You may want to read the Economist article below of a road trip in Zimbabwe, between Harare and Bulawayo. Then think that my regular road trips between San Felipe and Caracas are looking more and more like those road trips in Zimbabwe, time extension included, except that I do not get to drive past the estates of Chavez familiy.....
http://www.economist.com/blogs/baobab/2011/07/travelling-through-zimbabwe&fsrc=nwl