Jungle Bound
Trip Start
Jul 27, 2005
1
6
16
Trip End
Sep 04, 2005
Ciudad Bolivar,
Venezuela
Wednesday, August 3, 2005
The posada La Casita is 11km outside Ciudad Bolivar in a suburb bizarrely named "24 de Julio" and seemingly run by descendants of Hitler - only a little more anal. Location is spectacular with lots of individual bungalows (VEB$30,000/GBP10) and open-air hammocks (VEB$6,000/GBP2) surrounded by trees
a Capybira at the posada
. I think the place was part zoo, the owner had accumulated some animals from the Venezuelan Rain forest (completely illegal, but money talks apparently!!), one corner of the grounds is occupied by two large caged enclosures housing a long since tamed Capybara and small family of monkeys - not so house trained it would seem, since one of them took a nibble at a young Venezuelan guest.The posada is also home to two other residents, a Toucan who is intent on having a peck at anything in beak range (strangely drawn to garden furniture, maybe the green plastic reminded it of home) and a Parrot which may or may not have been multilingual but it had mastered a human laugh... very disconcerting!
The rest of the afternoon was spent lounging by the pool, avoiding the rather large spiders in the grass and swapping stories with other sun-bathing travellers. Dinner was a communal affair - very entertaining as Hitler was ordering everyone where to sit! "you vill sit there, und you vill sit here!"... Never seemed to be pleased.
Pieter, with the help of his sidekick Jochen, also runs a tour agency called Gekko tours. They both speak good English. The main reason for our visit here is to head off to Canaima, the main departure point for Angel Falls (Salto Angel)
A river runs through it... the Venezuelan Amazon
. We start to realise that Pieter has a captive market here since he also owns the planes that fly there!! (A bargain tour at US$250 each). That evening we sit and wait for our briefing, we´re told of our 6.30am SHARP! start and all the red-tape we need to go through at the airport before getting on the plane... 2 hours later, watching Jochen smoke rollies like they´re going out of fashion and Pieter drink beer like his life depended on it, the only thing we really understand is that we will be given chicken cooked on an open fire by the Indians. Oddly, he said it will be one of the most memorable parts of the trip, he didn't really appreciate me referring to it as "Canaima Fried Chicken", must´ve lost something in the translation.. off to bed.The bungalows are cosy with palm branch roofs and a bead curtain separating the bedroom from the bathroom. As bedtime approaches, the only sound are the crickets/secadas (we think) and the gentle hum of Mosquitoes out hunting and gathering... ooh no mossie nets on windows or above the bed, fortunately we came prepared, it was the virgin outing for our net and it worked beautifully! A good night's sleep with nothing going chomp in the night... Thanks Chris.
