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Michael Palin in Venezuela
Michael Palin in Venezuela (2025)S01E03
Michael Palin in Venezuela (2025) Season 1 Episode 3
Michael Palin in Venezuela (2025)S01E03
Michael Palin in Venezuela (2025) Season 1 Episode 3
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00:00I'm heading into Zulia State.
00:05But maybe this area here, work for an office,
00:09give a red warning about it and all that,
00:11have done for a while.
00:12Why is that?
00:13Well, of course, we share the border with the Colombian.
00:16Now, a huge problem there because the forces, the guerrillas,
00:20they are fighting now.
00:21Yeah, now the army arrived.
00:23With warring gangs either side of the border,
00:27this is one of the most dangerous parts of the country.
00:30But despite security concerns,
00:35Zulia State is an important part of understanding Venezuela.
00:40This is the River Concha,
00:42which is going to lead us through to Lake Maracaibo.
00:50I'm starting the final and most challenging week of my journey.
00:55Venezuela, a country plagued by bad news.
01:05Often described as being the most unstable in South America,
01:09ruled by an authoritarian leader.
01:12Its economy has collapsed,
01:14leading to over 8 million people fleeing the country.
01:18But I've discovered...
01:20Whoa!
01:22It's amazing.
01:23Absolutely beautiful.
01:27From the Andes Mountains to the Amazon Rainforest,
01:31Venezuela contains almost every landscape imaginable.
01:35I see it all now.
01:38And its people...
01:40And your dress.
01:41Oh!
01:42I mean, wow.
01:43I like my dress.
01:44That is color.
01:45Some of the friendliest in the world.
01:47I love to be talking with you because you're asking things
01:50that I have never been asked.
01:52After two weeks,
01:53I have a good understanding of this dystopian paradise.
01:57You might be arrested or detained.
01:59No, but...
02:00They were threatened.
02:01Now I'm going to travel to some of the most dangerous parts of the country
02:06to understand what led to Venezuela's collapse.
02:11But if you come into town, it looks like a wasteland.
02:15I try to look to the future.
02:17It looks rather beguiling the whole place.
02:20And carnival season is here.
02:25There's the dragon.
02:26A wonderful boat.
02:35I'm traveling across Lake Maracaibo,
02:37which covers over 5,000 square miles.
02:42It's also home to the Catatumbo Lightning.
02:46With almost two million boats a year,
02:50there is more lightning here than anywhere else in the world.
02:56And I'm traveling three hours across the lake
02:59to a traditional stilt village called Olaga,
03:02which is the best place to see this phenomenon.
03:05You can, on a good night or a bad night for the locals,
03:10see terrific storms and spectacular lightning,
03:14which carries on half the night.
03:16I mean, it would be nice if we could see that.
03:18Olaga is very much a fishing community.
03:23And on the way, I noticed some boats.
03:27Using an unusual technique.
03:30So I jump on board to take a closer look.
03:35Absolutely fascinating process.
03:38Very, very simple.
03:40And they're catching way, there we go, blue crab.
03:44And what they do is they put a line out and bait it with chicken heads.
03:50And then they go up the line, as this guy is doing,
03:54and just with absolutely salt.
03:57Total concentration, managed to get them up,
03:59flick them, and they come back here.
04:02Here we go.
04:04Crab fishing is a tradition on the lake.
04:07But while these will be sold for around $60 a kilo in America,
04:13the fishermen only get about 90 cents.
04:16Makes me feel a bit bad for liking crab.
04:21An hour later, we approach our lightning viewing point.
04:26You can see it in the distance now.
04:28It's a very, very small fishing village.
04:33Olaga is around 200 years old.
04:37But the tradition of stilt villages on the lake
04:40dates back to before Europeans arrived here in the 15th century.
04:46The houses are built on stilts.
04:49And that's the way the indigenous people
04:52often built their houses.
04:55When the first Spanish settlers came to Venezuela,
04:59they saw this and they thought it reminded them of Venice.
05:02Hence the name, Venezuela.
05:03Sturdy little village.
05:16I can't see many people around.
05:18I can't see anybody around at the moment.
05:21Oh, here we go.
05:23Hitting the water to raise the fish.
05:25Hola.
05:27But as I get off and walk around,
05:32it all seems unusually empty.
05:36Olaga has suffered badly due to Venezuela's economic collapse.
05:42Public services have been devastated,
05:44and our local fixer Freddy tells me places like this
05:48have effectively been cut off.
05:53This is, this is not a thriving village at all, is it?
05:56Yeah.
05:57Very poor people around here, I'd say.
05:59For example, this is a school,
06:00and the school doesn't have a teacher in the last six years, at least.
06:03Many of them left.
06:04Many of them left, yeah.
06:06Many of them left, yeah.
06:08Yeah.
06:09The things like they are completely abandoned here,
06:11in the middle of nowhere.
06:12Yeah.
06:14Outside the old school building,
06:16I meet a woman who's lived here all of her life.
06:19And you're going to stay, are you?
06:35As long as you live?
06:37Yeah, I've always told you,
06:39that I'll stay here in the village where I grew up,
06:42and where I'm staying.
06:45Because here is what you can live right now,
06:47and here is what you can live right now.
06:51But Freddy tells me that Oligar is normally busier than this.
06:57One of its few sources of income
06:59is as a vantage point
07:01to view the spectacular Catatumbo Lightning.
07:06I'm hoping to see it tonight,
07:08but something rather serious has happened.
07:11Oligar has been invaded.
07:14Well, the idea was that this rather
07:16tranquil place was going to be our home for the night,
07:21and throughout the night waiting for the Catatumbo Effect
07:24to come across the water.
07:26It will all be very dramatic.
07:28But unfortunately, rather amazingly,
07:32we can't stay here.
07:33We can't stay here because there is very likely
07:37to be an infestation of moths.
07:39Last night, a huge swarm was drawn to the lights of Oligar,
07:45and many of the villagers fled to the mainland.
07:48The problem with these moths is when they...
07:51It's meeting time.
07:52Yeah.
07:53So the females, when they fly,
07:54they have this leaf, this powder,
07:57and it flies all over the place,
07:58and they have...
07:59It's very itchy for humans.
08:00Yeah.
08:01So you can get, like, a very strong irritation on the skin
08:06for humans.
08:07Also for the eyes.
08:09Can you take it in?
08:10Can you inhale it?
08:11It's very...
08:12That's the problem, actually.
08:13Getting through your eyes,
08:14or if you breathe into moisture,
08:15you can get also an irritation inside your lungs,
08:18and things like that.
08:19What an extraordinary frightening thought.
08:20The powder that these insects produce is so toxic
08:25that people who are exposed to it can end up in hospital.
08:28I think our plans have to change.
08:30We have to move in far away from here
08:32and back to where we started.
08:35Invasion of the killer moths.
08:41Concerned for everyone's safety.
08:43Get my bag.
08:44It's on the chair there, please.
08:45We get back onto the boats.
08:47I'm trying to go, I'm trying to go.
08:51And make a hasty retreat.
08:59Now we're racing back to the alternative viewing point
09:04for a possible storm scenario tonight.
09:07And they want to get there before dark, obviously.
09:10Because of the moths,
09:12we're now going to spend the night on a viewing platform
09:15that is much closer to land,
09:17but where the lightning is not as powerful.
09:20A sort of temporary prison.
09:23And it's not exactly five-star.
09:25It lacks a few basics, like anything, really.
09:31But I'm sure it'll be fine.
09:35But still, we like the rough concrete pile
09:40in the middle of Lake Maracaibo.
09:51As night falls, we put up hammocks
09:53and some of the crab caught earlier
09:55is cooked for us by the women from the village.
09:58So, sleeping tonight is hammock.
10:05I think I can remember the principle.
10:07You have to open it out,
10:08and you have to go in sideways like that.
10:11And then swing your legs up like that
10:14and go with the flow.
10:16Oopsy-daisy.
10:17There we go.
10:19Wagging your bum around so you're comfortable.
10:23And I think that's...
10:25I think this is the most comfortable form of sleeping, actually.
10:28Ah, it's so wonderful after a day like today.
10:32Because you're rocking slightly.
10:35I'm rocking while I'm rocking, actually.
10:37A crate of cold beer arrives from the mainland.
10:46And before long, the crew and I all feel quite at home.
10:52Go on, have one.
10:54How do you eat this?
10:56You know how to do this sort of thing, don't you?
10:58What?
10:59Roughly.
11:00I'll take this chap here.
11:02There you are.
11:03I've seen you die.
11:06Good thing.
11:07Now I'm going to eat you.
11:09Then I think you just get and sort of suck the good meat out.
11:21Oh, don't eat the shell.
11:23Freddie, you deserve one.
11:29Alex says that we're obsessed with our chilies.
11:32Very, very.
11:33Then Alex goes along, he's like, Swiss cheese is better.
11:36And I'm like...
11:37God!
11:38No, no, no, no.
11:39This is one of the best meals I've had in Venezuela.
11:43After dinner, we climb into our hammocks and hope for lightning.
11:48It's low season, so I've been told not to expect the full display.
11:53But when I wake up in the middle of the night...
11:57I was in the hammock for quite a long time.
12:07Perfectly comfortably, really, but not sleeping particularly.
12:10At one point, I got up.
12:11I had a look around this, across the lake, and I did see over the horizon distinct flashes.
12:23I got very excited.
12:37There wasn't a lot more, but there was enough to know that we come here for the right reasons.
12:42And, you know, well, it's been a great stay.
12:49I've enjoyed my time on Lake Maracaibo.
12:54And I do hope that someone will see the potential in Olaga as the best place for people to experience the most impressive lightning in the world.
13:09Back at Puerto Concha, we pack up the cars for the next leg of our road trip.
13:14I'm heading somewhere that was once the richest place in Venezuela, but has fallen on hard times.
13:20After our night on the water, we've now got a long journey ahead of us, about eight hours, to Maracaibo.
13:30We're driving 250 miles around the eastern side of the lake, to the city of Maracaibo.
13:41Maracaibo is the capital of Zulia State, the area that is in the Foreign Office no-go zone.
13:50We have special forces, too.
13:53Passports, we have the passports.
13:56And there is a lot of security around.
13:59I reckon that's about the eighth or ninth checkpoint in the last hour.
14:07The increased security is partly because this is the center of oil production.
14:11We're now in this area where oil was discovered, and the heartlands, really, of the Venezuelan oil industry.
14:22Oil was first found near Lake Maracaibo in 1914, and it's been the center of Venezuela's oil industry ever since.
14:31I've noticed that all the service stations here are PDBSA, PDVSA, which is the national oil company, every single one.
14:43Every single one.
14:46By the 1980s, Venezuela was richer than Spain, and by the early 2000s, PDVSA was generating 80 billion dollars a year.
14:56We're getting on to the Maracaibo Bridge.
14:59It's over five miles long, and it was built in 1962 at a time when the maximum amount of money was coming in from oil revenues.
15:15And, really, these are peak times Venezuela.
15:21It was richer than ever before.
15:24But as I arrive,
15:28it's obvious that this is a city in decline.
15:33Maracaibo might once have been the creator of Venezuela's wealth,
15:37but as you come off the bridge and into town, it's like a wasteland.
15:42It's like it's almost abandoned.
15:45Arguably more than anywhere else in the country,
15:48Maracaibo has become a symbol of Venezuela's collapse.
16:02The contrast really hit me when we drove up to our hotel,
16:05just about the most modern one I've ever seen.
16:08It's a great introduction to a job in Venezuela, but it's only for...
16:10In the mid-20th century, Venezuela's rapidly expanding oil industry was keen to attract American workers.
16:18Where is Daddy, Mommy?
16:20Daddy is down here in Venezuela.
16:24These American expats quickly became an integral part of Maracaibo,
16:29and they brought their cars and their culture with them.
16:32The cars are still here, but as I walk around the streets near my hotel, it's obvious the good times are over.
16:41Shops and restaurants are shuttered, and over 500,000 people have left this city in the last few years.
16:51American companies have been here for a long time, since the beginning.
16:56They actually put the infrastructure on the lakes.
16:59It used to be a super thriving city, but with the collapse of PDVSA, which is the main oil company here, things sort of took a downturn and the city really took a big hit.
17:11To understand what happened to Maracaibo, I'm talking to Emmy, a Venezuelan member of our crew.
17:19Back in 2003, when the late President Chavez was in power, he had made it his mission to redistribute wealth and give wealth back to the people.
17:29So, at the time, he felt it was the right decision that the company that was making the most revenue into the country and, of course, enriching those that were close to the elite, you could say, should be given back to the people.
17:45So, he took the company into his hands, and in one day, he laid off the 18,000 employees that were working there.
17:53So, out went decades of experience, and in came the Chavistas.
17:59Once these people left, there was no trained staff in the special kind of oil that we have in Venezuela.
18:06So, slowly, these people left, those who replaced them perhaps didn't have the skills to be able to conduct the maintenance needed and the effort needed to keep the company alive.
18:20Over the next few years, the oil industry crumbled, and with the addition of US sanctions and falling oil prices, it not only brought down this city, but the entire economy.
18:34Yet Venezuela still has 300 billion barrels of oil underground, the largest reserves in the world, which has the potential to transform the country's future.
18:46But as I explore more of Maracaibo and walk towards the historic centre, I realise there's more to this city than oil.
18:57And things start to liven up.
19:00It's colourful colonial buildings and bustling streets are something of a welcome relief, a contrast to the city's beleaguered reputation.
19:14I take a walk around a local market, but after a while, it becomes difficult not to notice something.
19:25Apparently, mannequins in Venezuela are enhanced, so they conform to firmly established stereotypes of female beauty.
19:35Beauty pageants are still big business here.
19:46I've come to the Santa Lucia neighbourhood of Maracaibo to meet Maria Peinado, who won the local round of Miss Venezuela to become Miss Zulia.
19:57This is the old part of Maracaibo.
20:02It's beautiful.
20:03Yeah, and the colour.
20:05The colours.
20:06Too much colour.
20:07The colours in Venezuela, you use a lot of colour.
20:09Yes, too much colour.
20:10And your dress.
20:11Oh!
20:12I mean, wow.
20:13You like my dress?
20:14That is colour.
20:15That is colour in motion.
20:17Yeah.
20:18Maria is from the indigenous Wayu people, who are from this part of Venezuela.
20:23This dress for the woman, indigenous woman, Guayu woman, is very special.
20:30Miss Zulia suggests we have a beer at Parque Luis.
20:34Por favor, me traes dos cervezas?
20:36A famous local watering hole.
20:38Is this one of your favourite places to come to?
20:41Yes.
20:42This is my favourite place.
20:44OK, cheers.
20:45Cheers to you, yeah.
20:46Most women who enter Miss Venezuela are of European descent, so Maria was always going to
20:52stand out.
20:53Can I ask you why it is that you wanted to become a beauty queen?
20:58Promover la identidad venezolana, y sobre todo la identidad indígena, porque soy una
21:04mujer indígena Wayu.
21:05Did you feel that a disadvantage being from the indigenous population?
21:11Si, mi abuela decía que las cosas se nos ponían más difíciles por ser mujeres,
21:18pero por ser indígenas eran muchísimo más difíciles.
21:21Crecí con eso desde niña y luego la realidad me lo mostró.
21:24What did you have to do in order to try and win?
21:27Were the special things you had to say, do, talk about, change?
21:33What sort of form did that take?
21:34What plastic surgery did you have to have?
21:35In my booty, the boobs.
21:36Yeah.
21:37OK, boobs.
21:38La silueta de mi cuerpo tenía que ser un poco más armónica y ese es el prototipo aquí
21:45en Latinoamérica.
21:46Tuve que modificar un poco mi nariz para que fuera un poco más perfilada acá.
21:53Y solo fueron esos detalles para poder estar cien por ciento perfecta.
21:56No, no.
21:57No, no.
21:58No, no.
21:59No, no.
22:00No, no.
22:01No, no.
22:02No, no.
22:03No, no.
22:04No, no.
22:05No, no.
22:06No, no.
22:07No, no.
22:08No, no.
22:09No, no.
22:10No, no.
22:11No, no.
22:12No, no.
22:13No, no.
22:14Nada.
22:15No, no.
22:16No, no.
22:17I just, I can't believe, can I still be 100% perfecta on Miss Venezuela.
22:25Having won at state level, Maria went on to enter the main Miss Venezuela contest in 2024.
22:28This is the video.
22:29But things took a bit of a turn and she didn't win.
22:33OK.
22:34You want to go further, I could go, very graceful.
22:37Wow.
22:38Wow, that's a tumble.
22:40But it was a good fall.
22:42Again, again, again.
22:43There you are, so glad.
22:47This is my chrome.
22:49This is mommy.
22:50It's my chrome.
22:51Sí, me ayudó.
22:52Me ayudó a mostrar que la autenticidad.
22:57Maria even managed to turn her tumble into a promotional tie-in
23:02with a well-known fast food brand.
23:05Fue maravilloso y creo que todavía tengo frutos
23:08de ese momento y de haber prevalecido como Maria
23:11mucho más que como Missoula.
23:13¿Crees que los contests de beauty son una buena cosa o una mala?
23:18Yo pienso que es como lo mires.
23:22Cuando utilizas el certamen de belleza o bajas el certamen de belleza
23:26con un propósito claro, que sea mucho más humano que de belleza,
23:30pues creo que es muy bueno porque es una plataforma
23:32que se consume por el mundo.
23:34Pero cuando lo haces solamente desde la visión superficial de la belleza,
23:37creo que no tiene sentido.
23:39Miss Zulia and Maracaibo seem to embody the trait
23:43that I've seen a lot of in Venezuela, resilience.
23:48They've both taken falls, but are still standing tall,
23:52hopefully with better futures ahead.
23:54But it's time for me to leave as I embark on a journey
23:58to a remote part of the country to discover one of its other treasures,
24:02the world's best chocolate.
24:13The next morning, it's a very early start
24:16for another very long road trip.
24:19I'm on a journey to the Caribbean coast
24:22to discover the source of some of the world's best
24:25and most expensive chocolate.
24:28But there's somewhere else I want to stop first.
24:31This is Coro, first sizable town, well, city really.
24:39At the moment, it looks pretty much like anywhere else.
24:42But there's more to this place than first appears.
24:48Amazingly, what Coro does have is a desert.
24:54This is rather sensational.
24:57OK.
24:58Whoa!
24:58The Coro sand dunes are something of a local attraction.
25:10And even though it's pretty windy, I could see why.
25:15Formed over thousands of years by wind and erosion,
25:19these sand dunes are another example
25:21of Venezuela's impressively diverse landscape.
25:24This is the Coro sand dunes,
25:29and they stretch from here right across to the sea.
25:36And it's just like the Sahara.
25:38I mean, the sand is very beautiful.
25:40It's very fine, blown by the wind
25:42into various different shapes.
25:44And it really is another amazing aspect
25:47of Venezuela and the Venezuelan landscape.
25:51It's all rather wondrous.
25:58Then it's back in the cars.
26:03My quest for chocolate
26:05is taking me to the Caribbean coast.
26:09But getting there involves
26:11a long and winding drive
26:12over the mountains.
26:14This road is just one of the most traumatic drives
26:17we've done in the whole journey.
26:20Views growing and growing
26:22each time we look down
26:24at the scale and the size of the mountains.
26:27Hold on to your seats.
26:28This is a ride.
26:29Oops.
26:36Eventually, we arrive at a fishing village
26:38called Cholony.
26:40I do love colour, different colours.
26:44I'm driving into a postcard.
26:47And finally, I get my first proper look
26:50at Venezuela's Caribbean coast.
27:01Dotted with various fishing villages,
27:04this stretch has some of the best beaches
27:08in the country.
27:08Cholony has a laid-back Caribbean vibe,
27:17which is very different
27:19to the rest of Venezuela.
27:24But like many people here,
27:26we're trying to get somewhere else.
27:28Everybody wants to get to the beach
27:29and then even off the beach
27:31to somewhere else,
27:32which is where we're going to go.
27:33A place called Chuao,
27:35which is quieter than this.
27:37There are no roads lead to it.
27:39And that's where the boats are leaving,
27:42through those great breakers.
27:43I don't really fancy those,
27:44but we'll see.
27:47There seems to be an endless supply
27:50of brightly coloured fishing boats
27:51to take us to roadless Chuao.
27:55But the water looks increasingly choppy.
27:58as we leave the bay,
28:11things get a bit bumpy.
28:17But the views as we travel along the coast
28:20are stunning.
28:22How are you running, Michael?
28:26Boy, I'll tell you later.
28:29It's okay, I can't see what's coming at me.
28:32Whoa, it is.
28:35Like being on a big roller coaster.
28:39Lovely colour.
28:40The sea is a lovely colour.
28:42You know?
28:44Maybe a little bit sort of playful today,
28:47but it's a good colour.
28:48Whoa!
28:51After a very rough half-hour,
28:54we arrive at Chuao.
28:57A bit more than a trip round the bay.
29:00It's like a trip round Cape Horn.
29:02It's been a stormy afternoon.
29:06Up and down, up and down.
29:07Very heavy wax, but still.
29:09It's all, you know,
29:10we're here in Chuao.
29:13And, yeah,
29:15it looks rather beguiling,
29:17the whole place.
29:18Very seductive.
29:20Not too many people here.
29:21Little street.
29:24Music playing.
29:26And we've survived.
29:27Chuao is famous among chocolate aficionados
29:34for growing some of the world's best cacao trees,
29:38which produce cocoa,
29:40the key ingredient in chocolate.
29:43I'm meeting local cacao expert,
29:45Italia Elena.
29:47Welcome.
29:48This is one of the best towns around the world,
29:52and you're going to enjoy the best cacao.
29:55All chocolate starts its life on a cacao tree.
30:00And 16 tonnes of high-quality Criollo beans
30:04are produced in Chuao every year.
30:09We are in the plantation of cacao from Chuao,
30:13and I'm going to show you one of the cacao.
30:17Cacao is indigenous to South America,
30:19but here it's grown among banana and mango trees,
30:23which helped give the cacao its unique taste.
30:27Ahí lo hee, eh, que bonita la matita,
30:32hay bonita quien la sembró,
30:35ay que así me matenga su alma.
30:39That's beautiful.
30:41That's given birth to cacao.
30:42This cacao is worked by women.
30:47That's why we sing to...
30:49What, by women?
30:50Because we think that this is a children.
30:53This is our song.
30:55That's why we sing.
30:56Can I feel it?
30:57Have a feel of it?
30:58Yes.
30:59Oh, yeah, it's quite heavy.
31:01Yeah.
31:02If you want to know if it is ready,
31:03you can do it like this.
31:05And that means...
31:06And that sounds totally different.
31:09But it's okay.
31:10The flesh of the cacao contains a seed
31:13that will eventually become cocoa powder.
31:16Oh, yes.
31:18It doesn't look like chocolate at all,
31:20so I'll have one of these.
31:21It can be a little spicy.
31:29Yeah, it can be a little spicy.
31:31A little sweet.
31:33It does taste a little bit of chocolate
31:35in the background of the taste.
31:37The background.
31:38Background.
31:39Yes.
31:39There are several stages
31:41before the cacao becomes chocolate,
31:43and Elena takes me to the town square
31:46where the cacao is fermented
31:48beneath banana leaves.
31:50It's under here.
31:51Yes, I'll try.
31:52Take one.
31:53Round of it.
31:55A lot of leaves, leaves, leaves.
31:57Leaves.
31:58Very hot.
31:59But here we are.
32:00I've got one.
32:01Yes.
32:03Good.
32:04Good.
32:05Oh, yes.
32:05This is much bigger,
32:07the central part.
32:10Mm, yeah.
32:12Mm, yum.
32:14That's got lots more taste to it,
32:18a bit more confident taste to it.
32:19The fermented fruit is then taken to the square
32:24every morning for around two weeks,
32:28spread out and left to dry in the sun.
32:35Then the dried cacao beans are sorted into different sizes,
32:39first by machine,
32:41and then by hand.
32:43Then by hand.
32:46Many of these techniques are the same now
32:48as they were when Spanish colonists started plantations like this
32:53over 600 years ago using slave labor.
32:57It's thought around 100,000 enslaved Africans were forced to come to Venezuela,
33:05and Chihuahua is rooted in its Afro-Caribbean heritage.
33:09What is it about this place that makes cacao of such quality?
33:16Why is it so good here?
33:17This is our child.
33:19Yeah.
33:19The taste is totally different because of the fruits, mangoes, banana, papaya.
33:27So it all grows around here?
33:29Around the cacao.
33:30Yeah.
33:32Most of the cacao gets exported to Japan and Europe,
33:37where it's turned into some of the most expensive chocolate in the world.
33:42Michael, look at this.
33:45That's a chocolate bar?
33:46Yes, the final process.
33:49Oh, I can't wait.
33:50Chocolat, franc, chihuahua.
33:52Take.
33:53Okay.
33:54Right, I'm about to eat what many say is the best chocolate in the world.
34:06They're right.
34:08They're right.
34:09So many tastes and so many sort of, you know, intensities.
34:14You know, it's like a like, it's very good.
34:16That's why we say this is magical.
34:19Yeah, it is magical.
34:19Yes, magical.
34:26This town feels far removed from Venezuela's repressive regime.
34:31And while I'm sure people here face challenges, there's a real sense of positivity.
34:37And as night falls, chihuahua slowly comes to life.
34:44But this is no ordinary Saturday night.
34:52This is Carnival Weekend, a time of celebration in the Christian calendar before Lent begins.
34:59It seems like everyone in Chihuahua is getting made up for tonight's festivities.
35:04This is all rather wonderful.
35:12The preparations are getting the last minute preparations.
35:16Fantastic makeup being done.
35:18Children having their hair done and all that.
35:20I'm really serious because, you know, they want to look the best.
35:24It's just rather nice in a small town to get all these people together.
35:32The town square begins to fill up.
35:38And finally, it's showtime.
35:41First up is that very Venezuelan of celebrations, a female beauty pageant.
35:56Complete with rather stern-looking judges.
35:59And then...
36:06I think Chihuahua is rather wonderful.
36:27Well, for a village of just 2,000 people, they've done an enormous job here.
36:39It's really fantastic.
36:41Great showbiz.
36:42They've put a lot into it.
36:44And actually, you know, you can see...
36:46I think because it's local, you can see the sort of joy and satisfaction and pride in all their faces.
36:55This is not a big commercial event.
36:57This is a local event.
36:59And they do it amazingly well.
37:01But tomorrow is my last day in Venezuela, and I'm heading back to Caracas.
37:10I've heard President Maduro has announced a carnival parade in the capital,
37:14and I really don't want to miss that.
37:26Well, we're now back in Chironi after our day of chocolate and night of celebration in Chihuahua.
37:33And beginning to pack up almost for the last time, because now we head back to Caracas.
37:42And the circuit of our journey is almost complete.
37:46I think probably many of us quite like to stay here for a couple of days.
37:50It's so beautiful by the sea.
37:52And today, with all this activity here, the sea sort of breaking on the shore, big waves and all that,
38:00it's something quite special.
38:02I shall miss it.
38:08After a couple of hours, I find myself back in Caracas, the capital city of Venezuela.
38:14On the other side of the Avila mountain range is Caracas's beach town, known as La Guayra.
38:26With an endless coastline on the Caribbean Sea, it's where people from the city head for the weekend.
38:33It's being decorated today because it's carnival weekend.
38:38There are quite a lot of ads for it.
38:40I've seen sort of Maduro endorsing it, so I think there's going to be a few people there.
38:48It's lunchtime when we arrive, and Emi is keen for me to try a Venezuelan classic.
38:54We're going to have arepas.
38:55Arepas, yeah.
38:56Which is sort of a signature dish of Venezuelans.
39:00Just Venezuela?
39:02And Colombia, but we don't talk about this.
39:04We don't talk about Colombia.
39:05These are far superior, I suppose.
39:06Yes, yes.
39:07It's basically cornmeal, and it's baked, cooked, and then you slice it in the middle,
39:12and you stuff it with anything, like meat or chicken or traditional cheese.
39:16And it's sort of eaten in the hand.
39:19You grab it with your hands and you dive in.
39:22Okay.
39:22And where to begin, really?
39:25Well, I would suggest that you have the shrimp one because we are next to the ocean.
39:29Yeah, okay.
39:30Arepas are about as close to a national dish as it gets in Venezuela.
39:36That's it right here.
39:38And you know this well from your childhood.
39:41Yes.
39:42Yes.
39:42I grew up coming here.
39:44How do you eat it gracefully?
39:45It will be very messy.
39:47Baby steps.
39:48It will be very messy.
40:18So, you're wasting, you know, a lot of potential there.
40:22Even more difficult to eat if you're in Colombia.
40:25I know.
40:25I'm sorry.
40:26Along the sprawling beaches of La Guayra, people are enjoying Carnival Weekend and getting in
40:33the mood for the parade.
40:35It's hot and humid, but Lenny, one of our drivers, has a suggestion for how to cool down.
40:44We're talking about the cocada.
40:46Cocada.
40:47Coc-
40:47Cocada.
40:48Cocada.
40:49Cocada is another Venezuelan favorite.
40:52A blend of fresh coconut, ice and water, along with sugar and condensed milk.
41:00What do you think?
41:03Great.
41:03Muy bien.
41:04It is very nice, actually.
41:06It's making me feel a little happier.
41:09Soon, the crowd moves to the beachside promenade to catch the parade.
41:16This is a government-sponsored carnival, so it's fun with a little bit of order.
41:21The floats start coming and organized chaos ensues.
41:32Marine life seems to be a big theme, with dolphins and turtles, and I think...
41:51An octopus?
41:54There's even a float that looks as if it's dedicated to magic mushrooms.
42:01I'm not totally sure what it's all about, but it's loud, colourful and fun.
42:09They throw sweet till they spray you with stuff.
42:13And they're all sort of rather fanciful, colourful creations.
42:17It's kind of a Venezuelan thing, or maybe a Latin American thing.
42:21They use a splash of colour and imagination.
42:28Ah, these are wonderful.
42:35Don't too soon.
42:38Are you doing that?
42:39Yeah, I'm doing it fine.
42:41Sweeties, please.
42:47A float in the image of President Maduro appears.
42:55A reminder that Venezuela is still living under his repressive regime.
43:00I've seen many sides to this country in the last three weeks.
43:04We've been detained by the intelligence services
43:07and seen the human impact of the economic and migration crisis.
43:10But the resilience of the people who remain here is astounding.
43:16The Venezuelans are wonderful people.
43:19They're naturally joyful, celebratory.
43:22They've been very welcoming.
43:24And their country is visually stunning.
43:26In the last few years, though, they've been in a real mess.
43:29Hyperinflation, people leaving the country, politics in a bit of a mess.
43:32But the people we talk to, as our way around the country, have a slight feeling of optimism.
43:42And I hope that continues.
43:44Because, you know, Venezuela is too good to be kept a secret.
43:48It should be shared with everyone.
43:50In so many ways, this country has it all.
43:55I just hope that its people are allowed the freedom to flourish.
44:00Then I think everyone will want to come to Venezuela.
44:03Venezuela.
44:04Venezuela.
44:05Venezuela.
44:06Venezuela.
44:07Venezuela.
44:08Venezuela.
44:09Venezuela.
44:10Venezuela.
44:11Venezuela.
44:12Venezuela.
44:13Venezuela.
44:15Venezuela.
44:16Venezuela.
44:17Venezuela.
44:18Venezuela.
44:19Venezuela.
44:20Venezuela.
44:21Venezuela.
44:22Venezuela.
44:23Venezuela.
44:24Venezuela.
44:25Venezuela.
44:26Venezuela.
44:27Venezuela.
44:28Venezuela.
44:29Venezuela.
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