INFO: Border Crossing – Pacaraimas, Brazil to Santa Elena de Uairen, Venezuela

The Brazil-Venezuela crossing from Pacaraima to Santa Elena de Uairen was easy as pie.

Exiting out of Brazil I just needed to stamp out at the border police and to hand in the Temporary Import Permit (TIP) from Brazil at the Aduana.

For entering Venezuela, an entry stamp from a rather busy lady in the office was simple to get (90 days).

At the Venezuelan Aduana the TIP was no more difficult, however it required a bit of cheating and a lot of patience – the attentiveness and motivation of the staff was extreeeemely lacking.

I needed copies of all my documents (license, bike inscription, passport, SOAT insurance).

Now this is where the cheating part came in: normally you’ll need to ride 20 kilometres into Santa Elena and buy a SOAT from the Mapfre office there, then return to the border Aduana and get the TIP for your bike into Venezuela. I showed a copy of my “WorldWide Travel Insurance including motorbike touring cover”, all written in English, and it got me through. I did get a SOAT at the Mapfre office afterwards but this little stunt saved me a good deal of time and hassle. (Do so at your own risk of course…)

Note: being around the holiday season the border can get really busy with lots of Brazilians coming in to visit Isla Margarita and such.

Pacaraima is about 200Km North of Boa Vista on a good tarmac road, except for the last 70km which are nastily potholed, making for a bit of a frustrating journey. There’s plenty of services in Pacaraima so photocopies are not a problem. I think there was even an ATM.

Money can be changed with touts right on the border, but be smart about it and don’t change too much because there are some blog reports I’ve read where blokes got stuck up in an alley down in Santa Elena by the guy they changed with. There will be plenty of opportunity in Santa Elena for changing USD and BRL so no pressure. And as you get further North into Venezuela your USD will fetch you better rates (but forget about the BRL).

Petrol is available at a station in between the two border posts and you can be sure to queue for some time to get in. Also the rates here are excellent compared to what you’re used to but not the cheapest you’ll encounter.

If you have enough to get the extra 20km from the border into Santa Elena just ride there and fill up at one of the two gas stations there. One is nearer the town centre (and closes at a certain time). Did see long queues there on some occasions. But there is another on the way out to the Gran Sabana which is still open when the other shuts. Although cars queue there as well at times, just ride your bike in from the exit lane and wait for the signal from the attending soldiers, you’ll get topped up without having to wait for all the cars.

There is some sort of microchip arrangement which allows allocation of petrol purchase to local buyers and prevent smuggling but I don’t recall this being an obstacle to us. (If you get hung up with this at any point, others’ experience has been that a local jeep driver will almost certainly help you out and let you fill up using his chip.)

I have heard there is some sort of microchip arrangement which allows allocation of petrol purchase to local buyers and prevent smuggling but I don’t recall this being an obstacle to us. (If you get hung up with this at any point, others’ experience has been that a local jeep driver will almost certainly help you out and let you fill up using his chip.)

[To prevent smuggling] petrol stations within about 200Km of the Venezuelan border restrict you on filling up spare tanks though, but if your main tank will take you about 200Km you will be fine until you get further inland (150km to the first station at Rapidos de Kamoiran). Further inland the restriction doesn’t apply. (Found a good map for the Gran Sabana here http://www.flickr.com/photos/49882424@N00/274217925/lightbox/)

PS: Pousada Monica in Santa Elena sells a reasonable road map to get you through Venezuela at a reasonable price.