Venezuela travel blog by Mark Berman -
January 2011
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A 10hr bus journey during the day from Ciudad Guayana brought me to Santa Elena de Uairen in the south-east of Venezuela near the border
of Brazil. I stayed the night, looked around town in the morning and then made my way to the border at Pacaraima on the Brazilian side.
Accommodation and Tours
There is plenty of accommodation in Santa Elena and it is quite cheap compared to Venezuela's normal prices for casual accommodation in
other parts of the country. There are also many tour companies offering tours to places like trekking in Roraima, the Gran Sabana, a trek
in Chirikayen, Angel Falls, Canaima Park, Aponwao, El Pauji and Los Roques.
Import and Free Shops
There are many shops selling imported goods along the main
streets of Santa Elena, traveling gear, electronics, household items and sports equipment.
Around Town
I made a visit to Plaza Bolivar as usual. The
monument of Simon Bolivar has a plaque that says that he was the liberator of Venezuela, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru and Panama and that he
founded Bolivia. Another plaque says that Santa Elena was founded on the 12th of March 1923, it's a nice little park with trees and benches
to sit on. I saw a sign pointing up the road to the church Iglesia Santa Elena. I walked for 5-6 minutes and came to the big stone structure
with bell tower and many stone archways, the church has at least 8 white religious figures standing on the roof facing towards the road.
Taxi to Pacaraima
It was time now to collect my backpack from my room and take a co-op taxi to the border control 15 minutes
away which included a couple of road checkpoints during the trip. After Venezuelan passport procedures I walked a few hundred meters up the road to the
Brazilian control. The borderline has flags and monuments next to each other, on the Venezuelan side it is Simon Bolivar and on Brazil's side it
is
D. Pedro I. After the formalities it was just a short walk to the co-op taxi stand in Pacaraima where I headed south to
Boa Vista. I was in Brazil again!
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