first thoughts:

I spent 10 hours sitting next to a member of the Venezuelan Olympic team. He had a cool get-up: head to toe in national colours, with matching bum bag. He was the silent, Spanish-speaking type. I think he specialised in martial arts.

Leaving the airport, the first thing that hits me is the heat. The air is thick with heat.

The mountains, blanketed with trees, are so tall that they dissolve into the grey clouds. It's quite beautiful - I used my favourite phrase to communicate this to my driver Luis.

And the colours! I can't really describe them, it wouldn't do them justice.

Nestle is everywhere, even painted onto a mural in a barrio.

The barrios! It's like a book has come alive.

The scale, and the pace, is quite intense. High-rise towers everywhere, vehicles constantly honking, buses with bullet-sized holes in the windows.

I had my first Venezuelan meal after my first meeting in the office (straight off the plane) after being awake for more or less 24 hours. A cachapa - a sweetish corn omelette, filled with a cheese which was like brie but more zangy. The watermelon juice was superb.

Here's two views from our apartment, the building is called "Anclemy". It's nice, feels like Greece inside.