About Venezuela & Mérida

Safety tip: Money

The currency of Venezuelan is bolívares fuertes (VEF) since January the 1st of 2008.

We strongly advice people to exchange money in their home countries to avoid extra fees. If there is no availability of bolívares fuertes to exchange in your country the best choice is to exchange all your money to US dollars (USD) before leaving. Only a few banks accept international credicards withdraw in Venezuela.

Immigration requirements

Citezens from some countries must apply for a visa to come to Venezuela. Please contact the Venezuelian consulate on your country to get updated information of visa constraints.

Local Information

Venezuela is one of the top coutries on oil extraction on latin america and the world. Known by its natural diversity, the Venezuela caribien coast and the montains it has fantastic places for site seeing and spend vacations. Mérida is a small town situated in the Central region of Venezuela. It is located approximately between 8 and 11 degrees North latitude and 82 degrees West longitude depicted in the map below.

in a larger map

Languages

The official language spoken in Venzuela is Spanish since 1999. However, in some very small regions indian tribes still speak their native languages. Some few venezuelans speak english mainly in the turstical cities on the coast.

Population

The 29 million inhabitants of Venezuela are a great combination of several ethnical groups. The major part of such groups are european's (mostly spanish people), africans and indians. Several imigrations from different parts of the world increased this ethnical mixture and cultural diversity in the last decade.

The stay in Mérida

Acommodation and meals

Students will be acommodated in camping tents on the open fields of VegaSol camping resort (half an hour from Merida city). Close to the camping area there are shared bathrooms, toilettes, swimming pool and picnic areas.