Venezuela - Part 2

Murray & I at the airport in Sydney

The camera bag in it´s security cocoon at our hotel in Caracas (makes us feel better about leaving it in the room)!

The view of Caracas from the bus as we were leaving

Gorgeous beach outside our hotel in Puerto La Cruz (that orange boat is the one we took to the beaches)!

Our dinner that we bought fresh at the market that cooked on the BBQ at the posada

Steve & Murray after a swim, enjoying their beer cans with ladies in bikinis on the side

The iguana who was overlooking us at lunch

Up close and personal - he was big! (about 4 feet long)

Me relaxing in the gorgeous clear water in Murray´s hat

Sunset outside the posada - stunning !!!
The shower that gave me a shock - nice wiring job huh?

The group enjoying our home cooked fish meal
from left then clockwise round the table: Shelly, Leticia, Me, Steve, Anne, Larry, Lori, Mair and Jackie (Lance is the one cooking away at the BBQ)

Our ´taxi´to the bus station - that´s me at the back on the left holding onto someone´s bag so that it wouldn´t fall out
Lance looking a bit confused, and Steve on the right telling tales to the German Jackie (p.s. these are the normal buses that we travel on - very nice comfy seats that recline SO SO far!
On the streets in Ciudad Bolivar - You can see me across the street in the tan shorts
A boat on the Orinoco River (the river is 2140 km long)
This is the price you pay when you try to charge up your batteries - the electrical custodian!!

OK so now that I have caught up on pictures, Venezuela - PART 2

Day 5 - 3 Nov 2007

We flew on a small plane from Ciudad Bolivar to Canaima. The plane fit just the 5 of us and the pilot, and was a surprisingly comfortable and bump free flight, although since Shelly and I are the lightest we had to sit in the back and our seats were actually ON the floor of the plane! No checking baggage here, just piled it up behind us girls in the back! Beautiful views of Ciudad Bolivar as we flew out, and just outside of the city the view was endless jungle - so so dense with a few waterways running through it. It was just and hour flight, then we landed in Canaima (NOT comforting to see a plane lying in pieces near the runway though - I must say).

Lance & Shelly waiting for the flight in their tour t-shirts (that´s a cuy i.e. guinea pig on the front - roasted up for dinner)

Me & Shelly getting onto the plane (notice my team t-shirt, the girls got The Hoff i.e. David Hasselhoff on the back - sweet).

The flight was scary for Lance, Steve & Murray

Me & Murray on the runway at Canaima

After we arrived they had us walk over to the main lodge for a briefing, then we were off to pile into a long wooden boat - 2 to a wooden bench seat in prep for our trip through the Canaima National Park via the river. All of the bags were piled in the back inside of a tarp - because they said it was likely we would get wet.

The boats

View from the boat, yes lots of spray!!

After 30 minutes or so we had to walk a bit, while they got our boat & bags through some nasty rapids.

The Hoffs on the walk (the 5 of us got ´team´t-shirts, the boys organised it and then surprised Shelly and I a few nights ago - they are so cute! The boys have girls in bikinis on the back though of course, only Shelly & I were honored with the Hoff)

Little local hut was saw on our walk

Butterflies from our walk

Then we got back on the boat to soon follow by lunch and a swim at a gorgeous little waterfall. SO SO nice! Lunch was jamon y queso (ham & chesse) of course - my goodness we have had that meal a LOT already, but it was yummy after that swim and boat ride in the hot sun!

A little guy we found hanging out on our clothing

View from the small falls we swam at

Us enjoying the falls - sitting up on the rock is from left: Leticia, Murray & I (we look tan already huh? NOT!)

Then we got back on the boats to ride another 2 1/2 hours (we travelled 80 kilometres in all!) to the campsite.

View from the boat - imagine 3 hours of this! Thank goodness the scenery was gorgeous!

And wow what a campsite it is - directly across the river we had an amazing view of Angel Falls (Salto Angel). The campsite was basically one large area covered by a roof with open sides, and bars along the long side from which to hang hammocks. Our guide Ernesto set up our hammocks and mosquito nets while we enjoyed the sun and dried off from the splash filled boat ride there (I got soaked)!

Gorgeous Angel Falls (it is fuller in July/August which is wet season)

Hike, hike, hike

Checking out the view- nearly to the swimming spot now!

Lovely - at the bottom of this white downfall is where we swam! (freezing freezing ice cold)!

So - a little history lesson, Angel Falls was made famous in 1937 by an American bush pilot named Jimmy Angel. He came across the falls, but when he told the outside world about the huge falls with gold nuggets all around that he found, no one believed him! (he was a well known tall tale teller). So he took a plane back out there with his wife and two friends, they found the falls, landed to check for gold, and then couldn´t take off again cause it was so marshy!! So they ended up hiking out of the jungle for 11 days!!! It was verified in 1949 and then they named the falls after him. It is now one of Venezuela´s top tourist sites (do I sound like a guide book? - ha ha). It is 979 metres tall - just under a kilometre tall - the highest waterfall in the world (16 times the height of Niagra Falls)!! It leaps from the heart shaped table mountain of Auyantepui (mountain of the god of evil) and funnels into Canon del Diablo (devil´s canon). It´s in the distant wilderness and there is no road access, you can only get there by boat or plane.

That evening we had a nice chicken meal prepared by our boat drivers and then hunkered down in our hammocks. Let me tell you - NOT comfortable - not even after a few rum and cokes! I found out later we missed the demonstration on how to lie in a hammock comfortably, oh well, I´m just glad I wasn´t hanging next to the guys who snored!

Group Dinner at the camp

´Organic´chickens that he cut up on the raft paddle down at the river for dinner
Steve thinking hard about how fun it will be to sleep in a hammock (his even had tassles that dangled in his face - fun fun)!

1.5 inch long bullet ant - apparently if they bite you are in serious pain for 24 hours, this one was climbing on the clothing line, just after crawling on Murray´s shirt!



Day 6 - 4 November

After a very restless night´s sleep we got up (to no running water!!) and had a nice hot breakfast (yummy pineapple jam!!) then got ready for our tough hike to a pool that comes down from the falls (about 3/4 of the way to just the base of the falls). It was an hour and a half of tough hiking, mostly uphill, lots of giant tree roots and rocks, not easy! Thank goodness it was mostly in the shade of the jungle though, not good bug wise, but at least we didn´t have to sweat even more from the hot sun! After an hour and a half of hiking we finally got there, and all quickly stripped down to our swimmers to enjoy the ice cold water. NICE!

Our view of Angel Falls from the campsite

Shelly & I on the boat - risking going overboard in order to pose for a photo

View from the boat

Murray hiking with his 15 kilo camera bag



Me & Murray & Angel Falls


Enjoying the very strong falls - from Left: Murray, Lori, Lance, Leticia & Ernesto


Gorgeous Falls down to the pool we swam in (the water comes down from Angel Falls)

Anteater at a camp on the way

On the way down I put back on the bottom of my zip off trousers (or longs as the group likes to call them) because I got a few mosquito bites on the way up after taking off bits of clothing due to the heat. I did learn my lesson though after the bit on my back swelled up, and the one on my leg. So on the way down it was longs and a long sleeve shirt. Hot, but at least I didn´t get any more bites.

My mosquito bite

When we got down they had a nice tuna spagetti meal waiting for us, then we enjoyed a bit of a ´swim´ in the river. It was just such a strong current that we had to hold onto rocks and just let our bodies hang in the current - bizarre - but so refreshing!

Then it was back on the boats for the 3 hour ride back to Canaima. Of COURSE we didn´t bring out rain jackets with, since we figured we´d get wet from the spray - not big deal. Then it start to pour with rain - so quick - out of no where! Oh well, just got nice and wet. Back at camp they set us up in rooms (oh my gosh was I happy to see a shower, even though it was like 1/4 of what a hose would spit out and was cold). That evening we had a lovely fish meal and more rum and cokes then hit the sack. Funny how your perspective changed - I was thrilled to just have a bed and a fan and clean clothing - it was so great! Although we did have to share with stinky Lance & Shelly again:)

Day 7 - 5 November

After a GREAT breakfast of pancakes and eggs we got back on the boats and did a quick trip in front of the waterfalls close by. Then after a 20 minute walk we arrived at a gorgeous waterfall. We packed up our cameras in plastic bags and got rid of clothing we wanted to keep dry before walking underneath the waterfall. SO loud!!! And so so so beautiful! It was quite slippery though, so Ernesto made sure we all took care and pointed out the mossy spots. Then we went along to another bigger one and also walked underneath it, pretty darn cool. After drying off back at camp it was another flight back to Ciudad Bolivar.

Me & Murray on the beach in Canaima

View of the waterfall we walked behind!!!

Poisonous black and yellow frog

Murray near the falls

We had a nice dinner out for pizza to celebrate Steve´s birthday (now that his stomach is back to ok). We had a nice large one with ham, olives, onion, mushrooms and PEAS! Yes, peas, so odd, but not bad! When we got back to the posada our guide Leticia got out the cake she had ordered and we sang Feliz Cumpleanos to Steve (happy birthday). The cake was SO rich though, tasted like it had been soaked in 10 bottles of rum!

We shared a room again with Lance & Shelly, but we kept it on the down low that our room had an air conditioner (ours was one of the few). Oh it was like HEAVEN! We had the loft again, almost like our own little room, quite nice.

Day 8 - 6 November

Today we had a GREAT sleep in, then enjoyed the yogurt, cereal and fruit we had bought last night for breakfast. After much packing we locked our bags in the shared room after check out at 1pm. Our night bus doesn´t leave until 9pm tonight, so we have the day to do as we please. We had a nice Arabian lunch with hummous, taboulle and falafels (sorry about the spelling but Spanish spell check isn´t doing me any favors). Oh and we got all of our clean lovely laundry back this afternoon, so so nice to have some clean clothing!

At Canaima airport - this is Jimmy Angel´s airplane that they later rescused from the falls!!

Oh and a BIG BIG congrats to my friend Sarah in Minnesota and her huband Mike. Their baby boy Connor Zachary arrived on Friday 2 November. Congrats you guys - we´re really happy for you both:)

Venezuela

We´re having a great time so far - but WOW is it hot!!

Our group is quite a mix of people. We have our guide (who is my age) Leticia is half Spanish half French. Then in the group there is us, our 3 South African Friends Steve, Lance & Shelly. Then there are 3 Canadians, 1 German, 1 Floridian, and a couple from Hawaii.

Caracas was fine, but quite a big city. Just loud & busy & bit dirty. Our first day we just met the group, had a few beers, dinner and got the game plan and schedule from our guide.

Day 2 - we did our first all day bus trip. Dramas straight away - the lovely German girl in our group showed up at the hotel without her bag - the airline misplaced it, and then she also forgot her passport at the hotel and didn´t realise until we got to the bus station. Thankfully when she went back quickly with the guide it was still there! Oh and there was supposed to be 2 other people in our group, I guess they are young (24?) and had a fight so decided not to come - but they already paid!! Oh well, good for the group to only have 13 including the guide, seems to be an ok size. SO Day 2 we did an all day bus ride. Our first exposure to ICE COLD South American bus travel!! Holy cow - I had on a t-shirt, thick socks, long trousers, a long sleeve long underwear top and my jacket, and I was still cold. NICE bus though, super reclining chairs and leg rests - like business on a plane really. And they had movies... although it was all in Spanish. But they were Jet Li kung fu movies - so not too hard to just follow along by watching them. It took us 7 hour to get to Puerto La Cruz.

Then we hopped into cabs - we got the 90´s party cab. The driver had a REALLY great 90´s mix cd - Guns & Roses, No Doubt, Counting Crows, etc etc. Lance bet Shelly, Murray and I that we couldn´t guess the next song - so Murray guess REM - losing my religion. And wouldn´t you know - it wasn´t the next song - but the one after! Too funny. It was dark when we drove out to Sante Fe (about a 45 min cab) so we couldn´t really see where we were going to or the landscape, but it was a crazy road with many turns and the cab driver seems to love tail gaiting - scary!

The hotel i.e. posada looked bleak in the dark. Just as the lonely planet describes it - prison like with it´s bars and barbed wire - but RIGHT on the beach. We got a huge room with a double and a single bed and our own bathroom AND air conditioning though so I was HAPPY!

Day 3 - got up and OH MY GOSH - wow - beautiful. Our pasada - Pasada Sierra Inn - was RIGHT on the beach. And across the beach - stunning mountains, blue water and WARM! Oh and I can´t forget the cute little dog that lives at the posada - a poodle named Casandra. They decribe this place as caribbean like - and I would say that´s right on the money! Had a lovely breakfast of fresh pineapple juice and sliced fruit, then we all headed off for a day exploring beaches around the Mochima National Park by boat. We went to 4 different beaches, swam a ton, did a bit of snorkeling and just relaxing in the water- wow was it nice. We stopped for a very greasy and expensive lunch, but at least the restaurant was in a stunning location. A giant iguana watched over us from a treetop as we ate.

That evening we BBQed at the posada, fresh fish from the market (tuna we think?) along with rice and salsa that we made with some veggies & tomato sauce. That along with local cervezas made for a great night!

Day 4 (today) we got up early in anticipation of another long bus ride to Ciudad Bolivar. A bus showed up at the posada to drive us, then he told our guide that although we were paying double for the ride (cause of all the bags), he was still going to go pick other people up. She argued, he insisted, so finally she said fine - go pick them up and be quick about it. Then... he never came back! She eventually arranged another open back bus - well really like a covered back of a pickup with benches to pick us up, but we had to do it in 2 shifts cause there are so many of us & tons of bags, thankfully it was only a 10 minute drive. We then had to take a large van to the bus station, we were all worried that we had missed the bus as we arrive 20 minutes after it was due to leave. Thankfully though the bus was also running late, a blown tire or something, so it arrived just after we did! Thank goodness cause otherwise we would have had to wait til 2 (we had the 9am bus) - NO FUN! The ride was only about 6 hours (helped by the movies on our laptop - WOW is that anice luxury to have with)! We did get stopped at one point by a lady who came on and said we all had to have proof of a couple of shots, immunizations, or we would have to have them then & there. We showed her our books, and she was satisfied that the whole group was ok - strange! Works for me!

Now, we are in Ciudad Bolivar. The town is CUTE! Lots of pastel painted buidings, a gorgeous cathedral and it´s right on the river where you can see a huge suspension bridge. Only bad thing, like everywhere we have seen around Venezuela - rubbish i.e. garbage all over the place! These people do not know how to use a bin! We went down to the river and looked over and there were thousands of bottles and it stunk like old beer - gross. When we went swimming yesterday we had to be careful as you´d sometimes find glass and junk in the water. Ít´s a real shame cause the country is just SO beautiful!

Oh well. Oh and TODAY is our friend Steve´s 35th Birthday! Shame he has a stomach bug so can´t celebrate today:( We´ll keep the tequila shots for later on once he is feeling better. We are being as careful as we can be about what we eat and drink. Only bottled filtered water, avoiding most meat other than fish, etc. But I supposed it´s inevitable that everyone will get sick at some point - not looking forward to that.

Tomorrow we leave EARLY to fly to Angel Falls. We will be there for 3 days and 2 nights, doing hikes, riding down the river on a barge, and walking behind the waterfalls oh and swimming of COURSE! I can´t wait! We had to go buy another bag today, just a small backpack to bring with for our clothing - good thing it´s cheap here!

The money situation in Venezuela is so strange at the moment! If you exchange US dollars at the bank you get 2,500 bolivars per dollar, but if you trade on the black market you get 4,500!!! At the hotel where we are now they are actually offering 4,800 - amazing! Apparently this is the only country like that though, also the only one where you cannot draw US dollars from an ATM, so we´re using up all our dollars now in order to get the best rate on things.

ANYHOW, I will try and get some photos up once we get back from Angel Falls:)

Oh and wishing a VERY happy birthday to my Grandpa Don who turned 90 yesterday!