Advertisement
Published: November 13th 2006
Angel Falls
Captivating and inspiring.Hello all (make sure to click on the video of me scuba diving!),
Well, I am now back in the Great White North. Although my trip has now come to an end, I must still record for you its final leg. My last blog entry left me in Ciudad Bolivar, a small town in the heart of Venezuela and also the gateway to Angel Falls. Angel Falls is the highest waterfall in the world at 979 meters, 807 of which are uninterrupted (16 times higher than Niagara in case you were wondering). Getting to the falls, however, is no easy feat.
The only way to get to there is to take an hour long plane ride from Bolivar to a small village named Canaima. Once landed, you must then hop in a small banana boat and ride for four hours up the Churun river. From there you set your feet back on land and hike for an hour through the jungle until you can see Angel Falls peering through the dense flora. Of course, you cannot do the whole trip in one day. So for two nights I got to sleep in a hammock under an open hut with
Taganga
The view from my hostel in the small Columbian fishing village of Taganga. Not too shabby. a tin roof in the middle of nowhere Venezuela. That alone was amazing as downpours would come and go through the jungle’s humidity and batter against my hut’s roof, slowly doling me to sleep…
But now for the falls itself. On first sight Angel Falls captivates and inspires. As the falling water makes the kilometre long plummet to earth, it gets blown apart by the wind’s resistance and separates into a dense vapour. If you stare long enough you can see the wisps take a variety of shapes (I saw Ted Turner eating cauliflower). You would think the name Angel Falls comes from the mystical movements of the semi-vaporized water. Unfortunately, the story is much less romantic. The falls are actually named after American bush pilot Jimmie Angel, who landed on the boggy top of the mountain in 1937 in his four-seater airplane in search of gold. The plane stuck in the mushy surface and Angel could not take off again. He, along with his wife and two companions, trekked through rough virgin terrain to the edge of the plateau, then descended almost 1km of vertical cliff, finally returning to civilization after the 11-day odyssey. The plane was later
Cartagena
A tiny glimpse of the beautiful Columbian colonial town of Cartagena. removed from the top of the mountain, restored and placed in front of the airport terminal in Ciudad Bolivar, where it still resides. Anyway, my shorter three-day excursion was a ton of fun. My favourite was that I got to swim in the Churun river just past the base of Angel Falls.
Upon my return to Bolivar, I immediately hopped on a bus to Isla Margarita, an Island off the northern coast of Venezuela boasting some excellent beaches. Unfortunately, the ferry from the mainland to the island was incredibly late (was supposed to leave at midnight and actually left at 5am) and so I got to stay up all night at the boat terminal guarding my stuff.
Once on the Island, I made my way to the resorty Playa El Agua, where I found a nice all-inclusive hotel to stay for three nights at a whopping 25USD a night (the “whopping” is sarcasm). It was nice just to relax on the beach for a couple of days, doing nothing more than drinking pina coladas, swimming, and reading In Cold Blood (good book).
After catching up on sleep and sun, it was time to move on to Columbia.
The Yacht
Oh the Athala...need I say more? Since flights into the country from Venezuela are ridiculously expensive, I flew to Maracaibo, a Venezuelan town close to the Columbian border. Little did I know, this would be one of my longer traveling days. Firstly, when I landed at the airport at Maracaibo I was harassed by two Venezuelan military soldiers who took me to a private room and dumped out all of my belongings. After 30 long minutes of them traipsing through my personals they agreed I was not a coke dealer and let me go. From the airport I then had to take a taxi to the bus station, a bus to the Columbian border (which I crossed without a hitch), another bus to a Columbian town named Santa Marta, and then a taxi to Taganga (cause no buses go there), my final destination. Along the trip, the Columbian bus broke down leaving us stranded in the blazing Columbian heat and later some guy named Rhaoul offered me money for my liver.
I gladly settled into a comfy hostel in Taganga, which is a beautiful and very tiny fishing village nestled into a cove on Columbia’s Caribbean coastline. Taganga also boasts to be one of the
Not to be gross...
Here is a new born sea lion still attached to its placenta. The hawk is trying to get a piece of the placenta and the mom is keeping a watchful eye on the hawk. Wild America anyone? Just another day in the Galapagos... cheapest places in the world to go scuba diving, which was really the main reason for my visit. For two dives I paid 50USD which is pretty good but I actually think I paid less in the Philippines. The dives were also mediocre as the region had recently suffered much rain that swept soot into the ocean making visibility grainy. Nonetheless, it was great to get under the sea again as Canadian diving is, well, freaking cold.
From Taganga, I made my way further along the coast to Columbia’s famed city of Cartagena. The old city in Cartagena is probably one of the world’s most beautiful colonial cities. It is legendary for both its history and beauty. Founded in 1533, the city swiftly blossomed into the main Spanish port on the Caribbean coast and the gateway to the north of the continent. Treasure plundered from the Indians was stored here until it could be shipped (literally) back to Spain. As such, it became a tempting target for pirates and, in the 16th Century alone, suffered five dreadful sieges, the best known of which was led by Sir Francis Drake in 1586.
In response to the attacks, the Spaniards
Marine Iguana
A frequent site around the Galapagos (the beach too!) decided to make Catagena an impregnable port by constructing elaborate walls that encircle the town and a chain of forts, both which remain to this day (although the sieges have stopped). Today, Cartagena has grown beyond its fortified walls and vast suburbs flourish. In my view, only the old city is really worth visiting. It is, however, still a busy and bustling place and you have to watch your stuff, a lesson I learned very quickly…
Upon arriving into the old city from the bus terminal, I began looking for a hostel to lay my head. I had my massive backpack on my pack and a smaller pack on my front. It was a beautiful day. The sky was blue and the sun was at my back, casting a shadow off to my left at about a 45 degree angle. As I walked merrily along whistling aloud “You are my Sunshine”, I all of a sudden noticed that, to my left, another shadow decided to accompany my own. Attentive now, I kept an eye on my new friend. Sure enough, I see the shadow reach out toward my bag in the hopes of undoing the outer zipper. Immediately, I spun around and gave what I could now see was a stout and moustached Columbian, a great Canadian shove. After a brief staring match and a few mouthed Spanish swear words, the failed crook scampered off into the Cartagena streets. Oh what triumph! I must admit, I was rather pleased with my sleuthing. Anyway, I was sure to keep a close eye on my stuff (more so than usual) from then on in.
Besides this incident, I had a great time in the old city. There is not really much to “do” but walk around and take in the beautiful colonial architecture and visit a couple of markets. My favourite moment, however, was sitting in the shade in a small square at 9am in the old city’s centre - reading, writing, and drinking coffee bought from these guys who walk around the square, each holding four different thermoses: one with coffee and milk, one with coffee and sugar, one with just coffee, and one with coffee, milk, and sugar. Not quite as sophisticated as Starbucks, but tasty in the morning nonetheless!
After Cartagena, it was time to enter the final stage of my trip: the Galapagos Islands. You cannot get to the islands directly from Columbia, but have to go through Quito, Ecuador. This was fine by me as I wanted a day in Quito to try and book a boat tour through the Islands (the most common way to see them). Unfortunately, I arrived in Quito on a Sunday morning and every tour agent is closed on Sunday!! I should have known better as I had run into this problem in other countries around the continent (most notably with the car washers in Chile, see "Chilean Adventures" blog for more details). I was therefore stuck with my flight on Monday morning and left to try and find a tour once in the Islands. This did mean, however, that I got to spend a day wandering through Quito which was surprisingly nice. Cradled in a high Andean valley 2850 meters above sea level, Quito is really two cities in one. The new city is like another other metropolis, but the old city is a Unesco World Cultural Heritage Site, is majestically preserved, and dynamically South American. I had fun walking around and even found a nice market to buy some Christmas gifts.
Anyway, the next day I was off to the Galapagos! On the plane I met a 29-year-old Spanish guy named Pepe who was on a three-week holiday from his work in Madrid. Like me, he wanted to find a boat tour and do some scuba diving. Therefore, once in the main Galapagos town of Puerto Ayora on the island of Santa Cruz, we struck out together in the hopes of finding ourselves a proper adventure. Unfortunately, despite it being low-season, there were slim pickings! The only non-economy boat available with a good departure date (an “economy” boat being the same as one that is close to sinking) was a full on luxury yacht. Lucky for us, the yacht was brand-spanking new and the owners wanted to market the boat to various Galapagos agencies by making it available for a third of the price! Pepe and I signed up immediately. The boat was called the Athala and came with a Jacuzzi, champagne, amazing sleeping quarters, and five-star meals (rough life). Oh, what a way to end the trip! Anyway, I am getting a bit ahead of myself here because the boat tour took up only the last four days of the nine I had in Galapagos.
After the first day of tour shopping (and booking the Athala) and settling in, Pepe and I did three days of scuba diving based out of a dive shop in Puerto Ayora. The diving was amazing! Galapagos is known for its large-mammal diving. We saw countless sea turtles, sea lions, and sting rays, swam through a school of about a million salema (a medium sized fish), saw multiple white tip and bull sharks, eels, pufferfish, and sea horses. The highlights were, however, seeing a school of about 100 hammerhead sharks, swimming through a school of about 100 mobula (they look like baby manta rays), and actually seeing a giant manta ray with a wing span of 3 meters! Best of all, I can now say that I was scuba diving in the Galapagos on my 28th birthday - a real treat!
After three days of amazing dives, it was time to hop on the Athala for the remainder of my Galapagos adventure. Needless to say, Pepe and I were spoiled rotten. For four days we lived a lap of luxury while island hopping around the Galapagos. The tour itself was also great as we got to see all kinds of wildlife. My favourite was snorkelling because young sea lions would come and play and swim with you. I played this game with this one sea lion whereby he would try to swim around me so fast that I could no longer keep my eyes on him. He won.
Anyway, after a great four days it was time to come back home to Canada: Galapagos to Quito, Quito to Lima, Lima to San Jose (Costa Rica), San Jose to San Salvador, San Salvador to Toronto, Toronto to Calgary. I never want to fly again. But it’s good to be back! And it was a special treat to come back to my brother’s wedding because the whole family was together and I got to see everyone.
On this note, I bid you all farewell. Please note that blog "Chilean Adventures" now has pictures as I promised. Thank you to all of you who have read this blog and especially to those who posted notes for me to read. All the best until my next trip!
Adam
Advertisement
Tot: 0.084s; Tpl: 0.012s; cc: 13; qc: 50; dbt: 0.0368s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.1mb
Elia
non-member comment
A pleasure
Hi boy!It has been a pleasure to read your blog and enjoy with and learn from your experience. What's that u said about not taking a plane again!!!!????? U have to go back to Spain someday!!! La Manga and Madrid are waiting for your return! Lots of luv. Hope 2 have news from u soon!Take care!XXX