Gran Sabana
Santa Elena is in south eastern Venezuela in an area known as the Gran Sabana. The scenery was absolutely spectacular with green savanna dotted with clusters of palm trees and forest. The giant table top mountains called tepuis break the landscape. These mountains have almost no access routes and often sheer cliffs all around of several hundred metres. The animal and plant life found on them inspired the book and movie called "The Lost World." We were told that one can find a certain type of frog there that never jumps, but just walks!
Santa Elena is a small and pleasant border town. Diamonds and gold are big business. And the place had great pizzas! We stayed for 3 days and did a tour of the surrounding area with a wonderful local owner of a small tour company. It was a great day and we visited a few waterfalls and took in the scenery. The highlight was visiting a creek made out of Jasper!
Culture shocks: Fuel costs 4c US per liter, probably the cheapest in the world! Brazilian taxis line the filling station for several hundreds of metres. The exchange rate is fixed by the government and a black market resulted. Moneychangers often wear bright coloured clothes and stand at the busiest intersections and the authorities just turn a blind eye.
Santa Elena is a small and pleasant border town. Diamonds and gold are big business. And the place had great pizzas! We stayed for 3 days and did a tour of the surrounding area with a wonderful local owner of a small tour company. It was a great day and we visited a few waterfalls and took in the scenery. The highlight was visiting a creek made out of Jasper!
Culture shocks: Fuel costs 4c US per liter, probably the cheapest in the world! Brazilian taxis line the filling station for several hundreds of metres. The exchange rate is fixed by the government and a black market resulted. Moneychangers often wear bright coloured clothes and stand at the busiest intersections and the authorities just turn a blind eye.
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