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Venezuela Travel Blogs

Background: Venezuela was one of three countries that emerged from the collapse of Gran Colombia in 1830 (the others being Colombia and Ecuador). For most of the first half of the 20th century, Venezuela was ruled by generally benevolent military strongmen, who promoted the oil industry and allowed for some social reforms. Democratically elected governments have held sway since 1959. Current concerns include: an embattled president, a divided military, drug-related conflicts along the Colombian border, increasing internal drug consumption, overdependence on the petroleum industry with its price fluctuations, and irresponsible mining operations that are endangering the rain forest and indigenous peoples.

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By Viajerong Pinoy
April 17th 2005

CANYONING IN MERIDA

South America » Venezuela » Andean » Mérida

CANYONING 1

PICTURES [View Full Entry]

By Viajerong Pinoy
April 16th 2005

Fantastic Merida

South America » Venezuela » Andean » Mérida

GETTING READY TO PARAGLIDE

From the plains of Llanos we went to the Orinoco River delta and some of us opted to do the 3 day stay in the delta visiting villages and doing some wildlife sightseeing, nothing much to report on that except I was still ticked off at Olie since Ciudad Bolivar for not pulling his weight on putting away our tent on our last day at the camp, I made a scene at the breakfast table when i confronted him and was a bit embarrased later for losing my temper, poor lad , i did not speak to him the entire time [View Full Entry]

By Viajerong Pinoy
April 8th 2005

WILD LLANOS

South America » Venezuela » Guayana » Ciudad Bolívar

EL LORO LOCO

From our campsite in Boa Vista we drove to the border and crossed into Venezuela via Santa Elena de Uairen, a small frontier town, that is also where we got our entry stamp, i think we have to bribe some people so we got delayed a bit, from there we drove to the Gran Sabana where the view is just spectacular, we stopped by a waterfall which was crap cause it hasnt rained for awhile, then off to Ciudad Bolivar to camp. It is so hot here, seems like nothing to do at all, good thing our camp had a swimming [View Full Entry]

By Discocookie
February 3rd 2005

Tourists - Shaken not Stirred

South America » Venezuela

Pack 5 tourists into the back of a 4WD and head out to the Gran Sabana. Huge National Park near the border, full of rivers, plateaux, waterfalls and incredible scenery. This area was also used in J. Park and contains some of the oldest rock formations. We were immensely pleased to discover Carlos was our driver, again :-) And even happier when we spent most of the day swimming in waterfalls, rivers and anything that remotely resembled water. This is a definite picture location, lots of papparazzi shots and big smiles from everyone. Great day for chilling out and enjoying short [View Full Entry]

By Discocookie
February 2nd 2005

Heading to the Border

South America » Venezuela

Woke up to heavy rain and had to wait for our flight to St Elene. (Small town about 10km from the Brazilian border). So we headed to some smaller falls near the Lagoon and walked under the most incredible waterfall. They shot a lot of Jurasic Pk at this location. Think of where they found the egg and the sick dino! The waterfall was so heavy you couldn~t see and just shuffled forward with your eyes closed holding onto ropes and trying not to think about being swept away. Daniel just ran though them :-) Felt pumped after that, lots of [View Full Entry]

By Discocookie
February 1st 2005

Angel Falls and Frosty Voyages

South America » Venezuela

It was clear across the falls this morning but the clouds sweep across them constantly. Jumped into our trusty canoe and crossed the river. Hiked through beautiful rainforests heading for the falls. Quite flat at first and then climbing up tree-root paths, as we neared the sides. Stopped at one viewpoint, which gave you the opportunity to take piccies. They~re so incredibly tall (973m?) that you can hardly fit them in one shot. Sometimes at this time of year they would be nothing more than mist, so we were lucky there had been rain. There was a lagoon around 20 metres [View Full Entry]

By Discocookie
January 31st 2005

Up the river to Angel Falls

South America » Venezuela

OK, piccies probably won~t happen until Rio :-(... need Ooj~s laptop. We all took the optional trip to Angel Falls and it was spectacular. Flew from Cuidad Bolivar in a dinky 6-seater plane, complete with a pilot who thought white water rafting the river on approach to the airstrip would improve the journey. It did!!! Daniel and I leapt out whooping like 8 year olds! Base camp was at the Canaima National Park lagoon, so we packed day packs and jumped in a native canoe, seated 12, 2 across and headed up the river for 5 hours to the Angel Falls [View Full Entry]

By Discocookie
January 30th 2005

Bird Caves and Taxi Hell

South America » Venezuela

OK, will definitely check a book soon and get the correct names of the locations. They~re all fairly similar. Had another stellar brekky of coffee, pancakes and eggs with ham and cheese. Drove back for 30 mins and went to the Canaima Bird Caves, incredible high caverns that run for 800m and are filled with large nocturnal birds. No flashes allowed inside, and the stalactites/mites all have names. Camels, organ etc. Fantastic views back to the opening of the caves. Takes about two hours to go all the way through. The tour guides are volunteers and take a lantern with them [View Full Entry]

By Discocookie
January 29th 2005

Carife Caves and Milking Cows

South America » Venezuela

Could be Caripe actually but Im losing track of days and locations :-). Travelled by Mini-bus from Camana, winding up away from the coast across more mountain ranges. Motion sickness is doing pretty well, not travelling fast enough to get wooey. The coastal area is spectacular and the roads were lined with pottery item and kilns, all for sale. People are collecting for Carnavale, so youre stopped at each town when going over the primitive speed humps and asked for cash. Or they try to sell plantan or pastry items. We stayed at an organic farm above the town, perfect for [View Full Entry]

By Discocookie
January 28th 2005

Camana Colonial Town

South America » Venezuela

Up early and piled into an extraordinarily ugly 1970s vehicular monster from the US. Its like every ugly car the americans didn~t want has been shipped to Venezuela. Theyre rusty, unroadworthy, youre lucky if the door handles work, let alone the windows but theyre great fun and you get to go *death driving* with the locals and that is worth the effort. Taxied from Santa Fe to Camana, which is a major port that the colonists and locals fought over. Huge castle situated on hill, with astoundly good views and a teeny little cell, for one of the captive generals. They [View Full Entry]

Links: Venezuela Travel Blogs (all) | Venezuela Travel Photos | Venezuela Travel Forum | Venezuela Facts | Map of Venezuela

Travel Blog » South America » Venezuela