flying in Venezuela

I can't believe I've let so much time go by since I wrote--sorry! I just got back last night from traveling (three different cities in two days) for some prison visits and a trip to visit an Amcit (American citizen) on behalf of a family member of hers in the states (also known as a Welfare and Whereabouts visit). There are many things I could pick to focus on about my trip, but I'll talk about travel within Venezuela.

Due to the topography and the quality of the interstate system here, it often takes less time/stress to fly somewhere than drive. A destination that might be 250 miles away could take 6-8 hours to get to driving due to lots of mountains and lack of an interstate with smooth roads that don't go through towns every few minutes. So I've had the chance to fly nationally multiple times on a couple of the different national airlines.
Two days ago, we flew to a city on the coast, about a 30 minute flight. It was supposed to leave at 2 pm, but didn't actually leave until 4. We got to our destination, got a taxi to take us to the home of the Amcit we were visiting, then hopped back in the same taxi 45 minutes later (we asked him to wait) and returned to the airport, where we caught our 8:00 pm flight at 9:00 to another state, which happens to be an island.

The following day we did our prison visit in the morning, stopped for lunch and to buy duty-free items for our co-workers in the states, because Margarita island happens to be a duty-free state. We got on our 2:45 flight home and my co-worker and I were commenting to each other about how smoothly the travel and timing of everything had gone (the delays we experienced were not enough to make us change our plans, and delays are completely expected!).

As we taxied down the runway, we slowed, then turned around, then stopped back near the airport. The pilot announced we could not fly after all because the Airport in Caracas had closed for technical difficulties. We all had to deplane and go in to wait for further information. My co-worker dragged her feet and we were the last ones off the plane. As we were walking into the airport (small planes so you just walk to it and walk up the stairs of the plane) she asked an employee what was going on, and we were informed that the airport was again open and we would be reboarding again in 10 minutes. Great news, because this is Carnaval weekend, and we wouldn't have been able to find a hotel room on the entire island!

So instead of making it back for our department staff meeting at 4:30 on Friday afternoon, we arrived at 6:30, since the delay put us right into rush hour traffic. The airport in Caracas was FULL (Venezuelans use the word FULL in English while they're speaking Spanish to mean there was a TON of people) of travelers leaving for the 4-day Carnaval weekend. So while we were going the opposite direction, we still had to battle quite a bit of traffic along the way.

The airport in Caracas is where a huge percentage of crime originates, largely through people pretending to be taxi drivers whose aim is to rob their vulnerable passengers. There is one main highway between the airport and Caracas (about a 40-minute drive when there's no traffic, or "sin cola"), so it's easy for driver/theives to call ahead and tell there counterparts where to meet them for an easy target. For this reason, the embassy will always send a motorpool driver to the airport with an armored car or van. We arrive, we resist all the offers for unofficial taxis, and then we call the embassy driver to coordinate where to meet him.

Other interesting facts to consider when traveling in Venezuela:
-for every local ticket, the airport tax is not included and after checking in, you must get in a separate line to pay an additional $4.50 for the airport tax (and Venezuelans are not famous for knowing how to stand in lines very well)
-there are few restrictions (compared to the TSA) for what you can bring onto the plane, so packing isn't as mentally taxing as for international flights
-you really don't want to deal with checking luggage because of the rumors of how long you have to wait to get it when you arrive at your destination
-It's a beautiful country to fly over--there are plains, coasts, ports, jungles, mountains, etc. all in a country roughly the size of Texas :)