MICHAEL PALIN: 'I'm heading into Zulia State.'
So, apparently, this area here is where the Foreign Office
give a red warning about it and all that,
and have done for a while, why is that?
Of course, we share the border with Colombia.
Now a huge problem there because the forces and the guerrillas,
they are fighting now.
Yeah, now the army arrive.
'With warring gangs either side of the border,
'this is one of the most dangerous parts of the country.
'But despite security concerns,
'Zulia State is an important part of understanding Venezuela.'
This is the River Concha,
which is gonna lead us through to Lake Maracaibo.
'I'm starting the final
'and most challenging week of my journey.
'Venezuela, a country plagued by bad news.
'Often described as being the most unstable in South America,
'ruled by an authoritarian leader.
'Its economy has collapsed -
'leading to over eight million people fleeing the country.
'But I've discovered...'
Whoa!
'..it's amazing.'
Absolutely beautiful.
'From the Andes mountains to the Amazon rainforest,
'Venezuela contains almost every landscape imaginable.'
I've seen it all now!
'And its people...'
And your dress.
Ooh. I mean, wow!
You like my dress? That is colour.
'..are some of the friendliest in the world.'
I love to be talking with you
because you ask me things that I have never been asked.
'After two weeks, I have a good understanding
'of this dystopian paradise.'
We might be arrested and detained. They were threatening.
'Now I'm going to travel
'to some of the most dangerous parts of the country
'to understand what led to Venezuela's collapse.'
As you come into town, it looks like a wasteland.
'I try to look to the future.'
That looks kind of beguiling, the whole place.
'And carnival season is here.'
And there's the dragon, a wonderful... Whoa!
I'm travelling across Lake Maracaibo,
which covers over 5,000 square miles.
It's also home to the Catatumbo lightning...
..with almost two million bolts a year.
There is more lightning here than anywhere else in the world.
And I'm travelling three hours across the lake
to a traditional stilt village called Ologa,
which is the best place to see this phenomenon.
You can, on a good night, or a bad night for the locals,
see terrific storms and spectacular lightning
which carries on half the night.
I mean, it would be nice if we could see that.
'Ologa is very much a fishing community,
'and on the way, I notice some boats...
'..using an unusual technique.
'So I jump on board to take a closer look.'
Absolutely fascinating process. Very, very simple.
And they're catching - wahey, there we go - blue crab.
And what they do is they put a line out
and bait it with chicken heads,
and then they go up the line, as this guy's doing,
and just with absolutely sort of total concentration,
manages to get them up, flick them and they come back here.
Here we go.
'Crab fishing is a tradition on the lake,
'but while this will be sold for around $60 a kilo in America,
'the fishermen only get about 90 cents.'
Makes me feel a bit bad for liking crab.
'An hour later, we approach our lightning viewing point.'
You can see it in the distance now.
It's a very, very small fishing village.
'Ologa is around 200 years old,
'but the tradition of stilt villages on the lake
'dates back to before Europeans arrived here in the 15th century.'
The houses are built on stilts.
And that's the way the indigenous people
often built their houses.
When the first Spanish settlers came to Venezuela,
they saw this and they thought it reminded them of Venice...
..hence the name Venezuela.
Sturdy little village.
I can't see many people around.
I can't see anybody around at the moment.
Oh, here we go.
Hitting the water to raise the fish. Hola!
'But as I get off and walk around, it all seems unusually empty.
'Ologa has suffered badly
'due to Venezuela's economic collapse.
'Public services have been devastated,
'and our local fixer, Freddy, tells me places like this
'have effectively been cut off.'
This is... This is not a thriving village at all, is it?
Yeah. Very poor people around here, I'd say.
For example, this is a school,
and the school doesn't have a teacher
in the last six years, at least.
Right. Have many of them left? Many of them have left.
Yeah. Yeah.
The thing is, like, they are completely abandoned here
in the middle of nowhere.
'Outside the old school building,
'I meet a woman who has lived here all of her life.'
You're going to stay, are you? As long as you live?
'But Freddy tells me that Ologa is normally busier than this.
'One of its few sources of income is as a vantage point
'to view the spectacular Catatumbo lightning.
'I'm hoping to see it tonight,
'but something rather serious has happened -
'Ologa has been invaded.'
Well, the idea was that this rather tranquil place
was going to be our home for the night,
and throughout the night
waiting for the Catatumbo effect to come across the water.
It will all be very dramatic.
But unfortunately, rather amazingly, we can't stay here,
and we can't stay here because there is very likely
to be an infestation of moths.
'Last night, a huge swarm was drawn to the lights of Ologa,
'and many of the villagers fled to the mainland.'
The problem with this moth is that it's mating time,
so the females, when they fly, they'll have this powder
that flies all over the place, and it's very itchy for humans.
Yeah.So you can get, like, a very strong irritations
on the skin for humans, also for the eyes.
Can you take it in? Can you inhale it?
Yes, that's the problem, actually, getting through your eyes,
or if you breathe in the moisture,
you can get also an irritation inside your lungs
and things like that.
What an extraordinary and frightening thought.
'The powder that these insects produce is so toxic
'that people who are exposed to it can end up in hospital.'
I think our plans have to change.
We have to move in far away from here
and back to where we started.
Invasion of the killer moths.
Everything back on, please.
'Concerned for everyone's safety...'
Can you get my bag? It's on that chair there, please?
'..we get back onto the boats...'
Yeah, I'm trying to go, I'm trying to go.
'..and make a hasty retreat.'
Now we're racing back to an alternative viewing point
for the possible storm scenario tonight,
and they want to get there before dark, obviously.
'Because of the moths, we're now going to spend the night
'on a viewing platform that is much closer to land,
'but where the lightning is not as powerful.'
A sort of temporary prison.
'And it's not exactly five star.'
It lacks a few basics.
Like, anything, really.
Though I'm sure it'll be... fine.
But still...
We like the rough concrete pile in the middle of Lake Maracaibo.
'As night falls, we put up hammocks, and some of the crab caught earlier
'is cooked for us by the women from the village.'
So, sleeping tonight is hammock.
I think I can remember the principle.
You have to open it out, you have to go in sideways like that,
and then swing your legs up like that,
and go with the flow.
Whoopsie daisy! There we go.
Waggle your bum around till you're comfortable.
And I think that's...
I think this is the most comfortable form of sleeping actually.
Ah! It's so wonderful after a day like today...
..because you're rocking slightly.
Well, I'm rocking rather a lot, actually.
'A crate of cold beer arrives from the mainland.
'And before long, the crew and I all feel quite at home.'
Go on, have one. How do you eat these things?
You know how to do this sort of thing, don't you?
I'll take this chap here.
There you are.
I've seen you die, poor thing, now I'm going to eat you.
I think you just sort of suck the good meat out.
Mmm.
Oh, don't eat the shell.
Freddy, you deserve one. Thank you.
Alex says we're obsessed with our cheese.
Venezuelans? You are.
Then Alex comes along, he's like, "Swiss cheese is better!"
ALL:Ooh! Go on!
This is one of the best meals I've had in Venezuela.
'After dinner, we climb into our hammocks
'and hope for lightning.
'It's low season, so I've been told not to expect the full display.
'But when I wake up in the middle of the night...'
So, I was in the hammock for quite a long time,
perfectly comfortably, really, but not sleeping particularly.
At one point, I got up...
..had a look around across the lake,
and I did see over on the horizon,
distinct flashes, and I got very excited.
There wasn't a lot more, but there was enough
to know that we'd come here for the right reasons.
And, you know, well, it's been a great stay.
'I've enjoyed my time on Lake Maracaibo,
'and I do hope that someone will see the potential in Ologa
'as the best place for people to experience
'the most impressive lightning in the world.
'Back at Puerto Concha, we pack up the cars
'for the next leg of our road trip.
'I'm heading somewhere that was once the richest place in Venezuela
'but has fallen on hard times.'
After our night on the water,
we've now got a long journey ahead of us,
about eight hours to Maracaibo.
'We're driving 250 miles around the eastern side of the lake
'to the city of Maracaibo.
'Maracaibo is the capital of Zulia State,
'the area that is in the Foreign Office no-go zone.'
'And there is a lot of security around.'
I reckon that's about the eighth or ninth checkpoint
in the last hour.
'The increased security is partly
'because this is the centre of oil production.'
We're now in this area where oil was discovered,
and the heartlands, really, of the Venezuelan oil industry.
'Oil was first found near Lake Maracaibo in 1914,
'and it's been the centre
'of Venezuela's oil industry ever since.'
I've noticed that all the service stations here
are PDVSA, Pedevesa, which is the national oil company.
Every single one.
'By the 1980s, Venezuela was richer than Spain,
'and by the early 2000s,
'PDVSA was generating $80 billion a year.'
We're just getting on to the Maracaibo Bridge.
It'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.
And... really, these are peak times for Venezuela.
It was richer than ever before.
'But as I arrive...
'..it's obvious that this is a city in decline.'
Maracaibo might once have been the creator of Venezuela's wealth,
but as you come off the bridge and into town,
it looks like a wasteland.
It looks like it's almost abandoned.
'Arguably more than anywhere else in the country,
'Maracaibo has become a symbol of Venezuela's collapse.'
MAN ON TV: The contrast really hit me
when we drove up to our hotel.
Just about the most modern one I've ever seen.
It's a great introduction to a job in Venezuela...
MICHAEL PALIN: 'In the mid-20th century,
'Venezuela's rapidly-expanding oil industry
'was keen to attract American workers.'
Where is Daddy, Mommy?
Daddy's down here in Venezuela.
'These American expats
'quickly became an integral part of Maracaibo,
'and they brought their cars and their culture with them.
'The cars are still here,
'but as I walk around the streets near my hotel,
'it's obvious the good times are over.
'Shops and restaurants are shuttered,
'and over 500,000 people have left the city
'in the last few years.'
American companies have been here for a long time,
since the beginning.
They actually put the infrastructure on the lakes.
It 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.
'To understand what happened to Maracaibo,
'I'm talking to Emi, a Venezuelan member of our crew.'
Back 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.
So, 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.
So, he took the company into his hands, and in one day,
he laid off the 18,000 employees that were working there.
'So, out went decades of experience, and in came the Chavistas.'
Once these people left, there was no trained staff
in the special kind of oil that we have in Venezuela.
So, 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.
'Over 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.
'Yet 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.
'But as I explore more of Maracaibo,
'and walk towards the historic centre,
'I realise there's more to this city than oil.'
And things start to liven up.
LAUGHTER
'Its colourful colonial buildings and bustling streets
'are something of a welcome relief -
'a contrast to the city's beleaguered reputation.
'I take a walk around a local market,
'but after a while,
'it becomes difficult not to notice something.
'Apparently, mannequins in Venezuela are "enhanced"
'so they conform to firmly established stereotypes
'of female beauty.
'Beauty pageants are still big business here.
'I'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.'
This is the old part of Maracaibo? Yes, it's beautiful.
Yeah, and the colour. The colours, too much colour.
In Venezuela, you use a lot of colour.
Yes, too much colour. Maracaibo. And your dress.
Ooh! I mean, wow!
You like my dress? That is colour!
That is colour in motion. Yeah!
'Maria is from the indigenous Wayuu people,
'who are from this part of Venezuela.'
This dress for the woman, indigenous woman, Wayuu woman,
is very special.
'Miss Zulia suggests we have a beer at Bar A Que Luis...'
MARIA SPEAKS SPANISH
'..a famous local watering hole.'
Is this one of your favourite places to come to?
Yes, this is my favourite place.
OK, cheers, salud! Cheers to you! Yeah.
'Most women who enter Miss Venezuela are of European descent,
'so Maria was always going to stand out.'
Can I ask you why it is that you wanted to become a beauty queen?
Did you feel at a disadvantage
being from the indigenous population?
What did you have to do in order to try and win?
Were there special things
you had to sort of say, do, talk about, change?
And what sort of form did that take?
What plastic surgery did you have to have?
Yeah. OK, the boobs.
'Having won at state level, Maria went on
'to enter the main Miss Venezuela contest in 2024.'
This is the video.
'But things took a bit of a turn, and she didn't win.'
OK. There you go. Very graceful.
Whoa! Whoa!
Wow! Wow, that's a tumble. MARIA LAUGHS
It's funny, no? Yeah. It's painful!
Oh, OK. I feel for you.
THEY LAUGH But it was a good fall.
OK, again, again. OK, OK.
There you are, so glam. Whoa! MARIA LAUGHS
'Maria even managed to turn her tumble into a promotional tie-in
'with a well-known fast-food brand.'
Do you think beauty contests are a good thing or a bad thing?
'Miss Zulia and Maracaibo seem to embody the trait
'that I've seen a lot of in Venezuela - resilience.
'They've both taken falls, but are still standing tall,
'hopefully with better futures ahead.
'But it's time for me to leave,
'as I embark on a journey to a remote part of the country
'to discover one of its other treasures -
'the world's best chocolate.'
MICHAEL PALIN: 'The next morning, it's a very early start
'for another very long road trip.
'I'm on a journey to the Caribbean coast,
'to discover the source of some of the world's best
'and most expensive chocolate,
'but there's somewhere else I want to stop first.'
This is Coro, first sizeable town. Well, city, really.
At the moment, it looks pretty much like anywhere else.
'But there's more to this place than first appears.'
Amazingly, what Coro does have is a desert.
This is rather sensational.
Whoa.
Wow.
'The Coro sand dunes are something of a local attraction.
'And even though it's pretty windy, I can see why.
'Formed over thousands of years by wind and erosion,
'these sand dunes are another example
'of Venezuela's impressively diverse landscape.'
This is the Coro sand dunes,
and they stretch from here right across to the sea.
And it's just like the Sahara.
I mean, the sand is very beautiful, it's very fine,
blown by the wind into various different shapes,
and it really is another amazing aspect
of Venezuela and the Venezuelan landscape.
'It's all rather wondrous.
'Then it's back in the cars.
'My quest for chocolate is taking me to the Caribbean coast.
'But getting there
'involves a long and winding drive over the mountains.'
This road is just one of the most dramatic drives
we've done in the whole journey.
The views, growing and growing each time we look down,
the scale and the size of the mountains.
Hold on to your seats. This is a ride. Oops.
'Eventually, we arrive at a fishing village called Choroni.'
I do love colour, different colours.
We're driving into a postcard.
'And finally, I get my first proper look
'at Venezuela's Caribbean coast.
'Dotted with various fishing villages...
'..this stretch has some of the best beaches in the country.
'Choroni has a laid-back Caribbean vibe
'which is very different to the rest of Venezuela.
'But like many people here, we're trying to get somewhere else.'
Everybody wants to get to the beach
and then even off the beach to somewhere else,
which is where we're gonna go,
a place called Chuao, which is quieter than this.
No roads lead to it.
Erm, and that's where the boats are leaving,
through those great breakers.
I don't really fancy those, but we'll see.
'There seems to be an endless supply of brightly-coloured fishing boats
'to take us to roadless Chuao.
'But the water looks increasingly choppy.'
Thank you, guys. Thank you.
Whay. great.
'As we leave the bay, things get a bit bumpy.'
PASSENGERS:Whoa! Whoa!
'But the views as we travel along the coast are stunning.'
MAN:How are you finding it, Michael?
Wahey! I'll tell you later.
It's OK, I can't see what's coming at me.
Whoa! It is...
..like being on a big roller-coaster.
Lovely colour, the sea is a lovely colour, you know,
maybe a little bit sort of playful today,
but it's a good colour.
Whoa!
'After a very rough half hour, we arrive at Chuao.'
That was a bit more than a trip round the bay.
It's like a trip around Cape Horn in a stormy afternoon.
Up and down, up and down. Very heavy whacks.
But still, it's all... you know, we're here in Chuao.
And, er, yeah,
it looks rather beguiling, the whole place, very seductive,
not too many people here, little street...
..music playing.
And we've survived.
'Chuao is famous among chocolate aficionados
'for growing some of the world's best cacao trees,
'which produce cocoa, the key ingredient in chocolate.
'I'm meeting local cacao expert Idalia Elena.'
Welcome. This is one of the best towns around the world,
and you're going to enjoy the best cacao.
'All chocolate starts its life on a cacao tree,
'and 16 tonnes of high-quality criollo beans
'are produced in Chuao every year.'
We are in the plantation of cacao from Chuao,
and I'm going to show you one of the cacao.
'Cacao is indigenous to South America,
'but here, it's grown among banana and mango trees,
'which help give the cacao its unique taste.'
SHE SINGS IN OWN LANGUAGE
That's beautiful.
That's given birth to a cacao. Yellow one.
Why women?
Can I feel it, have a feel of it?
Oh, yeah, it's quite heavy, yeah.
If you want to know if it is ready, you can do it like this...
And that means?
And that sounds totally different, that it's OK.
'The flesh of the cacao contains a seed
'that will eventually become cocoa powder.'
Oh, yeah, doesn't look like chocolate at all.
SHE CHUCKLES I'll have one of these.
Hm.
It can be a little spicy, a little sweet.
Yeah, it's rather spicy.
It does taste a little bit of chocolate
in the background of the taste.
The background, yes. Background.
'There are several stages before the cacao becomes chocolate,
'and Elena takes me to the town square,
'where the cacao is fermented beneath banana leaves.'
It's under here?
Yes, try. Take one. Put my hand in.
Leaves, leaves, leaves. Leaves.
Very hot, but here we are, got one!
Yes, good! Good. SHE LAUGHS
Oh, yes, this one's much bigger, the central part.
Mmm. Yum. Mm.
That's got lots more taste to it. A bit more confident taste.
'The fermented fruit is then taken to the square every morning
'for around two weeks, spread out and left to dry in the sun.
'Then the dried cacao beans are sorted into different shapes,
'first by machine, then by hand.'
SINGING
'Many of these techniques are the same now
'as they were when Spanish colonists
'started plantations like this over 600 years ago,
'using slave labour.
'It's thought around 100,000 enslaved Africans
'were forced to come to Venezuela,
'and Chuao is rooted in its Afro Caribbean heritage.'
What is it about this place that makes the cacao of such quality?
Why is it so good here?
This is our child. Yeah.
The taste is totally different
because of the fruits, mangoes, banana, papaya.
So it all grows around here.
Around the cacao. Yeah?
'Most of the cacao gets exported to Japan and Europe,
'where it's turned into some of the most expensive chocolate
'in the world.'
Michael, look at this.
That's a chocolate bar. Yes, the final process.
Oh, can't wait. Chocolate from Chuao. Take.
OK.
Right, I'm about to eat
what many say is the best chocolate in the world.
THEY LAUGH
They're right. They're right.
So many tastes and so many sort of, you know, intensities.
Mm-hm. You know, it's like...
Very good. That's why we say this is magical.
That is magical. Magical.
'This town feels far removed from Venezuela's repressive regime,
'and while I'm sure people here face challenges,
'there's a real sense of positivity.
'And as night falls, Chuao slowly comes to life.'
CHILDREN SHOUT
'But this is no ordinary Saturday night.
'This is Carnival weekend,
'a time of celebration in the Christian calendar
'before Lent begins.
'It seems like everyone in Chuao
'is getting made up for tonight's festivities.'
This is all rather wonderful,
the preparations, they're getting last-minute preparations.
Fantastic make-up being done,
children having their hair done and all that,
and really serious because, you know,
they wanna look their best.
It's just rather nice, in this small town,
to get all these people together.
'The town square begins to fill up.
'And finally, it's showtime.'
IN SPANISH:
'First up is that very Venezuelan of celebrations -
'a female beauty pageant.
'Complete with rather stern-looking judges.
'And then...'
CARNIVAL MUSIC PLAYS
'I think Chuao is rather wonderful.'
WOMAN SHOUTS
Well, for a village of just 2,000 people,
they've done an enormous job here.
It's really fantastic.
Great showbiz, they've put a lot into it,
and actually, you know, you can see...
I think because it's local,
you can see the sort of joy and satisfaction and pride
in all their faces.
This is not a big commercial event.
This is a local event, and they do it amazingly well.
'But tomorrow is my last day in Venezuela,
'and I'm heading back to Caracas.
'I've heard President Maduro has announced a Carnival parade
'in the capital, and I really don't want to miss that.'
Well, we're now back in Choroni after our day of chocolate
and night of celebration in Chuao
and beginning to pack up almost for the last time,
because now we head back to Caracas.
And the circuit of our journey is almost complete.
I think probably many of us
would quite like to stay here for a couple of days.
It's so beautiful by the sea,
and today, with all this activity here,
the sea sort of breaking on the shore,
big waves and all that, it's something quite special.
I shall miss it.
'After a couple of hours, I find myself back in Caracas,
'the capital city of Venezuela.
'On the other side of the Avila mountain range...
'..is Caracas's beach area, known as La Guaira.
'With an endless coastline on the Caribbean Sea,
'it's where most people from the city head for at the weekend.'
It's been sort of decorated today because it's Carnival weekend.
There are quite a lot of ads for it.
I've seen sort of Maduro endorsing it.
So I think there's gonna be a few people there.
'It's lunchtime when we arrive,
'and Emi is keen for me to try a Venezuelan classic.'
We're gonna have arepas. Arepas, yeah.
Which is sort of a signature dish of Venezuela.
Yes, national dish. Yeah. Just Venezuela?
And Columbia, but we don't talk about this.
We don't talk about Columbia, these are far superior.
Yes, yes. It's basically cornmeal. Yeah, yeah.
And it's baked, cooked, and then you slice it in the middle,
and you stuff it with anything like meat or chicken
or traditional cheese.
And it's sort of eaten in the hand. I mean, it's so easy to do it.
You grab it with your hand, and you dive in.
OK. And then I don't know where to begin, really.
Well, I would suggest you have the shrimp one
because we are next to the ocean, so... Yeah, OK, OK.
'Arepas are about as close to a national dish
'as it gets in Venezuela.'
We can sit right here.
And do you know this well from your childhood?
Yes, I grew up coming here. How do you eat it gracefully?
It will be very messy. Baby steps.
EMI LAUGHS Mm.
Most of it went up my nose.
Mm. Wow.
Venezuelans, we claim that we invented it,
but the Columbians, they claim that they invented it.
However, where do you think the truth lies?
Serious enmity there. Have you tried Columbian...?
Yeah, I've tried it. Yeah? Any good?
Not as good as our arepas
because they put it on top instead of filling it,
so you're wasting, you know, a lot of potential there.
Even more difficult to eat if you're in Colombia.
SHE LAUGHS Exactly.
'Along the sprawling beaches of La Guaira,
'people are enjoying Carnival weekend
'and getting in the mood for the parade.
'It's hot and humid, but Lenny, one of our drivers,
'has a suggestion for how to cool down.'
We're talking about the cocada.
Cocada. Cocada.Cocada.
'Cocada is another Venezuelan favourite,
'a blend of fresh coconut, ice and water...'
Oh, wow.
'..along with some sugar and condensed milk.'
LENNY SPEAKS SPANISH
What do you think? It's great. Muy bien.
It is very nice, actually.
It's making me feel a little happier.
Thank you.
'Soon, the crowd moves to the beach-side promenade
'to catch the parade.
'This is a government-sponsored carnival,
'so it's fun with a little bit of order.'
SIRENS BLARE
'The floats start coming, and organised chaos ensues.'
WOMAN SHOUTS
THEY SHOUT
'Marine life seems to be a big theme,
'with dolphins and turtles and, I think... an octopus?
'There's even a float that looks as if it's dedicated
'to magic mushrooms.
'I'm not totally sure what it's all about,
'but it's loud, colourful and fun.'
They throw sweets, and they spray you with stuff,
and they're all sort of rather fanciful, colourful creations.
It's kind of a Venezuelan thing, or maybe a Latin American thing,
to use a splash of colour and imagination.
Ha! Ah, these are wonderful.
Spoke too soon.
MAN:How you doing, Michael? Yeah, doing just fine.
Sweeties, please.
'A float in the image of President Maduro appears,
'a reminder that Venezuela is still living under his repressive regime.
'I've seen many sides to this country in the last three weeks.
'We've been detained by the intelligence services
'and seen the human impact
'of the economic and migration crisis.
'But the resilience of the people who remain here is astounding.'
The Venezuelans are wonderful people.
They're naturally joyful, celebratory,
they've been very welcoming,
and their country is visually stunning.
In the last few years, though, they've been in a real mess.
Hyperinflation, people leaving the country,
politics are in a bit of a mess, but the people we talk to...
CARNIVAL MUSIC BLARES
..as our way round the country have a slight feeling of optimism,
and I hope that continues, because, you know,
Venezuela's too good to be kept a secret.
It should be shared with everyone.
'In so many ways, this country has it all.
'I just hope that its people are allowed the freedom to flourish.
'Then I think everyone will want to come to Venezuela.'