LOS ROQUES

A 30-minute flight from Caracas leads you to an elliptic archipelago enclosing a lagoon surrounded by white sand beaches bathed by turquoise water, mangroves and magnificent coral reefs teeming with marine life. Tourism is an additional source of income and many fishermen’s houses which were turned into “posadas” or small guest houses.






In order to preserve and protect the national park, the posadas offer a maximum of 10 rooms and have only one floor. There are no cars in the small town consisting of a few sandy roads. Choose experiencing these paradise by plane, cruise ship or sailboat.

ANGEL FALLS

Canaima National Park is the oldest geological formation in the world and was included in the UNESCO World Natural Heritage List in 1994, and used as inspiration for the movie "Up in the Air" and the novel The Lost World.The park is covered by lush vegetation, including more than 500 orchid species and a great variety of bromeliads.





Canaima National Park houses the world’s tallest single waterfall, the 979 meter high Salto Angel (Angel Falls), considered one of the New Seven Wonders of the world.

THE TROPICAL ANDES

The Venezuelan Andes boast the country’s highest peaks, Pico Bolívar (4.978 m). The mountains are dotted with small villages and towns whose inhabitants maintain the traditions of their ancestors descending from the Timotocuica Indians, Venezuela’s most advanced pre-Hispanic culture. These settlements are often little more than clusters of single-storey white houses with red-tiled roofs where time seems to have halted. The Andean Region offers an amazing range of landscapes from lush rain forests to perennial snows.



The most interesting scenery is offered by the "páramos", the barren and bleak areas extending above the tree-line (high plateau from 3.300 m) and resembling the tundra. The Andes attract a great number of travelers who can choose from various options: from climbing to trekking, from mountain-biking to fishing, from bungee jumping to excursions by car to the picturesque villages where you can visit colonial houses and churches, buy handicrafts, enjoy hot water springs, visit trout farms and discover the fascinating culture and exquisite local food.

CARACAS (Political Immersion)

Hugo Chavez' rise to the presidency in 1999 brought major shifts to the social and economic realities at work in Venezuela and sparked an international debate about governance in the developing world. Would Chavez' brand of socialism prove to be sustainable? Should leaders prioritize social welfare programs for the less affluent, or should they stimulate private investment to create stable employment? What benefits might come from forging culturally and geographically distant allies? How should developing nations manage valuable resources, such as oil?







These and many other questions can be explored from within the context of Venezuela's fractured political climate.

Share ideas with union, party, and grassroots leaders from either side of the political divide while you visit different social and health missions, colectivos, new development projects (community radio stations, cable-cars to shantytowns, urban agriculture) and political headquarters.