Cuidad Bolivar and Canaima

On the 7th we caught a coach from Caracas down to Cuidad Bolivar wgçhere we were staying at a posada and catching our tour to Canima and the Angle Falls from. After the 8 hour bus journey we arrived in Cuidad Bolivar, a much smaller and poor city than Caracas. We were met at the bus terminal by Peter, the owner of the posada and Gekko Tours. He was a German who had moved her to open a tour comapany and was maybe once of the funniest people we have evr met. He wa quite a heavy drinker and durring the 10 minute rie to his posada he had to stop and buy three cans, and then proceed to down them while go at 60 mph along the main road! After a night at the posada watching the comedy act that was Peter we left early in the morning for our tour down the Caniama river to Angle Falls.

We drove to the airport where we took a tiny 6 seater plane that flew us to the start of out tour. i was lucky enough to sit in the front which meant i had great views of the the country side and the driver be very calm even when the plane was bumping along in a very scarry manner! Once we arrived in Canaima we were given some free time to wonder round the river and some smaller falls on our own. We managed to find our way up a little path through the jungle that led to the top of one of the falls, and from there we were able to clamber over some rocks to the very edge! We returned to rest of the group where the actual tour started by a boat ride round the falls. Once the boat stopped we all climbed out and followed a path up and behind the small falls we had been exploring earlier. This was one of the moments that u often see in films and shows but we were actually able to do it and put our hands into the falls! After this excitement we carried on with a little trek through the thick undergrowth to a small lagoon like pool. Unlike the perfectly blue lagoon we found on Los Roques this one was black. The Canaima river is known as a black river because of something that seeps into the water from the trees, this also means there are less mosquitoes which was a nice surprise. After a quick dip in the lagoon we continued over a dried out water fall back to the river where caught our boat again. the rest of the day was spent going down the rivers and walking through plains until we finally reached camp, a wooden shack with a long table for dinner and lots of hammocks for sleeping. The people in our group were really nice, a French and American couple who were very funny, a couple of polish girls, an older German couple and also a girl and a guy who were our age, on a gap year and from England, so we spent a lot of the evening chatting to everyone.

The next day we set off nice and early on the final leg of our trip to the Angle Falls. The boat carried on up the river and we were warned that we may have to get out and push due to the fact it was the dry season. However after a few scrapes and bumps over rocks in the low water we made it to the camp with no pushing. From here we had to trek about an hour up to the falls. As we walked through the jungle up a small path we could start to hear the sound of falling water and when we finally reached the first few point we saw our goal. It was the most incredible sight i have ever seen, watching the water falling from a one of the mystical table top mountains. As we moved closer we could see the true extent of the Fall with the summit shrouded in cloud. After about twenty minutes watching and taking photos from there we continued to the base of the Fall, where the water finally fell into a small pool. Here we were aloud to swim and u could float in the water under the largest water fall in the world, a memory i will never forget. We had been so lucky with the weather, enough rain before that the Fall was still spectacular while there was still blazing sun when we arrived, that the guides let us stay a good couple of hours. The rest of that day was spent returning to the camp, contemplating the the amazing sight we had so lucky to just witness.

On the final day of the tour we returned to the start where we waited for the plane to take us back to Ciudad Bolivar. The plane journey was very bumpy this time so i decided to sleep through it. Once back at Peter's posada we spent the day resting in the garden. The next day was also spent relaxing but we also decided to visit the town, however forgetiting it was a Sunday there was very little to do. That evening we caught the night caoch back to Caracas. The driver was pretty mad and went very fast, at one point i woke up and was about a foot off my chair!

On returning to Caracas we tried, with very little success, to stay in the same safe area we had been at before. In the end we were forced to go to a different part of town, Grand Sabana, which didn't have the best reputation, in fact we had been told by lots and lots of people that it wasn't very safe. During that day it was like a shopping street however at night everyone left and people who stayed all had guns. luckily for us the only problem we had was with the security of the road, who had one point stopped us and tried to take out passports! After this little encounter and hearing from others that there was no need to carry your passports, we kept as far away from these people as we could. Our final evening in Caracas was spent with Carlos who took us out for a drink in a very trendy bar. It was a really nice way to end the first leg of our voyage and had got us very excited about what was to come...

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