Southern Suburbs

The southern part of Caracas, set on the rolling hills, is the most heterogeneous. Here are some of Caracas’ wealthiest suburbs and also numerous pockets of ramshackle barrios, sometimes neighboring each other.

Parque Zoológico de Caricuao

This is Caracas’ main zoo, located in the far southwestern suburb of Caricuao, about 10km from the center, but easily accessible by metro. Get off at Zoológico station (terminus of the line), from where it’s a seven minute walk to the zoo’s entrance.

The zoo has a selection of native birds, reptiles and mammals, plus some imported big cats and elephants. Most animals seem to enjoy a fair degree of freedom in their enclosures, and some, including monkeys, peacocks, ibis, flamingos and macaws, are virtually free. The zoo is open 9 am to 4 pm Tuesday to Sunday. There’s also the small Parque Zoológico El Pinar, 4km southwest of the center, but it’s poorer and not as convenient to get to.

Fundación de Etnomusicología y Folklore

Commonly referred to as FUNDEF, this foundation aims at preserving traditional popular Latin American culture, carrying out research programs and collecting artifacts. The museum on the premises features changing exhibitions of popular arts and crafts, including pottery, basketry, woodcarving and textiles. It’s open 8:30 am to noon and 2 to 4:30 pm weekdays, 10 am to 3 pm weekends. The foundation ( Ph. No. 693 9508, 6939845) is in a fine old house known as ‘Mansíon Zuloaga’ and is in Quinta Micomicona, Avenida Zuloaga, Los Rosales. It is two blocks east from La Bandera metro station.

El Hatillo

A small old town 15km southeast of the city center, El Hatillo is today a distant suburb of Caracas. Like Petare, it lived its own life for centuries until becoming a part of Caracas’ metropolitan area. Centered on Plaza Bolívar, the town still retains some of its colonial architecture. The parish church on the plaza has preserved its exterior pretty well, but its interior was radically (and rather controversially) modernized. Many central houses have been restored and painted in bright colors, which gives the town an attractive and lively look.

El Hatillo has become a trendy weekend getaway for caraqueños and is packed with cars and people on Saturday and Sunday. Every house is a restaurant, café, boutique, art gallery or handicraft shop. The biggest craft shop, the Hannsi, is half a block north of the church. The recent explosion of eating outlets has been extraordinary, and today you can find most major foreign cuisines, from French and Italian to Japanese and Thai.

Frequent carritos (small buses) run to El Hatillo from Avenida Humboldt, just off Boulevard de Sabana Grande, near the Chacaito metro station.

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