Blogs from Ciudad Bolívar, Guayana, Venezuela, South America

We woke at 6:30 in an attempt to begin our day of travel before the sun got too hot, but even at 7:30 our 1km walk with 20kg packs (plus a few kilograms on our fronts) was very uncomfortable. Two loaves of bread purchased, we hopped on the 45 minute bus to Puerto La Cruz from where we would catch a bus to Ciudad Bolivar, the jumping off point for Canaima National Park and Angel Falls, the highest waterfall in the world at 983m. Typical South America - when I asked two of the men from the bus company how long the journey would be, I got answers of 3 hours and 6 hours. I give up, I can't wait to be back to English reliability and access to information (relatively speaking that it). Anyway, an ... read more

After having such great times in Ecuador and Colombia Venezuela is a real disappointment. The people are OK and some of the scenery around Merida is nice, but the exchange rate problem makes everything either expensive, difficult or both. That's probably making us view everything else negatively, things that we would laugh off in a country we liked become another reason to dislike this one, and we don't like it here, both of us are looking forward to getting out. We decided to cancel our biking and paragliding plans in Merida and head straight to Ciudad Bolivar to see whether we could sort out a trip to Angel Falls. We did some research on the internet and found the best route was Merida - Barinas - Ciudad Bolivar. Stage 1 went well, we got to the ... read more

Canima and Angel Falls After we had a great time with the girls in the Amazon we all decided to stay together and travel to Angel Falls. From Cuidad Bolivia we had to catch a local 5 seater plane to take the 1 hr flight to Canima. The views from the plane where fantastic of the winding rivers and all different types of trees as far as the eye cold see. Approx 10 minutes before we landed we caught sight and flew over a beautiful lagoon with a number of waterfalls which were spectacular from the air. This area was called the Aerea de Laguna y Saltos and you will see from the photos how amazing this place was. Apon arrival we immediately got on a river boat 3 hrs up river where we stopped fro ... read more

Dopo una settimana di sole e spiaggia, sono tornato sul continente (o in "Venezuela" como dicono quelli dell'isola) pronto a prendere la via del sud, quella che traversa il Paese da nord a sud, attraverso l'Amazzonia e più giù fino al Brasile. Ci sono voluti tutti una serie di autobus per raggiungere Ciudad Bolivar, il capoluogo della provincia amazzonica. Il peggior nemico durante questi spostamenti è stata l'aria condizionata che, mantenuta a livelli da cella frigorifera di macelleria, mi ha forzato a chiedere una coperta ai miei più avveduti (perché esperti) compagni di viaggio. Alla fine sono comunque riuscito a beccare un fastidioso raffreddore. Un saluto.... read more

We had a day of manic sorting, more money exchanging and trying to get some flights and trips arranged for the next few weeks. We then headed further north to Ciudad Bolivar, the jumping off point for Angel Falls. After another 11 hour bus journey we arrived at our hotel at midnight. Not the best time to arrive in a strange city and it did feel a bit dodgy and it did get a bit worrying when the old guy on the door where we were staying wouldn’t let us in because it was too late! Fortunately with Michelle playing the girl card he let us in which was good as a car had already drove past us twice and I think if we were there a third time things could have turned nasty. The next ... read more

We planned on having a week on Margarita Island for some R&R, but after 4 days we had itchy feet so decided to move on. We got the ferry over to Venezuela mainland & then a 4 hour coach trip to Cuidad Bolivar. A beautiful town overlooking the Orinoco river. We have had 3 nights here & tomorrow we are off to do a 3 day trip to the Angel Falls. It sounds amazing & finishes on us sleeping in hammocks right near the falls. Full info on this to follow on our next update. Only a short entry this time as not very much to report yet. Just happy relaxing, drinking & enjoying the heat. p.s. Tina also has a blog, she is under Tina B. Lots of love to you all. p.p.s HSBC feels ... read more

So we are now in Cuidad Bolivar. It was another long day of travelling, but we finally got here about 6pm after leaving Margarita Island at 8am. Our Posada(hostel), Don Carlos is a lovely old building. There were´t many rooms left so we are all sharing one big room. Mandy & I are downstairs and the boys upstairs. Apparently Chris´s snoring hasn´t been too bad, Miles has reported. We´ve spent the last few days looking around the town, having breakfast next to the River Rio Orinoco. We have booked our trip to Angel Falls and leave tomorrow at 7.30am. It is a 3 day - 2 night trip, where we will spend both of the two nights at different camps sleeping in hammocks. Can´t wait - very excited!! To pay for the trip we had to ... read more