Travelog Twentyfour—November, 2004
We play tourist...



A Senior does Angel Falls...
Dear friends, Well, we have been back in Puerto la Cruz for about six weeks
now and it has been pretty hot, humid with off and on rain. Not as bad as Trinidad, but we are ready for some cooling tradewinds. I have managed to pick up several photo assignments from the marina management here; aerial photos of the entire complex, staff photos and night pictures of Christmas decorations. I haven't been able to charge my usual "exorbitant" Calif. rates, but it has covered a few months slip fees, a couple of nice excursions and at least they pay me cash in dollars. We took the earnings from our October regatta victory and had a nice adventure to Angel Falls with friends Barrit and Renee from SERENDIITY. I say adventure because there is considerable hiking and an incredible 70 km (42 mile) high-speed canoe ride up river through rapids to the base of the Falls. The canoe trip was worth the price of admission by itself. Of course the night in the "hammock camp" next to the snoring Italians was another adventure that I could have skipped. We started with a five-hour bus ride from Puerto la Cruz to Ciudad Bolivar, which is on the Orinoco River and is the departure airport to Canaima. Unfortunately, we ended up in the rear of the bus, which had lost all the hydraulic fluid in the shocks; so the first half of the trip was made standing up. By the time we had arrived in Ciudad Bolivar it felt like we had been in a dozen rear end collisions. Upon arrival we decided to take a little walk through the old colonial town and along the river. Immediately, we ended up in a mass of bodies at a political rally, all waving red flags in support of the Chavez's Party nominees in the upcoming elections. Not a good spot for George Bush T-shirts! The next morning it was off bright and early in a tiny little Cessna for an hour flight to Canaima, the little Pemon Indian village which is the staging base for the canoe ride to Angel Falls. Pam and Renee hate flying and were really nervous when our pilot took a little Garmin 12 handheld GPS (the same as our cockpit backup GPS) out of his pocket and Velcro'd it to the windshield. The flight to Canaima was pretty uneventful, but it did offer some superb panoramas of the scrub-covered plains and the spectacular mesas (or Tepuis) rising several thousand feet above.

 
....enroute to Canaima 

For another $160.00 we could have done a flyby of the Falls. But since the weather was pretty cloudy with marginal visibility, and we decided to pass since you have to pay for the flight whether you see the Falls or not.  Canaima is a quaint little Pemon Indian Village situated on a beautiful lagoon with seven spectacular waterfalls fed by the Rio Carrao and the Rio Churun from Angel Falls. Upon our arrival in Canaima, there was an apparent change of plans as we were supposed to spend the afternoon and night at the lagoon and village. We barely had time enough to stow our duffles, grab our backpacks and head for the canoes, as apparently we were doing canoe trip and hike to the Falls that day.



....all loaded up 

Our group consisted of four young, disorganized but good-natured, heavy smoking Italian guys, a Latvian family, consisting of the 6' 8" 17-year son, his 6' 2" mother and the 80 year old grandmother, who did most of her hiking barefoot.
...no fashion police in Latvia!

 The 38 ft. dugout canoes were really something; powered by 48 hp Yamaha outboards, they carried a spare engine, spare lower unit and several props.


....cruis'n upriver 

After the first couple of hours we could see why. In addition to our indian guide, Jorge, there was the helmsman/motorman, Lorenzo and Raphael on the bow to direct and row the canoe around the rocks and shoals. The plan was to make the five-hour river trip, hike to the base of Angel Falls and then hike back to the hammock camp for dinner and the night. In the beginning, the river is fairly wide and slow moving but as we progressed several hours the canyon started to narrow and the rapids increased.  We were required to walk for about a half hour around one set of rather nasty rapid while the "boys" took the canoes (and our belongs) through. Apparently, there have been several capsizes in the past and our crew didn't want to chance it. As the rapids increased and the canyon narrowed, Raphael, our bowman showed his expertise by literally steering and "walking" the canoe bow around, and over the rocks. Pretty hairaising. At 3:30 PM, after five hours, a driving rainstorm, one motor change and two propellors we finally arrived at the hammock camp and started our hike to the Falls.



....rain, rapids and first view of Angel Falls 

The trail starts on level ground through some pretty heavy rainforest, but immediately got steeper until we were clamoring and crawling over the wet tree roots and rocks. An hour later, wet, tired and hungry we arrived at the lookout for Angel Falls, only to realize we didn't have enough time to make the final walk to the base of the Falls and return before dark. Even with the overcast it was a spectacular sight and well worth the hike.


...Angel Falls Lookout 

By the time we returned to the river we were stumbling over wet rocks in the dark, but fortunately our canoe was waiting to transport us across the river to our camp. We arrived in time for a nice cool shower and our crew had been busy hanging the hammocks w/mosquito netting and barbecuing chicken for dinner. The meal was simple, but delicious and at this point we could have eaten raw chicken. Of course during dinner, the generator went out so the meal was finished by candlelight and flashlight. Fortunately, we had brought our own stash of rum and wine to complete the ambiance. At this point, Jorge gave us all lessons on hammock boarding, sleeping and exiting. If you are not used to sleeping on your back, this was quite an experience. For one thing all of the hammocks were tied to the same crossbar in the shelter, so if anybody moved, got up in the middle of the night or scratched, ALL the hammocks shook like a mild earthquake.

....hammock camp

It was all quite bearable until my hammock neighbor started snoring only three feet away. Since we couldn't roll him over it was just a matter of grin and bear it. He was the only one with a good night's sleep. In the morning after a heart breakfast, the other 13 bleary-eyed crew boarded the canoe for our ride down river.

 
...view from our camp of sunrise over Angel Falls. 

The ride back down wih the current is obviously much faster and we had time for a couple of refreshing swim stops. The cool water was a blood-red color from tannin bark but luckily, it didn't transfer to the skin.

.....prop change; note color of water 

Being the senior passengers, Pam and I were allowed to ride through the rapids when everyone else had to walk. There are Senior Advantages after all! The Latvian grandmother decided she would rather walk than chance the rapids. Upon our arrival back in Canaima, we were then guided on a tour of the seven lower falls feeding into the lagoon. Since it was fairly high water, they were equally spectacular in their own way.


. ...lower falls at Canaima Lagoon


 

It was actually possible to walk behind several of the falls, which made for another neat adventure. That night we were treated to a tasty spaghetti dinner at our little posada and the next morning we were free to explore the little village before boarding our plane for our flight back to civilization. All in all, a great adventure which shouldn't be skipped when in Venezuela; however, to do it again, we would insist on doing the hike to the Falls much earlier in the day to allow time for a swim at the base. We'll close for now. Back with the next adventure of a trip to the German village of La Colonia Tovar. 

Best wishes to all,