After more than two months in Venezuela it was finally time to continue towards Colombia. But the season was perfect for a trip to Los Llanos, the vast Venezuelan plains that we were already observing from the mountains and we couldn't just leave without visiting one of the best places to spot wildlife in South America. Before departing from Caracas we said goodbye to the friends we met during our stay there and without whom we would never have been able to see so much of what the country has to offer. Four months into our travels we sceptically decided to book our first organised trip. The agency was based in Merida and we have briefly talked with the owner Gustavo already before our Pico Bolivar trek. He remembered us when we called him (not difficult with the amount of foreign turists in the country) and gave us a good deal for the trip since two other people could join us and split the costs. We met the group in Barinas, where we mounted the agencies Land Cruiser and started the adventure. The road lead us through a large portion of Los Llanos, a beautiful flat countryside full of cattle ranches called "hatos". One of these would also be our accomodation for three days, from where we would make daily trips into the surrounding landscape to spot wildlife. Just before reaching our hato Gustavo stopped the car. In a river trench just nearby the road a big family of capybaras was calmy taking a dip. Once our car stopped they quickly disappeared in the water where we could also spot several caymans waiting for their opportunity. Immediately we got a feeling that some exciting days were in front of us.
1 Comment
Think about South America and once you are done with the Amazon rainforest, hot weather, exotic fruits and latino spirit you are bound to remember the longest mountain range in the world. The Andes are home to magnificent landscapes and form a massive geological barrier that influences the climate of the whole continent. They are a source of mystic stories and cultures, home to endangered wildlife and ecosystems and little did we know, that we could already encounter a glimpse of it all in the hot and lively Venezuela. From Caracas, we were happy to catch one of the unregular busses to the city of Merida paying less than 1,5$ per person for a whole night of driving. Venezuelans are very proud of their Caribbean coastline. On a weekend getaway with Emma and his friends, we could quickly understand why... The hot, lively athmosphere and tasty venezuelan rum are not only the most famous export materials of the region, but the locals enjoy both of them in large quantities as well. We spent two days in Chichiriviche from where we were visiting some of the beautiful little islands in Morrocoy national park. The weekends are just crazy there and tons of Venezuelans were migrating to the area, while stocking up on meat for the barbecue and alcohol to spice up the time. The Carribbean stereotypes come alive there with young and old usually standing chest deep in the water drinking mojitos or Cuba Libre while each of the groups on the beach listens to it's own mix of reggaeton. Most of them won't take a proper swim for the whole day :) Two days passed quickly and we had a beautiful first Caribbean experience even though the islands would probably have been way more charming without the weekend crowds. But our share of tranquility was coming soon enough since the guys dropped us off on the way back to Caracas so we could visit Henri Pitier national park. This stretch of land is a lush mountainous area that plummits to the sea on northern side thus forming beautiful secluded bays only accesible by boats. Apart from the scenery, the region is famous for it's high quality cocoa that is supposed to be the best in the world. A long and curvy bus-ride over mist covered mountains was separating us from Choroni village where we would get both of the trademark values. After a chocolate breakfast with brownies, muffins and a delicious cold chocolate drink we headed to the coast to fetch a boat towards Playa Cepe where we actually had our first accomodation reservation of the trip. We were surprised to find out the port was closed for traffic by the authorities because of dangerous waves at the port entrance. Just before we were about to give up, a fierce local fishermen quickly gathered some passengers to leave for the exact same beach we wanted to go. With the right timing and countless experience he pierced the foaming breakwater and we were "safely" on open sea. We arrived to Cepe beach unharmed thanks to another great action while exiting the ocean, the return passage however was in question. Apparently the guy really wanted to get home but he said he wasn't returning to Choroni in a while. We spent very relaxed days in Cepe as there was not a lot to do in the beachside village. The rough water conditions made it very difficult and dangerous to swim and the rain cancelled our laying on the beach plans. But we were able to enjoy the relaxed atmosphere and after three days, we needed a ride back to the port. The restaurant owner "Gato" who was taking care of our seafood cravings told us that early in the morning one of the boat owners might leave back for Choroni. We got up early not to miss the boat and waited with a dozen other people if any of many boats on the beach will actually set to sea. After more than two hours of insecurity a couple of young boys appeared to offer the ride back. We mounted the boat and once again faced the waters. Just a couple of hundred meters out, one of the engines died and the guys took a while to repaire it with Gasper's swiss-army knife. Returning to Choroni, we rediscovered a village completely flooded due to high tide and waves from the past days. There was debree everywhere and the boats were drawn into the streets to avoid being damaged. Once again we realised how lucky we were to escape troubles and managed to get back in time for another trip. Our last, but the sweetest of all Caribbean experiences was La Tortuga, a small island in the middle of the sea with similar turquoise waters as the famous Los Roques archipelago, but way easier to reach and enjoy. Once again Emma showed his generousity and took us to the island as a part of his crew. To reach La Tortuga, we once again had to trust ourselves to one of the local navigators. The small, simple pink boat with two medium sized outboard engines was clearly overloaded but after more than half an hour of arguing how we can lose some weight, we only ended up leaving a single 50L water barrel behind. This time the passage lasted for 5 intense hours of slamming the water and licking the ocean spray of the face, as we countered oposing current and waves. For a majority of time, the land was out of sight and we had to rely on a small compass and the senses of our pilots to safely reach the destination. We stayed at one of the keys surrounding La Tortuga, sleeping in tents on the beach and walking the white sand in the morning and evening to observe sunrise and sunset. During the day we were cooling off in the surrounding blue waters and looking for shade under simple beach shacks of the local fishermen. The nights were spectacular. With no lights for miles around, we could observe the stars on the sky and sparkling of the plankton in the sea. A true Caribbean fairytale. After a far more comfortable way back from the island, we had to say goodbye to the sea for a while since we were headed into the countryside for the Venezuelan part of Andes and the flatlands Los Llanos.
The tiny village of Pacaraima at La Linea (border between Brazil and Venezuela) probably hasn't seen that many people in years. Due to the economic situation in Venezuela the people are fleeing the country in high numbers and while most decide to exit into Colombia, there is a big wave of migrants at the brasilian border as well. We approched the security guard that was organising the long waiting lines for the customs office and somehow convinced him that we really don't need to wait for 8 hours just to leave the country. He made an exception although we weren't Brazilian citizens and the customs officer stamped our passports while decently speaking english with us. His comment that we are "making a leap of faith" travelling to Venezuela as backpackers was not calming at all and so we carefully walked the several hundred meters between the border checkpoints. Well, sort of... on the way we also exchanged some Brasilian reals for Venezuelan bolivares on the street and instantly became millionaires :) The situation with Venezuelan currency (Venezuelan Bolivar VEF) is extremely complex - it took us several weeks to actually understand and we will try to explain it in next blogs. Venezuelan officers didn't bother much for us being different than a usual visitor and so the border crossing only took a slight amount of time of what we imagined and heard from other travellers. Santa Elena de Uairen is a lively border town which blooms with illegal trade. Gold, silver and Bolivares can be bought on the street at every corner. We exchanged money all the time and never had any troubles even when the police or national guard (guardia) were around. Not only that they don't bother to intervene, they use the black market exchange themselves as well. There are many posadas and tourist agencies in town that offer more or less expensive tours to Roraima and Gran Sabana, but since the crisis began, several of the biggest already shut down their business due to lack of tourists. We wanted to avoid visiting Roraima with an agency anyway so we came well prepared. Reading about the lack of food in Venezuela, we already left Manaus fully packed with provisions for an isolated six day hike. Our meals were neatly packed in zip-lock bags, the fuel bottle for our little ethanol stove was full, raincovers and ponchos were close at hand, water purifier charged and although our backpacks felt like having stones in them our spirits were high. Because the visit of Mt. Roraima requires a guide, we contacted a local freelancer with good recomendations and met with him on the street to talk business. He couldn't take us to the mountain himself, but he offered to organise another guide for us that could also speak english (you will see why this is important in the next episode). We found accomodation at a german couchsurfer Niklas, that became fascinated with Venezuela, married a local, settled down in St. Elena and now owns a travel agency and a very nice cafeteria with the best coffee around. Already on our first day in the country, we experienced a part of venezuelan everyday life and had to go to bed without a proper shower due to the lack of running water. The day started with a nice cup of coffee (we were surprised observing seven year old scholars drinking espressos as a daily habit) and a guarantee from Niklas that our guide will be late. Not having been acustomed to the Venezuelan rythm yet, we got up an hour too early and waited for the guide to gather his food for another one (it was partly our fault booking a guide at the last minute). The Roraima journey commenced with a 4WD drive towards the mountain village of Paraitepuy. On the way, the silhouettes of the famous table-top mountains (tepuys) were already taking shape and the ever present fog was covering both of the neighbouring tepuys Roraima and Kukenan. The anticipation grew with every driven kilometer and once we arrived to the village it didn't take us long to put on our hiking shoes (our guide was satisfied with crocs), inscribe in the visitors book and start walking. The way to the summit usually takes three days, but we were pushing our guide to reach the top of the mountain already in two, because we wanted to have more time to explore the top. The path leads across the vast graslands of Gran Sabana, between the fires that have been a local routine for centuries and are the reason for the lack of trees across the whole area. The tepuys are therefore visible throughout the whole first day of hiking and appear like growing from the ground as you approach the feet of the mountain. The first day, we walked for five hours, crossing two rivers on the way (crocs came in handy for our guide at those points) and reaching Rio Kukenan camp-site. We planned to reach the top on the next day, so we started early and continued across the same landscape, but the path was getting steeper with every step. We stopped occasionally to catch our breath and admire the views of the mountain with the constantly moving clouds that condensed between the tepuys. During one of these moments, we caught a sight of a magnificent double rainbow arch forming just a short distance away from us that made the place feel like it was drawn for a cartoon. We reached the base-camp a whole hour faster than planned and took the whole hour to rest and relax - the toughest part was still in front of us. The climb to the summit is not technically demanding, but with more than twenty kilos in backpack and the first longer hike in months it was not a piece of cake. The way to the top of the mountain leads through thick tropical forests, that were too inaccessable to be burned down by the locals and the path winds its way along a steep ledge - the only part of the mountain side, that isn't pure vertical rock. At one point, you have to cross under a waterfall, at the other you can appreciate the views of the rocky mountain walls. We had to use all our power to get to the top and the last couple of hundred meters we basically crawled on all four. The trees were already gone at that point, and the characteristic black rocks already started to appear in strange formations. Our guide Fernando, that had been walking at least a couple of hundred meters behind us for the whole two days took the lead now to navigate us through mist and rocky blackness towards our accomodation. We camped at the hotel Indio, that might not include all of the comodities of other hotels, but sits the highest and offers the best views over the Gran Sabana with a marvelous sunset. By the way, a hotel on Roraima is just a simple rock with an overhang, that offers enough protection against the rain and winds to enable cooking and a comfortable sleep in the tent. Before getting to sleep, Fernando tried to scare us a bit with some spooky stories about the place and with the dark and mysterious surroundings, he might have succeded just a bit :) But we were too tired to be afraid anyway and after setting up the tent, cooking a simple dinner and freezing a bit in the chilly wind we squezeed ourselves in the sleeping bags and spent the first night on Roraima. In the next two days we explored the mountaintop to see some of the interesting spots that this crazy landscape has to offer. On the way towards the triple border of Brasil, Venezuela and Guyana we stopped for one of the best views of our lives. The air that was blowing over the edge of the cliff was cold and fresh - the mountaintop sits at around 2700m - and underneath, the immense Guyanaise jungle was spreading way into the distance with little white clouds gently moving over the treetops 400 meters below us. While enjoying the view of the neighbouring tepuy Kukenan, we could feel why these mountains were a source of mysteries for thousands of years. We continued our way towards El Posso, a big sinkhole that was carved into the stone during billions of years by one of the many mountain's streams. A jump into the Posso needs a bit of courage and is just as interesting as the way out, that leads through a tunnel and requires a little bit of climbing :) We also took a bath in natural pools called jacuzis, but the resemblance is purely in their shape, the water is freezing cold. In the evenings, while we were cooking and sharing our scarce food with Fernando who only took bread and hot sauce with him for the whole six days, we were listening to his stories about travellers getting lost on the mountain. Some of them only took a short walk from the hotel but couldn't find their way back when heavy fog suddenly rolled over in a matter of minutes. We also had a share of bad weather so we could't see all of Roraima's sights because visiting a viewpoint in fog really doesn't make sense. But we didn't care much - the place turned out to be more than we could ever expect and some facts about the mountains additionally blew our minds. Tepuys are the oldest mountains in the world and already took their shape in the time of Pangea when South America was still connected to the African continent. Due to their isolating shapes, the flora and fauna on top is completely endemic and scientists found some species whose DNA is more similar to their African relatives than the ones in South America. The rising number of turists are the reason that precautions to protect the environment also include taking all human excrements off the mountain. After the third night on Roraima, we therefore packed our stuff including a medium sized poo-bag and left the mountaintop. On our way down, we realised how lucky we were to be able to spend two full days as the only people on the mountain. Due to the carneval period, dozens of brasilian and venezuelan turists were on their way to the mountaintop. We couldn't believe the number of people we met on the way since for the whole four days before, we were practically alone. Back at the village, we counted 150 inscriptions after ours and Fernando told us, that people sometimes need to wait in the base camp for several days in order to get a free spot at one of the hotels on top. Pretty tired, we climbed a little hill to take the last view of the mountain and talked about coming back again sometime in the future and if possible bringing our friens or family to show them this amazing place. We came back to St. Elena full of energy and impressions. After packing out our stuff to leave it on the air for a bit we realised Gasper's smartphone is missing. He couldn't believe his stupidity - he barely used the phone on the mountain since there was no signal anywhere and still he was somehow able to lose it on the way... |
Timeline
February 2019
Categories
All
|