Venezuela and Mount Roraima
Trip Start
Mar 18, 2008
1
7
Trip End
Ongoing
Santa Elena de Uairen,
Guayana Highlands,
Venezuela
Tuesday, May 27, 2008
What a great time. From the very first day when we headed to base camp and got totally soaked in the heaviest rainstorm ive ever encountered to finally reaching the summit. I was lucky enough to have a great tam with me. Ok there were language problems from time to time but im used to that being in South America! The scenery was breathtaking and throughout the trek we always had the ominous sight of Roraima ahead of us. I kept wondering how we would ever scale it! In and out of the clouds it would appear. It seems Roraima has its own weather system and this can be very unpredictable. Well actually i could predict one thing...rain! Us English are used to that though.
on the way to Roraima
It took until end of day 2 until we finally reached the base of Roraima and again i wondered how the hell we would get up it. I was also wondering how my clothes would ever dry in the misty damp atmosphere. Not to worry though as i always had our guides great food to look forward to. I was hoping to lose a few pounds on this trip but im not so sure now!
Climbing Roraima meant we had to pass through the cloud forest, crossing streams and watching our footing on the slippery rocks and tree roots. We plodded on though. I was determined to keep one set of clothes dry so damp me and the rest finally reached the summit around 11 am. Its a strange place for sure. Black rocks as far as the eye can see coupled with pools of rainwater so it was a ´jump from rock to rock´ strategy for the rest of the 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 little cold on top but Roger´s coffee soon warmed us up. A night sleeping on top of Roraima was one to remember. Cracked opened a beer in celebration.
The only way was down after that and so we headed back to base
Cooling off
. All relativaly incident free until we got back to the meeting point. Well me first around 2.40pm followed by the rest of course! Where was our transport? The guide didnt know either. The hours passed and still no joy. 6 oclock and we decided to go into the village and watch Terminator in spanish with the locals followed by old 80s Venezuelan music vidoes. I just cannot do them justice by describing them! While all this went on we were promised a ride back home in a coal truck..well basically on the back of it once it had shed its load at the village! We were sceptical of this but it actually turned into the best part of the day. Hanging on for dear life we downed rum and arrived back at Santa Elana around 9.Oh and i met some lovely Polish folk on the trek too. Just thought i'd mention them!
A fine tour.
Comments
Polish crew
Hey, you forgot to mention the fantastic Polish crew! We were there!!!