Venezuela - the land of chaos

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In terms of general uselessness and chaos, Venezuela is light years ahead of any country we’ve visited so far. I shall try and explain. On our first 27-hour-should-have-been-20-hour bus journey, the bus actually ran out of petrol. Maybe it was the 90-minute-should-have-been-15-minute taxi ride at 1am trying to find a posada (hostel) that didn’t have a smidgen of a sign post out the front (and street signs were also non-existent). Or when we arrived for a boat trip, and they spent half an hour looking for the keys before we could set off. Or because several of the major tourist attractions in Merida were shut during the high season, and our tour guide only seemed to find out when we arrived to find them very much closed. Perhaps it was the fact that we reserved a room, in person, only to find that the reservation was forgotten two days later. It could be the lack of consistently running water in some hostels. Or the fact that the government built new houses for people whose houses were destroyed a year ago by a landslide, and hooked them up to an already overstretched power supply, causing almost daily power cuts. In protest over the lack of electricity, the residents set up roadblocks most days and robbed the passing trucks (and in the process turned a half hour bus journey into a two and a half hour bus journey).

Maybe it's because the beautiful beaches of the Mochima national park are littered with beer cans, coke bottles, crisp packets and used nappies. Or the 10kg luggage limit on an internal flight (that's barely a weekend away!) and the airline staff who, when you're waiting to get on said flight, in response to a question about which gate we need to go to, tell you to shut up. Maybe it was the three day kayak and camping trip (more about that later) during the rainy season when they fail to take enough tents for everyone. Or the secure locked area of the hostel where you can leave your stuff whilst on said kayaking trip, only to return three days later to find it very much unlocked with the doors wide open. It could be that our kayak guide who promised to come and help if the kayak capsized, raced so far ahead that we couldn't actually see him, so quite how he'd come and rescue me if I was drowning I don't know. Or maybe it was the fact that when flying out of Caracas, every flight bar one on the screen was delayed because of the inefficiencies of passport control (the duty free shops were deserted - heartbreaking) and that our actual flight out of Caracas was leaving from three different gates, depending which screen you looked at.

In truth, it was all just quite amusing really and in spite of all this, Venezuela is one of the most beautiful countries in South America. It has its own share of the picturesque scenery of the Andes which we visited near Merida, some stunning beaches with powder white sand and crystal clear waters, and the scenery around Angel falls was spectacular.

Catatumbo

We stayed on South America's largest lake, Maracaibo, in a little house on stilts out in the lake. My first experience of sleeping an entire night in a hammock was actually quite comfortable. I was a little bit wary having met some people who'd caught scabies from hammocks in central America, so made sure that I was fully clothed and protected against such potential hazards. About an hour from our house was a village called El Congo, built entirely on stilts in the water, complete with a church, a Plaza Bolivar (all Venezuelan towns seem to have a Plaza Bolivar, named after Simon Bolivar who liberated Venezuela, Colombia, Ecuador and Peru from the Spanish), a school and a fire station! All their water came from the lake, into which a lot of their waste goes I imagine, but apparently they don't get sick. I wasn't going to be swimming in that part of the lake though. The main reason for visiting Catatumbo is the unexplained lightning which occurs every night, continuously through the night. No thunder, no storm, just lightning; fascinating to watch. Unfortunately no photos of this - my little camera couldn't really handle lightning shots.

Angel Falls

Angel falls were discovered by Jimmie Angel in 1935. They are the tallest falls in the world at 979 m, with the longest single drop being 807 m. We took a six-man plane (including the pilot) to Canaima then it was a four-hour boat trip along the Rio Carrao until the falls came into view. It was rather a boisterous river - bit like upstream white-water rafting, with plenty of refrshing soakings along the way. The scenery along the way was quite different to anything I'd seen before - lush green ranforest on either side of the river with many plateaux looming in the distance, and it's from one of these that Angel Falls tumbles. After a mini-hike through the rainforest, there's a lookout over the falls and you can swim in the (very cold) pool at the bottom (not the pool from the 807m drop though!).

Lake Canaima, into which the Rio Carrao flows, has beautiful sandy shores and its water has a reddish tinge due to the high concentration of tannins. Bit like a giant cup of tea really (I miss tea.........). We took a short boat trip across the lake and walked to Sapo falls, where you can walk underneath the waterfall - a giant power shower! Obviously we got completely soaked and much fun was had by all. We then climbed up to sit in one of the pools near the top of the waterfall - a giant spa! My first time sitting in a waterfall - most enjoyable.

Mochima

Mochima national park is another beautiful region of Venezuela, situated on the Northern coast. It consists of a large number of islands in the Carribean with the dense green coastline of the mainland rising up from the sea in the distance. For better or for worse, it was decided to visit the islands by kayak, a tandem kayak, with a guide of course.

Day 1
This began with a two-hour kayak to the first island. My arms began to ache after about three seconds, which didn't bode well, but luckily the sea was quite calm, which made for (relatively) easy paddling. I was a little concerned about capsizing so decided not to wear the sort of black canvas skirt (I'm sure there's a technical name) that seals around your waist and around the hole that you're sitting in. That way I could make a quick escape at a moment's notice. Luckily the kayaks had some Tardis-like features for the three days' worth of food and water, camping equipment, sleeping bags and dry clothes. After a relaxing two hour rest, it was back in the kayak. Being the rainy season, it started to rain, just in the distance, though the sea had gotten quite choppy. I was hoping to out-paddle the rain - almost, but not quite. Was also bit worried that without the big skirt seal thing the hole would fill with water, sink the kayak and I would drown. Luckily this didn't happen. We soon reached the safety of Isla la Caracas where we had the island to ourselves for the night; just us, the mosquitos and the puri-puri (little annoying midges). In true Captain Jack Sparrow style there was a bottle of rum passed around for that truly desert island feel.

Day 2
We kayaked non-stop for five hours. There's little more to be said really. I eventually learned to paddle through the pain, thus requiring less frequent rests, allowing speedier travel, and increasing the chances of successfully avoiding the afternoon rain. Which we did. We camped on the beach of Isla Arapo but had to wait for the daytrippers to leave before putting up the tents. The beaches were beautiful, but there was just so much litter. The water was crystal clear - perfect for snorkelling, just a shame there were crisp packets and polystyrene trays buried amongst the coral. By the evening, sitting around the campfire, we were all set to enjoy the octopus that the Italian couple on our trip had caught, when the rain came. This was when the discrepancy between the number of available tent spaces and the number of people became a bit of a problem and one of the guides had to go back for the night and come back again the next morning!

Day 3
A lot more leisurely. Beach time, and some snorkelling at La Piscina, where I met very friendly little blue fish. Just a short Kayak back to Playa Colorado.

Los Roques

Another national park of little islands scattered in the Carribean. Beautiful white sandy shores, crystal clear turquoise water and some excellent snorkelling. Most islands were too small to be inhabited and are visited by daytrips from Gran Roque. Inspired by our kayak trip, we decided to camp on the beach. And also because it was free; just us a few other campers, the mozzies, the caterpillars that just got everywhere and a little lizard that took to inhabiting my boot. The first night I hadn't properly DEETed myself and woke up with approximately 90 mosquito bites, including 37 on my right arm. This was mainly due to the fact that somebody opened the tent door in the middle of the night, although to be fair the tent did resemble an overheated sauna.

We visited several little islands, a couple of them housing large populations of lizards. Relaxing on the beach, you'd just doze off, then a lizard crawls on top of you. I have to admit to letting out a few girly squeals - not that I dislike lizards, just not used to them jumping on me when sunbathing. We also made an exciting pharmaceutical discovery. After a couple of days sitting in the shade wearing factor 60 and still feeling sunburnt, we deduced that we were both suffering from doxycycline-induced photosensitivity. Fancy that eh?

One of the islands, Dos Moquises (which definitely had more than dos mosquitos) had a turtle sanctuary where they breed turtles and release them into the ocean at one-year old. I think I have discovered the world's cutest animal - baby turtles. One month old about 10 cm long scurrying around with so much zest. Soooo cute. Unfortunately my small camera had died that morning so I was reduced to taking photos with my mobile phone. After a 24-hour stint in Caracas airport, it was bye bye to South America, and hello to Central America.

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Photos

El Congo
the village on stilts

Standing in Sapo falls
a giant spa!

The beaches of Isla Arapo
Mochima National Park

Another of the waterfalls near Canaima
don't you think the water looks like tea?

Walking underneath Sapo falls
herbal essences eat your heart out

Comments

[Rob]

suffering...
... from doxycycline-induced photosensitivity - I know exactly what you mean; it's such a pain!!