Cúcuta Overview

By Lorraine Caputo

Two hours (72 kilometers/43 miles) from Pamplona is San José de Cúcuta, capital of Norte de Santander Department. The twisting paved road has one toll booth and a military checkpoint. You may at times feel like you are already in Venezuela--with the slang of cucuteños, the fashions and all the cars with Venezuelan plates--but you are yet some 20 kilometers (12 miles) from the official border.

Cúcuta is also a principle commercial center between the two countries, whether of legitimate wares or contraband (especially gasoline). A popular shopping destination for Venezuelans, everything in Cúcuta is geared towards this: numerous ATMs and casas de cambio (money exchange houses), shops specializing in clothing and shoes, and fast-food restaurants to fuel frenzied shoppers. Traffic is insane--two lanes become three or more; motorcycles disregard what few stoplights there are and use the sidewalk to bypass snarls. Commerce spills from stores into the littered streets. Those traveling in their own vehicles may find the bustle a bit beyond their experience and prefer to spend the night in Pamplona.

Ah, but Cúcuta is a bit more than a gateway to Venezuela and a commercial capital. It is also a city steeped in Independence history, and near-by Villa del Rosario preserves important symbols for the Bolivariano nations.