Santa Elena, Venezuela Travel Blogs

Trekking on Roraima
May 20, 2006 (29 photos)

... to the area. First day in Santa Elena Rachel and I begin our expedition to the summit in the litte Venezuelan town of Santa Elena just a stones throw from the Brazilian border. It seems that there is no shortage of companies offering to take us to ...

You're running out of money sonny.
Feb 25, 2005 (2 photos)

So I am on a 15 hours night bus ride heading north from Manaus to Santa Elena de Uairen, a small town in Venezuela on the border with Brazil. The air condition is turned on max, and everyone seem to have blankets, sleeping bags or jackets to cover ...

The Worst bus Journey
May 19, 2006

... leather security tag as a receipt. This will help to make sure that no one runs off with our bags once we arrive at Santa Elena. Our first problem of this nightmare journey begins when we are told that we cannot bring a "mochila", or daysack onto the ...

when visas expire: tyson strips
Dec 7, 2005 (3 photos)

1 December, 2005 When Visa's Expire: Tyson Strips Santa Elena, Venezuela - One of my goals before leaving Brazil was to be able to reach up and pluck a sweet mango off of a tree and eat it whole right where I was standing. I constantly bothered the ...

The Final Leg!!
Mar 26, 2005 (2 photos)

Bienvenidos Venezuela! Crossed the border into Venezuela via Santa Elena after the night bus to Boa Vista. First thing to see was the Gran Sabana (a vast rolling grassy highland dominated by Tepuis) so we booked a two day trip which would allow us to ...

La Linéa
Oct 19, 2009 (6 photos)

... the policeman who told me I could not change money on a Sunday, and there were no cash points for miles (despite someone in Santa Elena telling me otherwise :@)  As shared taxi fares and bus prices to Boa Vista were pretty much the same in price, but ...

Dinosaur Hunting
Jul 1, 2009 (6 photos)

... none of the falls were serious thank goodness, only a couple scratches to remember the trip by. Last night we arrived back in Santa Elena, and awoke this morning to get a glimpse of old age. Both of us are taking several minutes to climb few steps, with ...

and the work begins (yeah right)
Dec 22, 2004 (4 photos)

... there to do mass shopping because it´s cheaper (the local Cosco) and we just tagged along. Not very interested, a lot like Santa Elena, but more Brazilian tshirts. This afternoon we went to a child care facility to update the playground. Right now, the ...

Venezuela and Mount Roraima
May 27, 2008 (9 photos)

... day and until we reached our ´hotel´!! This basically was a cave! We went on a excursion to the highest point to view Venezuela but alas the cloud had covered th scene once again. Nevertheless it was brilliant being above the clouds looking down. It was a ...

The Lost World
Mar 28, 2009

... buses to get to Belem, a flight from Belem to Manaus and then about 22 hours more bus time to Santa Elena which is just across the border in Venezuela. A tiring few days of traveling with little highlights bar a piece of a day spent cruising around the ...

I'm dreaming of a wet Christmas
Dec 28, 2004 (3 photos)

... , which would have been fine, except the tent we were borrowing leaked a bit. The next day we spent 8hrs hiking back to Santa Elena, again getting caught in some downpours. This isn't any Seattle rain, this is full on drenching. It was fun to get out ...

Arrival in the Gran Sabana
Jul 2, 2005 (2 photos)

Our bus left Puerto Ordaz about 10pm and got to Santa Elena about 7 the next morning. The ride felt long, and wasn't very comfortable. For entertainment, every 3 hours or so throughout the night, we were stopped at military checkpoints where 18 year olds ...

Travel Day
Sep 29, 2006

As soon as we got off the plane we caught a taxi into town. The driver took us to the bank to get some money and to drop of Lukas and Marjan as they were staying here and going to Roraima. It was very sad to leave another new set of friends. The driver ...

Konecne Venezuela
Sep 13, 2007 (5 photos)

Na lodi jsem automaticky ztravila cast casu s ostatnimi turisty, Nemcem, Americanem, Mexicanem a Japoncem, abych je behem poslednich nekolika minut plavby presvedcila o krasach mist, ktera hodlam ve Venezuele navstivit a  ...

Roraima
Apr 3, 2007

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Exploring the lost world of Roraima
Dec 23, 2007 (11 photos)

Our next trip was a six-day trek up the famous tabletop mountain called Roraima. Southeast Venezuela is covered with this type of mountain, called tepuis, of which Roraima is the highest at 2800 metres. There was some confusion about what the ...

Six day trek up Mount Roraima
Sep 15, 2009

Our adventures in Venezuela started with a six day trek up Mount Roraima, a crazy table top mountain that soars out of flat plains surrounding it. I`m no geologist, but it`s quite spectacular. It was written about as the Lost World by Arthur Conan Doyle, ...

Our First Month in Santa Elena. Work Work Work...
Aug 1, 2005 (7 photos)

... with the clean up, so the mayor had opened up the town hall complex, as a temporary refuge. The poorer neighbourhoods in Santa Elena had been expanding down towards the river, and it was these homes that suffered most. The English class was thus ...

border crossing to brasil!
Jul 13, 2006

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Tchau Brazil, Ola Venezuala
Jul 27, 2007 (3 photos)

... We head to bed exhausted both physically and emotionally, we feel really homesick for the first time. There was nothing to keep us in Santa Elena, the tour to Roraima (a flat topped mountain called a Tepui - the basis for Sir Arthur Conan Doyle´s ´The Lost ...

Sleeping on the sea bed
Feb 19, 2006 (17 photos)

... go down and empty your bag or show your passport. I'm sure they just did it because they were bored! We finally arrived in Santa Elena and found ourselves a posada for the night. But before even finding time for breakfast, one tour agency was asking if we ...

I conquered Roraima!
Feb 4, 2008 (33 photos)

... next:  Brazil!  Crossing the border tomorrow with the German couple on our tour to try to figure out a amazon tour.  Venezuela was amazing and there is still so much of it that we didn´t get to see.  Maybe for my next adventure.  ...

Santa Elena de Uairen
Oct 10, 2007

... and had to blag her way over the boarder! Anyway, we picked her up again (just me and her on a massive bus) and made our way to Santa Elena de Uairen. Santa Elena de Uairen is a bit of a ghost town and although I wanted to arange a treck here I decided ...

Broken down in the Gran Sabana
Jan 25, 2007

Bus broke

Trouble abrewing!
Nov 5, 2009 (13 photos)

... in mystery. Since leaving Caracas any previous flying experience has gone out of the window. Our next flight from Canaima to Santa Elena, further south on the Brazilian border was no different. And we were expecting problems with our bags again as a 6 ...

Georgetown to Venezuela
Oct 20, 2006

... retches I got to see the savanna, which looked like I imagine Africa does... Went all the way through to the south of Venezuela as there is nothing to see in that part of Brazil, although there was a problem at the border and the other foreigners I ...

Santa Elena de Uairen
Sep 2, 2006 (3 photos)

... dalle nubi, i tepuy. Prima che arrivasse "la civita´" la sabana era popolata dalla popolazione di indios pemon.Santa Elena e´vicinissima a una piccola catena di queste montagne che i pemon hanno battezzato con nomi fantasiosi..l'indio che dorme, l'albero ...

Making my way to Santa Elena and Volunteering
Jan 28, 2006 (5 photos)

... a gringo (white man) I had a FULL bag search! Whilst I was being inspected another officer inspect over 20 other people!!! Santa Elena and trouble with the police.... Arrived at the volunteer grounds at 8.30am on a Saturday, by 9.30 I was aboard a ...

In the Land of the Falls
Nov 19, 2007 (20 photos)

... famous for indigenous heritage, stunning and ever-mystical tabletop mountains or "tepuis" and countless of beautiful waterfalls. Once in Santa Elena, after crossing the border from Brazil, all the travel agencies were closed. I was interested in doing a ...

Santa Elena the Gran Sabana
May 24, 2006

the Gran Sabana water falls and table top mountains two days