie · #10 Posted **May 31, 2008, 12:32 AM**

Rockin' pics Plinko. SA is still on my to do list. Thanks for digging these out of the digital shoebox for us.

Marino33 · #11 Posted **Jun 5, 2008, 11:08 PM**

Not particularly a very nice city in my opinion. Architecturaly speaking, the city doesn't look very interesting and its buildings are not very nice.

Great shots though!