Venezuela, all of it!

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Venezuela


Our entry into Venezuela was undertaken with a healthy measure of caution. We had met no one who'd already been here and all the reports I'd read told me that the crime rate is really high and currency exchange is... challenging. The first of these points is mostly due to the current government, the President Chavez (you can't escape his ugly mug plastered on billboards everywhere), is running the country as "socialism for the 21st century". His ideals don't really seem to be working out as well as intended and the divide between the wealthy and the poor is getting larger, and as a result the crime rate is very high, particularly in the larger cities. Tourists are major targets for muggings, kidnappings and such. Even the residents are extremely cautious, as people have had their homes broken into and been held for ransom. The statistics say there is up to 60 murders in Caracas every weekend.

The reason we are here is because of a few amazing attractions housed in this country. The currency exchange is interesting, too. The official exchange rate that you get at the bank is 4.50 bolivars for one Australian dollar, however you can change US dollars on the black market for up to 15bolivars per dollar. For this reason, we brought a decent number of high denomination US dollar notes with us to exchange, but we didn't realize how difficult it would be to acquire more bolivars at a decent rate, so we have quickly run out of the bolivars that we exchanged for the good rate, and now are living on cheese and crackers until we can do a bank transfer into someone's account in US dollars and they will then give us bolivars in return, hopefully at a decent rate. It's frustrating to say the least.

The first thing we wanted to see here is a phenomenon called Relampago de Catatumbo (Catatumbo Lightening). This occurs near the mouth of the Catatumbo river as it feeds into the Maracaibo Lake where cold air coming down off the surrounding mountains onto the warm lake produces an interesting mix of low and high pressure systems which then in turn cause massive storm clouds which flash a lot of lightening, almost every night. This is more prominent in the wet season, and we, unfortunately visited in the dry season and therefore only saw a few flashes for which we rose from our beds at 3am. Our visit to the region was with an expat from Barbados named Alan. He's been taking tours to see the lightening for 20 years and lives with his family in the nearest city, Merida. In this time he has formed a close relationship with the communities that live on and fish in the lake so we were able to go and see the villages up close. We also spent some time doing some wildlife spotting along the way. We saw lots of hawks, howler monkeys, capuchin monkeys, and butterflies (the latter of which he has discovered two new subspecies and had them named after himself). We also glimpsed some gorgeous tiny fresh water dolphins that live in the lake, and a sea otter. He has a team if guys who drive flimsy looking fibreglass boats at high speeds across the lake with us clinging for dear life to the seats. They really are incredibly good at navigating the boats through the choppy waters without slowing down, and also at far slower speeds in the villages, doing perfect 3 point turns in the watery streets.

The day after our tour we were back up at 5am to go to the bus station to buy tickets for a night bus that night. Even thought the ticket office doesn't open until 8, people line up from 5am, and you can't buy the tickets before the day of travel. It's bloody stupid. But we got the tickets and were then collected by the paragliding guys, taken up the mountain and then made to run, in tandem, off the mountain into thin air. It was absolutely glorious! Definitely something we will do again.

The idea was to make it to Los Roques in time for my birthday dinner. We had an overnight bus, then a long wait in Caracas airport, during which we changed the rest of our US dollars on the black market with a very sneaky dude (but we got a good rate) and then a flight in a 14 seater plane to the islands. We arrived around 4pm, checked into our posada, and then went in search of lobster and cocktails for my birthday feast. We found the cocktails, but in place of lobster was some delicious sushi.

The rest of our stay in Los Roques was spent lying on pristine white sand and swimming in water so beautiful and clear and aqua, you can't even imagine. These are the beaches if my dreams. Everything in Los Roques is imported, so prices there are hugely inflated, and we only had a certain amount if cash with us. It was uneconomical to withdraw cash as the bank only gives you the official exchange rate, so we were living on crackers, tomatoes, cheese and apples for most of the time. We did splash out on some lobster (which was delicious) and I got myself a pretty pearl bracelet for my birthday. We also managed to fit a 6pack of beer into the daily budget, so it was all good.

The people at our posada were absolutely lovely. They were so helpful, and generous. One of the guys is part of a small band that plays covers and on our last night he invited us to one of their jam sessions. He asked me to sing a couple of songs with English lyrics, as their singer has trouble with the pronunciation. It was really enjoyable and a rare opportunity to be involved with the locals. On our last day, when we had completely run out of money, they gave us a free boat ride out to our favourite beach with a cooler containing drinks and snacks and the beach umbrella and chairs all as a gift for our last day. So incredibly thoughtful.

I should point out that right now I'm sitting in a tiny 3 seater Cessna at 10,000ft. on the way to Canaima National Park to see Angel Falls. It's so small that Rehgan has to sit in the co-pilots seat. Experiencing turbulence in this thing makes me very nervous.

Anyway, we flew back to Caracas with the mission to get straight on a bus to Ciudad Bolivar. We got a taxi straight to the station from the airport and lined up for about an hour to discover no more seats on any of the busses. The lovely girl at the counter was amazing, and found us some seats on a bus to a town close to Bolivar and advised us of a short onward bus trip from there. The bus was leaving in 5mins, so I grabbed a pack of Doritos (which have become our regular bus staple diet) and a couple of snickers and we got in another line to get on the bus. We met a lovely local guy who was seeing his cousin off to Bolivar. We talked (in my limited Spanish) about Canaima and Angel Falls, and about Los Roques. He and his cousin were so friendly and sweet, he gave me a big kiss on the cheek as we got on the bus and even offered us his phone number.

I have to admit, I've been so cautious and fearful for our safety, about traveling in this country that I've left no room in my heart for the gorgeous people that we do come into contact with. Interactions like the ones at the bus terminal and even on the bus, people helping us to find our seats, leave me feeling enormous gratitude towards them, and also a little guilty that I haven't opened myself up to it fully. The people here are good, and although I'm still cautious, I'm going to try not to be so suspicious of everyone.

After we had checked in at our posada in Bolivar, we wet in search of food. It was looking pretty bleak, most places were closed for some reason. We were really tired and hungry, and I could feel us both on the verge of getting snappy with each other, when we saw a seemingly empty burger cart on the side of the road. I went and had a look around and a little dude popped out of a doorway and I asked if he'd make us a burger. "Si! Con todo?" Yep, two with the lot, thanks! Well! What a burger it was. We sat on plastic stools in the gutter and drank 7UP out of jam jars, and watched him create one of the most amazing multi-layered burgers I've ever seen. There was ham, cheese, egg, little crispy fried potatoes, tomato, heaps of lettuce and numerous applications of different sauces through all of it. I was trying to imagine how I was going to eat it without it going everywhere when he wrapped it up really tightly in butchers paper, gave it a good squeeze then cut the whole thing in half, paper and all. Oh man, it was so good!

Right now, we are flying into Canaima, over the top of these huge table top mountains called Tepuis. one if which is home to Angel Falls, highest waterfall in the world (980 odd meters of uninterrupted fall). Some if the tepuis are really high and they grow their own ecosystems on the top. Some have species of plant and animal that are endemic to just that mountain.

... Three days later and we are back from Canaima. Another jungle, this one less tangled, more towering. Somehow more imposing. We have discovered that with most tours we do on this continent, you're never really going to know what's going on until it's happening. You just have to go with it. So on our first day after arriving at Canaima, we were told to meet at 2pm with our swim suits, shoes for walking, cameras and perhaps a rain jacket. Okay, so we rock up and get on a boat that takes us across the lagoon that is fed by a number of enormous rushing waterfalls. We get off the boat at the other side and walk through the jungle for a while and we come out about halfway up a cliff face over which is pouring one of these waterfalls. We're told to take our clothes off, wearing only our bathers, and leave everything in a little alcove, then we proceeded to make our way along the rock face behind the waterfall. Now, there was no small amount of water coming over this thing. The sheer volume of it was like a solid wall of water, coming down with such force on the rocks beside us that the resulting wind was blowing it all up all over us, into our faces and blinding us, and completely saturating us. Obviously I didn't take my camera in there, but one of our tour buddies had a water proof camera and had promised to send us some of the photos he took. It was an experience up there with the mud volcano and paragliding as one of the coolest things we've done on this trip.

The following day was a four hour boat ride to Angel Falls itself. It was long and uncomfortable, but the reward at the end was worth it. Photos don't do it justice, the falls are truly magnificent. A definite highlight for the whole trip.

Now, it's off to Brazil, into yet another jungle, THE jungle, the mighty Amazon!

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Photos

Birthday Cake
The lovely folks at Posada el Botuto brought me cake!

Flying in to Canaima
One of these was the waterfall we walked behind.

Comments

[Patricia]

Venezuela
Emily, this experience is one of a kind. What an amazing adventure. I absolutely love reading about it all...you are a couple of explorers. Such an incredible journey you will be able to tell your children about. I must say though...I will be very happy the day you both come home safely. love from us both and have a wonderful Christmas...where will you be?? Patricia xxx

[Caroline]

You little rock stars!
My goodness, you are doing so much!! Please keep posting the photos - especially any you take for NYE. Big hugs (I miss you both. But perhaps I miss E just a little bit more than R. Don't know why.) C