Hello loyal followers! Yes, it has been a long time since i last wrote, it seems travels, illnesses and holidays all got in the way. Since I am still weak from illnesses, I might as well write and yes probably too lengthy about what has been going on.
THANKSGIVING/ANGEL FALLS
(short disclaimer: we didn't hire a fancy or well known tour company but a local Pemon indian who was striking out on his own....hence our trip was a bit "rougher" or "local")
We went with our new friends Jim and Linda Forrest on a fun adventure to Southern Venezuela. We didn't do the quick trip to Angle Falls (the highest water falls in the world and the basis for the movie UP), but added a couple of days to the trip and traveled on rivers down to the falls through the jungle. We started off by arriving at the small airport 3 hours away, to our awaiting flights. We jumped into 5 seater planes, with door handles falling off, non functioning seatbelts et al, ( I just thought to myself, "well, what good is it going to do anyway?") and within 2 seconds we were airborne. We landed on a grass airstrip at the Kavac camp where we stayed in traditional Pemon Indian huts. This was also a place where the artists from UP stayed to get some of their inspiration. Part of the day's itinerary was to hike up a creek in a gorge, and see a waterfall in a cave. The hike was gorgeous with beautiful water that had been coming down from the Tepuyee mountains (the mesa-like mountains that are unique to this area). Clouds started to form, and the Pemon indians who speak English as their 3rd language, mentioned "if there is a flashflood, be ready to run." Of course, that did not stop us, as we swam, hiked, bouldered up the gorge with hanging ferns,jungle vegetation, unique red/orange iron rocks and flowing crystal clear water.
As it started to rain just a tad, we were swimming to the last corner to see the cave when all of a sudden we literally watched waterfalls start from top to bottom (like turning on a faucet) begin to fall around us. Of course, the first thing out of all the ignorant white people's mouths (us) was "wow, that is soooo COOL!". The first thing out of the Pemon's mouth's was "SWIM,RUN, FAST, BACK!." A Pemon indian, who was almost the size of Xela, grabbed her like a football and took off, We all got back as fast as possible to high ground and watched the "creek" turn into a raging class 4-5 rapids river. Seriously in minutes! Our backpacks were farther down the river where we had left them up in trees and the side drainages to the creek(which had been dry) were now raging rivers too so we were stuck there for about an hour and a half waiting for the water to go down. We proceeded to get bitten alive, hence I believe that is where I contracted dengue fever (later on that story).
We had a gorgeous night looking at the jungle stars, skies like Montana's. The next day, we headed out to our dug out canoe's that "Peter" our 23 year old Pemon entrepeneur arranged for us. He usually didn't explain how things were going to go, we just kinda followed him. We eventually figured out that our co-travelers were usually a "cousin" or "brother" who needed a ride or relayed information or worked for Peter. Peter is a great guy, and had tons of information but to them it is natural and the norm to go with the flow and not explain why we were making "another stop" on the river. There are no internet cafes, cell phone services or even radios. Word of mouth is the way of communicaiton......we learned the river way and how everyone communicates. On our boat was the driver (he had a small engine) his wife, their 4 year old son, teenage daughter,and a few other guys. We stopped to deliver some things at various places (one time to drop off a homemade juice and in exchange a shotgun was brought onto the boat- we never saw it again), dropped a guy off or picked someone up here or there and to stop and chat in Pemon. The whites just stared and wondered. One stop involved a big plastic jug of fermented Yuka that looked exactly like oatmeal. Basically midafternoon the gang was having happy hour. No, none of us took them up on the offer of a sip.
The Pemon run things in Canaima National Park and that is the way they like it. They feel if the government or police or military get involved it will only bring corruption. And it was true, the Pemon are very humble and nice people. We felt like we were out of Venezuela. We felt safe and totally relaxed. The river was amazing. Flowing and flat yet huge rapids every once in a while. We walked around the rapids as the boats are very wooden, long and narrow, and they can only go through with the driver. We watched in awe as the boat's bow, midsection flung itself thru the rapids. Also wondering what was going to happen to our stuff if the boat flipped. We noticed the fermented yuka always got taken out!
Funny story: We took a flat hike through a savannah type area, with Tepuyee's in the back ground. It felt and looked just like Africa. There was an "old" grass airstrip. Peter said it "use" to be used, but now since beer is banned from the park, it was currently being used for smuggling beer. All four American adults said at the same time: "that's not the only thing the airstrip is used for smuggling." There was even a hull of a crashed plane still there. Mostly stripped of course, but still cool.
The Pemon have built nice open wooden encampments for their tourists and our second night, Thanksgiving, was in a beautiful jungle setting next to the river. Thanksgiving was chicken roasted over the fire, salad, rum and cookies. Perfect.
We arrived the next day at Angel Falls where there was a terrible cloud cover. We were suppose to hike up to the falls lookout that day, but Peter thought we wouldn't see anything. I convinced him to please let us hike as we have been in the boat for 2 days...simply for the hike. So off we went, and we were lucky! The clouds broke and we got beautiful views. You can't get close because the water is pounding into the rocks. We all had a fitful night sleep in our hammocks, it gets damp and clammy at night, and even though we had long sleeves, pants and sheets it couldn't keep the coolness away. We were able to get great sunrise pics and off down the river again.
We stopped at the "wellness of hapiness" water fall which Linda named. Actual name: Well of happiness. To walk through the pounding water fall and jump into the pool of water. The kids loved that. We arrived in the town of Caniama where many of the Pemon live and made a cool trip to Salto El Sapo, a huge long waterfall that you can actually walk behind. It was more thrilling than a Disney ride! It hit every sense you have, the noise, the water drenches you, your visability, slippery, scary....it was screaming (literally) fun! It took more than 10 minutes to walk the whole way. That night, we stayed in a cute posada with hot showers and warm beds YEA and were surprised that the sitting US Ambassador was there as well. So, we were lucky to be the only other diners there to sit and hear a performance of the famous Venzuelan children's symphony. They had just started a charter in Canaima, and they performed for the ambassador and US! They were amazingly talented and it was an incredible experience. Next day, off to the Disneysize ride airplanes and back to PLC.
Wednesday, January 12, 2011
Saturday, November 20, 2010
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