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Published: October 6th 2005
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Well lots has happened in the last few days so I'll have to try and remember the important bits. We drove 12 hours across Venezuela in a little jeep (in England we´d call it a car) to the middle of now where. Petrol in Venezuela is very cheap it is only $1 to fill the whole tank!.. Unfortunately the parts for cars are very expensive so the "things" that you see on the roads would not even be legal for banger racing in the UK. Many vehicles do not have seat belts, lights (front or rear), indicators or wind screen wipers. You are literally taking your life into your own hands when you decide to drive either at night or in the rain. You do not see a thing coming towards you. The funniest thing we saw on our travels was during a massive down pour when the car next to us didn´t have any wipers so the guy in the passenger seat was leaning out of the window with a broom pulling it backwards and forwards across the windscreen to act as their own windscreen wipers!!!!!????
When we arrived in Ciudad Boliva we had to get into a 6
seater plane. It was so old the doors didn't shut properly and the pilot personally directed us into our seats in order of size!?.....We flew approximately 1 hour to Canaima (the National park, home to the local indian tribes, the angel falls and some amazing jungle and animals).
The trip started off well, we got into in a long dug out conoe with 12 others and a motor - phew no rowing on this trip! As the trip went on the river got more and more treacherous - it turned into rapids with water pouring into the front of the boat and the local guide finding it more and more difficult to steer. About 3 hours into the journey on the river to the angel falls we hit a rock on the rapids. The boat was grounded with the front stuck down into the water. The boat quickly filled with water and started sinking. Everyone was panicing and not sure what to do. Eventually the local indian guide motioned for us to get out. We all had to jump into the dirtiest murkiest water ever . This was scary enough but then you remember that the waters are full
of animals that even the locals don´t care to swim with - anacondas, piranhas etc etc. After a few seconds we realised that our bags were being washed down stream so we desperately waded in further to try and rescue them. We were then told to stand in the water and help hold the boat in position to allow the indian guide to empty the water from the boat and allow us to get back in!!?? It was crazy! the strength of the river meant that many people were slipping and falling further down the river but the ones left holding the boat were concious that if we slipped the boat would push the rest of us under and down stream with the bags!. There was a real mix of people and nationalities on the boat and its interesting to see how different people react in a stressful situation. Most people didn't work together but looked out only for themselves. The Spanish men would push the girls out of the way to cling hold of the boat a French man let his girlfriend get dragged down the river, it was Jason that stopped her floating away. Luckily there was another
English couple called Flora and Alex who were "fairly" calm!!?? It was Alex and Jason that held the whole situtaion together. Jason held the rear of the boat whilst Alex had the front and they were helping people to stay together....... I'm really glad Jason & Alex were there........
Everything I own stinks thanks to the brown disgusting water, my boots, my ruck sack, my glasses etc etc I need to send everything home so that it can smell of fresh summer comfort again!
When we eventually got to the falls (the highest in the world) it was worth it, very beautiful surrounded by flat topped mountains called Tepuis. It looks very prehistoric. ( I think they filmed Jurrassic park here?) We were allowed to go swimming in the falls which everyone was keen to do as it was a hike of at least 2 hours in the swealtering heat to get to the top of the jungle to where the base of the falls is. Its soo hot I cant even describe it, it must be about 40 degrees and 100% humidity which means you sweat just from sitting down let alone doing anything strenuous.
After
the swim we started to make our way back to the camp for our night in the jungle but by this time it was dark and we all knew we had to trek for another hour. THis was the scariest bit as the jungle is full of lepards, snakes, aligators, spiders etc that I had no intention of meeting at night! It was made even more eerie when I looked up and realised it was a full moon! It was so bright it was reflecting off the water and the trees and the fire flys looked amazing.
At camp we met another Indian guide who looked after us for the night he was called Momba and he had some amazing stories to tell about his tribe in Canaima. They have a special plant out there called the whistler plant which if you eat it it makes you invisible. He said that they've had numerous botanists visit but none of them can understand / believe it. He also told us some really interesting stories about their Shamen and their powers to make it rain or to make people better etc. It was a shame to hear how tourism has changed
their lives. He said that they used to have long hair and wear just a loin cloth but when the tourists started arriving they complained so now they have to wear proper clothes like westerners which they find strange. They are still not used to wearing shoes!
The following day we went to the Orinocco delta. The largest delta in the world. Its truely amazing to see, the delta is the size of Belgium and is so large it has different tides within it!...Within the first 5 minutes we had seen dolphins, monkeys and some beautiful coloured birds. We also saw a spiders web that was 6 feet across, I'm so glad i didn't see the spider that made it!
Off to start our tour in Peru this week!.......
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Andy R
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Alex is hot!