October 27 - 30, 2008 CAMAINA and ANGEL FALLS, Venezuela WOW !!! We left Margarita Island on an early flight and flew to Puerto Ordaz and on to Canaima National Park. Alice “just loved” the small planes ! The views are spectacular in these aircraft as you fly fairly low. After a few hours and some beautiful scenery we arrived at the Canaima National Park that is home to Angel Falls ( highest in the world at about 1000 meters ). Shortly after arrival we took a fly over flight of Angel Falls and the surrounding mountains and gorges, in a [View Full Entry]

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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 [View Full Entry]

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We anchored on the east end of the Golfo at Muellle de Cariaco. From there we took a day trip to the Gaucharo Caves in Caripe. The caves are inhabited by Gaucharo Birds that use sonar in a similar to the way bats use sonar. The Guacharo birds are born in fours and only the strongest two survive. [View Full Entry]

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We took a land tour to Angel Falls in The Canaima National Park. One of the most fascinating features in Canaima's landscape diversity are the tabular formations called tepuys, rising abruptly in the horizon among savannahs and dense forests. The top of the formations are flat and collect rainwater that falls off the tabletops to make waterfalls. Angel Falls is the tallest waterfall in the world with a free fall of 979 meters. To get from the Canaima airport to Angel Falls we took a 4 hour canoe ride in a canoe that was carved out of a tree. The long [View Full Entry]

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Boat trip down the Amazon!!! plus Angel Falls Last Thursday afternoon, all hot and sweaty, I jumped into a natural pool deep in the Venezuelan jungle and took a swim. The air was full of mist and a deep rumble echoed off the rocks around. From three hundred stories above a thick ribbon of water poured off a rock wall and pounded into the stones below. These were Angel Falls, the absolute highest in the world, and it was a long trip to get there. First was the trip down the Amazon in a cargo boat, then the busses north across [View Full Entry]

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Just to catch up from our last blog entry, we flew from Cusco to Lima, spent a day or two there to get Visas for Venezuela and Colombia. We found that we don't need visas for both countries, so we left for Caracas as soon as we could. Usually we use the internet to book hostels or hotels wherever we are going to be, so that we are guaranteed to have space. For some reason no hostels in Venezuela are available on the internet. The only place I could find was the Embassy Suites Hotel, a hotel of the Hilton group. [View Full Entry]

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Ok...so I never really explained what was so great about Canaima and what exactly happened on that crazy 2 day trek from middle of no where in southern Venezuela to the coastal city of Cartagena, Colombia. I couldn´t possibly be able to explain it all...sadly I have yet to develop my memory into one that remembers every detail that is worth remembering. There are so many worth remembering! So many striking and marvelous moments, thoughts, observations, experiences that enter my consiousness and within hours are gone...well, not gone...just receded and pushed back into my unconsiousness by new [View Full Entry]

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So many of them are my favorites...which one is yours? [View Full Entry]

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So when I arrived in Venezuela I was a little disoriented (see previous blog entry). Not just because of the whirlwind of different modes of transport that I took to get here, nor the problems with getting money once I arrived (which incidently lasted into the next afternoon but was fixed once I was able to first get into the bank and not just use the ATM, then second call my bank in the states and get the fraud alert removed from my ATM card....yes, I was in Guatemala, Mexico, and Venezuela in the last 24 hours...duh, why is that so [View Full Entry]

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We arrived in Cuidad Bolivar tired, confused and in bad need of a long shower! We had left Merida at around lunch time on the 18th of June and it took over 24 hours to arrived in Cuidad Bolivar. First a 4 hour bus ride from Merida to a town called Barinas..... then a VERY hot and sweaty 5 hour wait in a really dodgy bus station in Barinas, which we had to sprint across a duel carriage way to catch (it was either run like the wind or wait until the following day!)......followed by 14 hours on the world´s coldest [View Full Entry]

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