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Published: December 23rd 2011
Trading at Tsamaya
She seemed happy with her trade as she got some sewing supplies in exchange for a basket. The whole time we lived in Africa and every time we travel and we find ourselves some place uniquely interesting we refer to it as a “National Geographic moment”. This trip down the Manamo River was a continuous National Geographic moment. Every time we turned around there was another incredible view, amazing sound or unexpected moment. Whether it was waking up at sunrise having our coffee in the cockpit while we listen to howler monkeys howling out to each other while hundreds of green parrots fly overhead or the vision of the incredibly brilliant red scarlet ibis flying off their perches this is one of those places that truly takes your breath away. And just when you think things couldn't become more amazing a pod of river dolphin start snorting and breaching all around the boat.
The Manamo River is part of the Orinoco River Delta located in Venezuela. The Orinoco is the most northly of South America's four great rivers. It is bounded by the Andes to the north and west, the Guyana Highlands to the east and the Amazon watershed to the south. It is 1,700 miles long and covers 366,000 square miles, or four-fifths of
What was that price again?
At only 4 cents for a gallon of diesel we decided it was well worth getting it even if we did have to do it by jerry cans. Venezuela and a quarter of Columbia. Orinoco means "a place to paddle". This particular river has a very interesting history. During World War II because of its navigability, many parts of the river reaching 120 feet deep, it was used to bring iron ore out of central Venezuela. This brought the ore ships directly into the Gulf of Paria where the danger from enemy submarines was much reduced because of the relative shallow depths in the Gulf. This also brought the area to the interest of oil companies and immediately after the war, Texaco began exploration for oil in the Orinoco River Delta .A significant amount of oil has been discovered and this has impacted the people of this region.
In Venezuela there are five Indian tribes -- each with their own language -- but the Wareo of the Orinoco Delta consider themselves Venezuela's original inhabitants... The name Wareo ... means "canoe people". In the first 75 to 80 miles of the river these gentle, short, fine featured, reddish skinned people live along the river bank pretty much as they have always done in small open-plan huts built of mangrove wood on piles by the river bank.
Quite the businessmen
These guys were quite the businessmen complete with an amplifier system so they could advertise the bread they were selling. Four or five of these huts, called "palofitos", linked by walkways make a village. Palofitos have thatched roofs and open sides with the families' possessions hanging from the eaves. Space is divided by social distinctions. Theirs is a typical forest culture combining hunting, fishing, gathering, and upstream from the estuary, a little agriculture.
We traveled with 2 other boats, TeBheag with Gill and Denis from Scotland and Cornelis with Diana and Wil from Holland – it was a trip of a lifetime. We could have done it on our own, but there are no facilities for repairs or “towboats” if you run aground so we figured it would be better to have a couple of buddy boats. It also had many other benefits. We worked it out so that each night a different boat provided dinne. We always ate on Tsamaya as we had a fully screened in area to keep out the enormous mosquitoes that come out just before sunset and stay around for about an hour or two... It was great to be able to share ideas, get to know both couples better, share cooking and even have sing-a-longs when Wil played his guitar!
Going fast on the water!
The water taxi we took definitely flew down the river with its 75 hp outboard motor. Much faster than we are used to, but what fun! One piece of information that was consistent from everyone we talked to before we left was that we needed to take lots of things to “trade” with the Wareo Indians. They make beautiful baskets, hammocks and necklaces which they trade for goods such as clothes (this was the most popular item), shampoo, paper and pencils, toothpaste & brush, fabric, sewing needles, thread and numerous other items. Trading with the villagers that came out to our boat in either a traditional dugout canoe, a hand built fishing boat or anything else that floated was the highlight of the trip. Although dugouts were very common wooden hand built fishing boats with 40 horse two-stroke motors was also quite common. At first we weren’t quite sure how to make a “fair” trade. We soon found out that even though we do not speak Wareo, they do not speak English and neither of us spoke much Spanish, they could clearly indicate when a fair trade was reached. Some were more shy than others when dealings with us. Some very patiently waited for us to show them items that we had for trade, while other enjoyed “pawing” through our
Sunrise
The sunrise we were greeted with at 6AM while crossing the Gulf of Paria to the mouth of the Manamo River. box of “goodies” to see what they would like. They very carefully chose what they wanted and stopped when they felt that it was enough for the item that they made for trade. When a boat came over with many people in it, once you chose an item that you would like, you dealt with that person in determining what they wanted in exchange. Others in the boat might express an opinion on what to chose, but the person who made the basket had the final say. The age of the person making the item ranged from the grandmother in the village to quite young children. Most of the items were made by females, but occasionally we found males coming out with their crafts as well.
For those of you that know us we are definitely a soft touch when it came to baskets (like we really need more!). We now have lots of baskets (some much better quality than others); natural bead necklaces and Bob even traded a very good pocket knife for a hand carved paddle (his prize trade for the trip). It was not only great to get a chance to obtain some handicrafts
Interesting clouds
It was such an unusual cloud formation we had to share it with you. from the area, but better yet it was enjoyable trading with the actual person that made the item.
If there was an item that we really wanted, we did raid our clothes closet and found a few items they wanted. Probably one of the funniest ones was we had a very large T-shirt that we were given at the boat show (much too large for Bob) in the trade box. One of the women picked it and had the man driving the boat try it on. It looked more like a nightshirt on him. They seemed to decide that was what they would take and then at the last minute “asked” us to take it back so they could trade for something else. Needless to say we went along with this idea. Everyone had a good laugh and we did finally find a “buyer” for the t-shirt farther down the river.
We were impressed with the importance of family. Responsibility was given to all in the family to watch over those that were younger. It did not matter if it was a boy or girl, each took this responsibility seriously. They also shared well.
Oil, oil everywhere
One of the numerous oil production platforms that are located in this area. With all of that oil here it isn’t a surprise. When we were giving out “sweets” or oranges, they always shared with each other. To get a real idea of this, please watch the video on YouTube (we think it is included at the end of the photos here, but if not, the address is at the bottom of the blog) that we took when Bob showed the kids how to blow bubbles. They really enjoyed trying to catch the bubbles, but when we gave the container to the oldest child, it was passed around so everyone in the dugouts, no matter what the age, had a chance.
We were lucky enough to have the chance to visit one of the villages. We found that they had dogs, birds, and even agouti (a large rodent the size of a small dog) as pets. We would have typically thought of owning a pet as a luxury but this was not the case here and it was nice to see that they were well taken care of. We did notice that the dogs were working members of the family. We were anchored off one village and heard a dog barking on the opposite side of the river. As we
Where we checked in
This is where we anchored so we could check in with the officials located in Pedernales. were looking we noticed about halfway across the River another dog was swimming towards the point where the barking dog was. At this point the river was probably a good mile wide and the current was moving probably at one to two knots. As we looked back towards the village we caught sight of two more dogs jumping into the river and swimming towards the same point on the opposite side of the river. We continued to hear a great deal of barking on the opposite side of the river and then started to hear something that sounded like a pig squealing. A boat was launched from the village containing two men and another dog heading for the same place. After a short period of time the squealing and the barking stopped and we saw the boat returned to the village with all dogs aboard.
Some changes are definitely occurring on the river as the government has been spending some money in this area by making improvements in the villages. The story goes that the government in its efforts to win the hearts and minds of the Wareo gave outboard motors for free some time ago. It
When there is a will, there is a way
These boys found out that this windsurfer board was great for them to be able to fight the current and get out to the boat –they were definitely curious about us and they got a treat as their reward. has made life much easier giving these people access to larger towns up river where supplies, schools and healthcare facilities are available. In some cases we saw engines mounted on the boats, but they were being powered by paddles. Obviously good outboard mechanics are scarce here just like everywhere else.
There are a couple of eco-tourism lodges on the river. We found that these were quite rustic and several had apparently closed down and were now abandoned. The Orinoco River Lodge was one that is still running and we stopped and had dinner on our return trip. It was very nice and we had river catfish freshly caught that day that was excellent. We talked to some people and they told us that the Lodge used to have large numbers of visitors but with the current government’s political position tourism had suffered significantly.
The river had quite fast currents due to the tides, but it was fresh water so were able to swim if done at slack tide. We had all heard that there were piranha (small fish with big teeth) here which scared us off swimming at first, but were reassured that they
Friendly officials
Diana, the Spanish speaker among us helped the officials when they came out to our boats to inspect us. They seemed to be impressed with Tsamaya. were not found in the main river. Apparently they taste quite good and the locals do a good job of controlling the population thankfully.
Each night we anchored at the side of the river which gave us the opportunity to watch the wildlife or at times village life. As mentioned above, the homes are open without walls. As a result, we could observe village life without leaving our boat. It was clear that they were as curious about us as we were about them. They have seen yachts on the river before, but they all enjoy coming out to the boat and seeing it close-up. News definitely traveled fast that boats were in the area, as we approached the village they would be out to meet us even before we put the anchor down. If we were not stopping at a village, they were more than eager to trade with us as we moved by. While on our return trip, it was nice to see them using some of the items they traded for previously.
We took a total of 8 days traveling up the river to the stopping point (which was determined by
Interesting location
An interesting location for a latrine don’t you think? the low power lines across the river) at Boca de Uraco. We stayed in this area for 3 days deciding that we should also do some exploration on land. The first order of business was to take all the jerry cans to the fuel station and fill up with diesel and gasoline as we had heard fuel was quite inexpensive here. The first trip the guys got 491 liters of diesel, a quart of motor oil and 39 liters of gasoline which costs a total of $6 US. We then all filled up our tanks on the boat and the 2
nd day picked up 491 more liters of diesel for $3 . The 3
rd day Wil picked up 72 liters of diesel and they gave it to him as a gift!! This will definitely go down in the books as the cheapest fuel we have ever gotten. Bob did take the extra precaution as he always does of filtering the fuel before going into our tanks, but it all came up clean!
We had an enjoyable time walking around the village the first day exploring the various shops and indulging in some local food. The second day
A very social game
Dominoes is a very popular game throughout the Caribbean – we see it was enjoyed here as well. we made arrangements with a person to drive us to a nearby town, Temblador. We were pleasantly surprised with a great vegetable and fruit market on the streets of this town. Stocking up on fresh veggies and fruit for the return trip were the priority of the day, but we were also treated to a stop at a chicken farm (very similar to the setup we saw back in Trumansburg at Peter and Joel DeCloux farm) on the way back to our boats. He was kind enough to show us around his operation. We also got a chance to see a large group of iguanas as he raises them as a hobby on the side. The “taxi” that we went in would definitely not have passed NYS inspection, but it got us there and back safely. As this trip was so successful it was decided to try our luck in getting to Tucupita which was a larger city about 1 ½ hours away by car. We didn’t have any luck with finding a driver this time, but we did manage to get a person to take us up the river by boat. This turned out to be a very fast
Great fresh rolls
Each roll was sold for an equivalent of a quarter – they were well worth it! We could not resist the fresh rolls sold at this bakery. river trip in an open air boat. We had some rain on the way which felt like hail at those speeds, but we all quickly dried out before we made it to town after a one hour trip. This town was a much bigger one to explore.
On the way back TeBheag decided they wanted to take a few more days heading back, so we separated and continued on with Cornelis. On the way up the river we meet a South African, Ian, living on a sailboat with engine problems. Our three boats joined together and tried to help him get his engine running. We agreed on our return trip we would stop to see how he was doing. We found between the repairs that were done earlier and some more work on his part, he was able to get the engine started even though the oil was leaking. We “escorted” him down the river to where the river meets the Gulf of Paria, we anchored and waited for the tide to turn so we could leave first thing in the morning. We invited him to dinner that night (he was down on provisions) and the next
Introducing frisbees
We had brought some Frisbees from the US – we introduced these kids to the game –they caught on fast and are sure we will see them in competitions in a few years! morning he took off 2 hours ahead of us to cross the Gulf of Paria back to Trinidad. Cornelis and Tsamaya took 12 ½ hours to cross. Several days after returning we ran into Ian back in Trinidad and found it took him 23 hours – he was tired, but made it back safely. This is what cruisers do for each other – it is definitely the rule of mariners to help each other. As we all say, we never know when we will be on the receiving end of help from others so everyone is always willing to help.
It has been very difficult to narrow down the photos for this blog to 90 from the many that we took during this magnificent 16 day trip. We hope they give you an overview of the trip. It was a wonderful experience and we want to thank Cornelis and TeBheag for joining us on this great adventure.
The YouTube video is located at
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