Travel Tips for Venezuela

Katie: So imagine that I was going to go to Venezuela, what are three things that I absolutely have to see if I go there?

Gilda: Well, it depends where you go. But if you go to Caracas, the capital, definitely visit the wealthy side of the city. You can go shopping at very nice shopping malls. And also, you have to go to the disco. There are so many nightclubs.

Katie: Nice.

Gilda: Enjoy salsa. Yeah. What else? Oh. Well, we are very close to the beach side from the city. So like normally, every weekend, people in Caracas, the capital go to the beach and spend the day there after having – after spending the whole night dancing, so.

Katie: That sounds amazing.

Gilda: It's like connecting two days.

Katie: Amazing.

Gilda: Yeah. If you go to the south, definitely you should visit the Canaima National Park. It's a famous park because it has the highest waterfall in the world. It's called Angel Falls.

Katie: Yeah.

Gilda: Yeah. So, and obviously, if you go there, you will get to see how the indigenous people live and try some of their food. Yeah. Arepa, which is mandatory if you got to Venezuela, you have to eat that.

Katie: What's that?

Gilda: It's made of corn, yes corn – it's sort of like corn flour. It's only in Venezuela, you can find it. And it's daily breakfast. So like I cannot live without arepas every day. I have to eat it.

Katie: So is it like a sandwich or…?

Gilda: It looks like a hamburger

Katie: Okay.

Gilda: And in the middle, like you put stuff in. It could be anything you want; cheese, meat, whatever you want. So there are so many styles of arepas. Yeah.

Katie: Sounds amazing. And speaking of food, what other Venezuelan food could you recommend?

Gilda: We also eat a lot of empanadas. I think you can find those in all the countries in South America. But every country has their original style.

Katie: What's that?

Gilda: It's also made from corn flour, and it's baked. Some of them could be fried. And they have meat or chicken inside. It's very tasty. And it's always like a breakfast thing. Yeah.

Also, if you go there during Christmas, you can try hallaca. It's a traditional dish in Christmas. And it has all the four types of meat. It has pork, it has chicken, beef, fish, plus vegetables. It's very tasty. I know it sounds a little bit like oh, all together, but it's very tasty but you get a lot of weight after Christmas.

Katie: I can imagine. That's what Christmas is for, right? Putting on weight.

Gilda: Yeah, exactly. So everybody in January, new resolutions, losing weight.

Katie: Sounds about right. Now I'm really hungry.