WEEK FIFTY FIVE, CASH, CAMPING, CHATTING!
Trip Start
Jan 17, 2008
1
12
44
Trip End
Dec 31, 2008
Rio Caribe,
Venezuela
Thursday, April 3, 2008
The next day we got our Venezuelan visa´s, a very efficient, quick and easy affair, fixed the van up and hit
the road to the boarder! The drive was smooth and through lots of lovely
mountainous scenery but it was bloody hot out and the sun was beating
down on us. Then we crossed the equator and stopped to do lots of silly
photo posing, one leg in the southern hemisphere and one in the north,
spring and autumn and the like! It equator is just a yellow line
painted diagonal across the road! But it was very cool to see! We could also see Guyana from the road and the deep dark forest that separates it from Brasil and Venezuela! I would have loved to have gone to Guyana but it is so out of the way it would have taken so much time and money, but maybe next time round!
After crossing the equator we then crossed the boarder into Venezuela.
After getting out visa´s stamped leaving Brasil and entering Venezuela and all that formal stuff we made our
way to the nearest town and booked into a hostel for the night. The Brasil Venezuela border crossing is so slack. In fact we actually didn't even get stopped leaving Brasil, but myself and Ryan decided, after getting our Venezuela entry stamp to walk back to the Brasil side to get our exit stamp in case we ever wanted to come back to Brasil as it would just make things easier! Evan had over stayed his visa for Brasil so didn't get his stamped and therefore got away with some fine he was told he would have to pay! Anybody can so easy walk across the two borders here with no paper work, stamps or even getting stopped and asked any questions! Mental! Literally a painted line on the road separates Portuguese speaking Brasil from Spanish speaking Venezuela!
Anyways, a new day and a new hot South American country, Venezuela.
Famous for beauty queens, oil and Chavez the dictator leader. Whatever,
I never heard of him before. We decided to spend the day in the duty free frontier town of Santa Elena de Uairen. We checked in to a hostel and spent the day looking into tours to the
highest waterfall in the world, Angel Falls and doing a five day hike
up a very high mountain, well the boys wanted to do that, I just wanted
to see the pretty waterfall. Turns out that it is the dry season and
the waterfall is just a trickle of water and the mountain trail is
being closed for repairs. How typical. So we decide to make our own
tour and head out into the great Venezuelan wilderness by ourselves.
But first we need money.
Chavez has controlled all the exchange rates
in Venezuela. There is no such thing as the stock market or exchange
rates. He has set the rates himself and they stay the same no matter
what, so there is a huge black market for foreign currency where you
can sometimes get up to three times the official Chavez rate. So we
drove back to Brazil to get as much Brazilian money out as we could and
then came back and changed it for twice as much off the dealers on the
street. It is crazy. So if anybody is coming to Venezuela make sure you
bring enough Euros or US Dollars, although Euros are better value, to
cover your whole stay here cause if you use the ATM you will lose so
much money. We then joined a stupidly long queue to get petrol but when
we handed over our money to pay for 40 liters of high octane petrol it
came to 60 cents, yes 60 cents, how crazy is that?
The next day we hit the road and had two new travel buddies with us,
Ben and Shelly, a couple from Perth Western Australia. We drove through
an area known as the Gran Sabana, which was an area of rolling fields
of green and giant grey slabs of mountains called Tepuis. We tried to
drive to the top of a plateau over rivers and through ditches and
craters and up sheer gravel hills and we almost made it too but the
last bit proved too steep for FOXPAW, the name of our van, and she
rolled back down the hill. It was amazing what the van could do as
where we were trying to drive to was reserved for 4 x 4 Jeep tours but
we did it in a 1980 VW Combie with five people in it, oh the laughs we
had. FOXPAW and the Foxpaw Five!
We basically went in to the backpackers tour guide office across the road from our hostel and got a map and itinery of there 4 x 4 jeep tour and we did it ourselves! It was so much fun and the nature, scenery, waterfalls, everything were unspoilt, empty and magnificent! One of the best, if not the best thing I have done on my travels so far! The link is to the map and tour we followed!! http://www.backpacker-tours.com/images/pdf/Backpacker-Tours-PocketMap.pdf
On our tour of the Gran Sabana we slid down the rocks of one waterfall,
went to a typical Indian Village, and for our first night camped
outside under the stars in our hammocks by a lovely river. We had a
great night cooking over a lone flame, drinking whiskey, listening to
music and chatting the night away to the sounds of nature in the dark
and in the morning we got up for sunrise over the giant mountains and I
went for a sunrise wash in the river, very very cool. I felt like I was
in an advert for some tropical shampoo! We then drove to a 50 meter
water fall and hiked down for a swim in its cascade pool, it was all so
serene and beautiful until we had to hike back up the 50 meters and I
thought I was going to die and be left for dead!!
After another day
cooped up in the van in the unrelenting heat and another 4 x 4 Jeep
scramble up and over some impossible dirt tracks and hills we finally
made camp by a gorgeous fast flowing river, by a low hanging tree,
surrounded by hills. The sky was so dark and clear that I spent the
night by the camp fire just looking up for shooting stars.
The next morning we packed up and left the van at the campsite and set
off to Salto Toron a 70 meter waterfall and 40 min hike away through
the open fields. It roar of the falls was impressive and but the hike
down was so steep we had to use our hands to help us, I was dreading
the hike back up! I had decided to wear my runners for the hike but
forgot to put on any socks so by the time I got to the bottom my heals
were cut to ribbons and my white trainers were a new shade of crimson,
thoroughly soaked with blood! But it was worth it to see the waterfall.
It was a stepped shelved 70 meter rise of red rock with a curtain of
white fresh water crashing off the top shelf. I was itching to climb it
and feel all that cold water pressure pound over me. But first we made
lunch sitting on the rocks in the pool just looking up at the water and
sky and wondering why nobody else was here enjoying this amazing site,
yet thankful that we had the place to ourselves!
After tuna on crackers Ryan climbed up into the waterfall, shortly followed by Evan. I watched
them lark about and play air guitar on the ledge before I scrambled
over the rocks and started climbing up to join them. Ryan tried to hold
me hand to cross the falls and show me the way, I just scoffed, he
obviously doesn't know me that well if he thinks I would ever accept
help, especially from a boy and that I would ever except guidance from
anyone! I guess he thought I would be afraid but oh no I went as far as
both boys did and then some and then started my Karate Kid routine and
balanced on one leg! Hold my hand my arse! Come on! I then climbed up
to the next level and again went further under the falls than I should
have but when you are faced with adventure you just have to go hard or
go home!
The climb back up was hard and my legs were shaking like jelly. Must
remember this next time we decide to hike down, that we have to hike
back up! We then walked a long hot walk back to the van and hit the
hills and dirt tracks again and spent the next 5 hours on the road till
we came to a camp site for the night. This camp site actually was a
legit place with a bar and a TV and shelter so we hit the bar for some
ice cold beers and some Law and Order and Dr House before climbing into
our hammocks under the stars and rocking off to sleep.
The next day we drove through more fields of green, although a lot of
them were on fire, that is what they do here, slash and burn the
fields. The fields we not full of crops just lots of white horses and
cows. We think they are all white because the black animals would just
feel the heat too much but we are not sure. We then stopped for a
traditional Venezuelan lunch of salad, plantain, rice and spit roast
meat washed down by small icy beers. Delicious!
We spend the night in a
car park sleeping in the van. The next day our 5 hour journey turned
into 11 and I am was fed up and tired and my arse was red raw from
sitting down on the leather seats all day. It was hot, there was no air
con and we were driving in the dark down dirt tracks that led to
nowhere. All I wanted was to get out and stay one night in a place with
running water and not a river to brush my teeth in. Finally we stop and
checked into an expensive hostel but I don't care how much it cost it
was worth it for one nights decent sleep. As soon as I freshened up
we headed out into the rain and had more Venezuelan food, rice, salad
and meat and lots of beers, well I did anyways. But the town was dead,
nothing to do so we all head back to the room and were in bed by 9pm.
Sometimes traveling can be so boring!!
