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Published: September 7th 2009
So difficult to get a taxi on Sunday night here in Sta Elena, been waiting for 30 minutes with some backpackers from Hotel Michelle also going to the terminal on their way to Puerto La Cruz.Finally a private car took pity on us and took us to the bus terminal for 10 Bolivares for the 3 of us. Confusion about the bus that I actually need to take, Francisco said he booked me with Expreso Occidental but there was no one at the counter when I arrived at the bus terminal so a man took me to Los LLanos bus, he said it arrives at the same time, same terminal in Ciudad Bolivar so I went with him. Freezing cold in the bus! Arrived around 5:30am,in Ciudad Bolivar a 10 hours bus ride from Sta. Elena. No one was there to meet me, Francisco Alvarez screwed up again he said a person will be at the teminal waving my name upon my arrival, waited 30 minutes, nothing I called him up and he said he will talk to his partner in crime, hmmm. A dude in red shirt approached me and he set me off to the Posada to leave my
Parque Nacional Canaima
Angel falls covered with clouds in the AMbig pack, before then he helped me book a ticket to Maracaibo.
Arriving at the hostel the taxi was charging me 20 Bolivares, I told Jim the dude in the Posada i wont pay it, should be part of the package, so he did. Harly spoke English but helped me get sorted and took me to the airport, about 2 hours of pre departure procedures, check in, long wait finally off. 1 hour floght, nice scenery of the savannah. Smooth flight, when I arrived in Canaima was greeted by Tatu our guide, 7 of us all flew with different companies, we walked to the Posada, the same we stayed 5 years ago, they did some additions and now looks better. We are doing Salto Angel today i was told so we have to change to swim wear and be prepared to get wet as we are going by boat. Very nice scenery, we got off at 1st rapid and took a tractor to the other side up river , the tractor is driven by a young boy!!! Of course we all took photos of the poor fella. Had a quick swim at the lagoon while waiting for the boat,
when it arrived we hopped on and continued, total roughly 4 hours, thru rapida, many many of them and we got wet on the 1st one! The skills of this boatmen are unbelievable, how they read the river so well, the rapids were tricky, and some part a bit scary, quite shallow, our bums were all sore , sitting in a wooden plank for hours, the scenery made up for it.
Before we got to the camp it rained and we all got soaked, lots of blue dragonflies everywhere, the color of the water is reddish, due to tannin and humic acid from decomposing leaves. Some fish abound, small ones. We hiked to the Angel Falls vista/mirador, about an hour, thru thick jungle, lots of roots in the path quite slippery, and biting insects. We got there and it was spectacular even if it's half it size around this time, rains not been frequent as usual this time of year, but nevertheless for me the falls is amazing. the highest in the world at 983 meters. We started going back in the dark and took us longer, difficult to walk in the dark in the forest and we have
Parque Nacional Canaima
our young truck driver! to cross the river too, quite slippery and dangerous, made it to camp safe and had a good chicken meal, It started raining again, chatted with Alina the other American in the group from Idaho. The rest are from Italy, Russia and Venezuela. Went to bed and slept in the hammock, quite comy but smelly.
Early morning, rose to a spectacular view of Angel falls, our camp is right next to it, looks magical with the clouds around it, managed to get some shots before the clouds totally swallowed it. Left camp early to go back to Canaima lagoon, a bit faster this time. We stopped at a Waterfall, Happy falls I think was the name, had a swim and then back to the boat, ariiving at the Posada, have to wait for romm to be available, then had lunch and played with the resident parrots, The macaws are fighting with the dogs, well playfully, quite funny to watch and i filmed bits of it. had a siesta then Tatu took us for a trip to see the falls in Canaima, it started raining, we walked the savannah to get behind the Sapo falls after the boatmen dropped us
Parque Nacional Canaima
Ayuan Tepui, where the Angel Falls comes down from off at Anatoliy island about 20 minutes then we crossed under the falls to the other side, quite cool, we visited the top and as i remember it we swam there 5 years ago but the water level at the moment seems low so we just wade in it. Hike back down the trail took us to another falls,raining again, wonderful rainbow, the rest went behind the falls again but i stayed and took photos, dramatic contrast of colors as the sun starts to set.
Rained most of the night, I have a 4 bed room yay! and tried to sleep on each one. The roof was dripping on one side and there was a weird noise the whole night as if someone is knocking. As I was tired I coped with it but annoying in the beginning. We took some time chilling at the lagoon beach while waiting for the planes, at 10:30am we followed tatu our guide to the airport and sat there for hours waiting for departure, as the planes come at unpredictable times. i was told that my plane will be last to leave, great! The Italians left 1st then problem for me, Tatu asked
Parque Nacional Canaima
after the rain during the boat trip the pilot that brought me there if I was leaving with him he said no! Phone calls were made, to the Rutaca airline office in Ciudad Bolivar and to Javier, the owner of Total Aventura, partner of Francisco from Sta. Elena. He did not answer his phone, so the pilot have to sort it out, turns out my pilot left without me because he was not told i was going with him, there is no manifest here and Rutaca is crap, so disorganized, yesterday Alina did not fly until about 3pm! Tatu heard an earful from me, not his fault though he did say that Javier is very lazy and does not do his part. My pilot did a flyover to Angel Falls with some people then when he came back he passed me on to another pilot, there were loud arguments in Spanish but eventually i got on a flight, a very small rickety plane, closed my eyes for the most of 1 hour flight. The Russians flew right after me but arrived before me in C.B. because they have a bigger plane.
Lesson learned, I cannot recommend Turistico Alvarez from Sta. Elena, he is an ok guy
quite convincing and cheap price but his partners are all screw ups, from the Roraima trek, to Angel Falls. His patrner in Ciudad Bolivar, Javier of Total Aventura is unreliable, no one picked me up at the bus station in C.B. and then the flight screw up, I almost did not fly back that day, not his fault its the stupid Rutaca airline but he was not there available to contact when problems arise. Jim the dude that works for him was better, very helpful though no English. Ha showed me where to find a fast internet in town and tried to change money for me and also grabbed a taxi for me to the bus station as it was not safe to be out at dark here.
C.B. was mostly empty at night and when I met the Russians for dinner we cant find an open place and its only 5:30pm!The town is better looking than i remembered it 5 yearsa ago, colorful buildings and houses but its damn hot!
The bus for Maracaibo left very late, was at the station by 7pm as instructed to check in, the man in the counter handed me a ticket, I
Parque Nacional Canaima
walk through the forest to the Angel Falls mirador called his attention because the name in the ticket is Jesus Araya! not me obviously, he said did not matter dont worry! hmmmm.. All buses probably have come and yet my bus is nowhere to be found, Yaxir a young Venezolano on the same bus chatted with me, very friendly but no English, we conversed with a pocket translator at times!Bus arrived at 9:30pm I got good seat up front at the top of the double decker. Got into an argument though with the bus conductor, he wanted me to check in my day bag as well, I said all my important things are there he would not budge so I took all of my bag contents and put it in a plastic bag, checked in the backpack and he let me go, stupid idiot, meanwhile the locals have this big chinese plastic bags with them on the bus!! Yaxir tried to calm me down, he got worried I might get into a fight! The bus trip was ok, cold as usual but ready for it this time, unfortunately the bus took 22 hours! not 17 and the locals were fuming mad!
Arriving in Maracaibo at 8pm I have
talked to a por puesto taxi driver and told him I will go tomorrow, he tried to persuade me to go now but the LP said the town is dodgy, so anyway took me awhile to find a taxi cab, so difficult, ended up going with a private car to Hotel Caribe not bad with a/c for 80 bolivares roughly $12, but they dont accept $ so have to find a money changer tomorrow everything is shut by now, had dinner at a hotdog concession stand across from the hotel. Watched tv a bit, there is a porn channel! and hey better to take a peek at it than watching Chavez at almost every station I click on, very vain man, and he had apparently shut down radio stations in Caracas that were against him. Yup he is all over the television.
Did not sleep well, either the a/c can only be set in one level no turning down without turning it off altogether. Had free wifi in the room, cool. Needed to change money as I ran out of Bolivares, one of the cleaning ladies in the hotel helped me out rather than me walking around trying to
find a black market changer, she arranged for my $60 be chaned by her friend for 1$ to 6B ratio, not bad. She lived and Florida for 8 years and is now back here in super humid Maracaibo. The air is so still you sweat just by standing or sitting doing nothing. I walked around town and took photos of some attractions quickly, had a good patacon breakfast, banana plantain cakes and scramble eggs with chicharon, good one! Then headed to the bus terminal, found a por puesto taxi inside the station, had to pay 60 Bolivares($10) and .50 bolivares for departure tax. The taxi is with 4 other people, its an old chevy car so big i think a fridge can fit inside! Its super slow we got stuck in traffic on the way out just around 10am we were all sweating porfusely, reminds me well of Manila! We got to the highway and off we go,zoom zoom zoom, well not really, for the 2 1/2 hour trip we got stop 13 times!!(yup I counted) by the police or military, crazy! and its on the same road, checkpoint seems like every 10 kms! Too paranoid this country is, reminds
me of checkpoints in Turkmenistan.
A mobile truck thing on the road near Paraguachon is the impuesto de salida office(departure tax) we have to pay 55 Bolivares($9.5) to exit Venezuela, then a few more miles on is the chaotic border! 1st we have to walk to customs, The Venezuelan immigracion guys were asking me what i will do in Colombia, and gave me a thumb sucking gestures with a laugh, did not really have a clue what that means, so I just ignored them. Just outside a dude is offering a van ride to Santa Martha, thought it was a good idea so i dont have to get to the Maicao bus terminal, I paid 45,000 pesos(roughly$30!) for only 4 hour trip, after i changed my bolivares to pesos I literally had to hand over all of it to the driver as it was the exact amount!
Took ages to leave, he promised he will drop me off at the hostel in Santa martha but everyone else in the van is going to Barranquilla hmm I doubt he will take time to go around the city finding my hostel. I walked again this time to the Colombian customs, the
dude officer is so stuck up, he does not want a queue, you sit down and he calls you when he is ready. He asked me how long am i staying for, uhh Inever thought of it really so i mumbled maybe 2 months mas o menos and that is exactly what he wrote in my passport stamp. Outside the money changers are relentless, told them many times ya cambio! falls on deaf ears..
After half hour wait we leave the van is full and more checkpoints this time all military but got stopped only twice, every 2 kms there is a military checkpoint and on one there was a tank on the side of the road!! 4 1/2 hours and boring salsa videos and a tearjerker English movie later we arrived in Santa Martha and true enough the a--hole passed me on to a taxi driver to get me to my hostel. made it safe at Hostal La Galeria,looks like a run down place, for 15,000(almost $10) private single room but really very basic, will find a better one later.
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