Venezuela


I went to Venezuela in May, 2000 for eleven days. The original reason was when I wanted to go somewhere to study Spanish, my friend, Carlos said " My family lives in Venezuela. You can visit them. Venezuela has everything,beautiful mountain and ocean!!" I decided to go there.

Actually, I did not have any Spanish knowledge..but, I practiced introduction in Spanish on the plane. Also, I was blowing up a balloon to be able to meet with Calros's sister, Katy. I was pretty busy on the plane!

I could successfully meet with Katy and her friends at the Caracas airport because Katy was holding a baloon as well! I introduced myself with limited Spanish. She was very friendly at the first sight. She said," OK! OK! I'm Katy. Nice to meet you."

Then, I could meet with her family at her house. They were all very friendly. I wrote their names in Japanese!! I heard that Katy and her mother still keep my handwriting on the wall!(what a shame.. my ugly handwritng.)

We traveled to an old German city, Caronya Toware(means a colony of Germany). It used to be a colony of Germany. There were many German buildings over there! I saw a colorful Catholic churches there. Most of the people in Venezuela believe in Catholic. I could buy regional gifts such as hammocks and ornaments with a picture of tropoical birds, in Caronya Toware.

I also took a tour to Margarita island,which is an island on Caribbean Sea,45 minutes away from Caracas by a plane. In the tropical island, people have a lot of jobs and live peacefully. It was not dangerous to walk around by myself. Katy's uncle came to see me to my hotel twice and took me around Margarita at night! There was a lot of nice oceans. I was swimming everyday in the swimming pool in the hotel and ocean aruond the hotel. At night, there was free cocktail bar in the hotel. I was chatting with hotel stuff in Spanish and English. Everyone was entertained when I said, "Barriga llena, Corazon Contento."(=I'm full, my heart is satisfied.) I felt that it is a heaven!

General Info

Full country name: Republica Bolivariana de Venezuela
Area: 912,050 sq km (355,700 sq mi)
Population: 23,543,000 (growth rate 1.6%)
Capital city: Caracas (pop 4,608,934)
People: 67% mestizo, 21% European descent, 10% African descent, 2% indigenous. There are approximately 200,000 Amerindians, remnants of a number of diverse semi-nomadic hunter-gatherer societies.
Language: Spanish is the official language, but more than 30 Amerindian languages still survive, predominantly belonging to the Arawak, Cariban and Chibcha ethnolinguistic categories.
Religion: 96% Roman Catholic, 2% Protestant
Government: Federal Republic
Head of State: Hugo Rafael Chavez Friaz




Economy Facts

GDP: US$194.5 billion
GDP per head: US$8500
Annual growth: -0.9%
Inflation: 29.9%
Major industries: Petroleum, iron ore, cereals, fruit, sugar and coffee
Major trading partners: USA, Germany, Japan, Colombia, Brazil, Italy
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