Venezuela

We avoided Caracas like the plague as it has a serious reputation for being the most dangerous city in South America (along with Rio de Janeiro). We managed to fly from Carupano (close to Playa de Uva) to Simon Bolivar airport, some 25km outside Caracas. We found a place to stay close to the airport and everything worked out fine. (Good we did not try to go to Caracas as one of the bridges of the highway to the city collapsed and travel time to the city is now about 2hrs.)

Today we checked into our Havana bound flight just to be told that the flight has been delayed for 4 hours. Thank you very much. We managed to phone from the airport and arranged accommodation in Havana, a prerequisite for being allowed into Cuba! We further manged to get a tourist card for Cuba at the airport without any hassles (no visa is needed, but you need to buy a tourist card). Our flight should leave within 2 hours and we are very excited!

Culture shocks: Venezuelan ATMs are pretty useless and even locals warned us to only draw money inside the bank - a process that can take up to a few hours. Airport tax was a whopping US$55 per person! No further comment.

Travel for the past couple of weeks has been driven and taxing. While we were hoping to catch an anaconda or 3 in Los Llanos while in Venezuela, we soon realized that the combination of high season here as well as the heavy rains (less easy wildlife viewing) made our options far less than ideal. So instead we decided to take a break and head to the beach for a much needed rest from it all. We pushed way beyond the limits of our budget and booked ourselves into Playa de Uva - a tiny beach resort to the north of Venezuela - the Caribbean sea.

Our first night on arrival in Rio Caribe (the nearest town) was great as we stayed in a really good inn - Villa Antillana. Janine was especially impressed with the architecture, the excellent breakfast and, especially, the two puppies and one cat that belong to the inn! The manager treated us really well and dropped us off at Playa de Uva the next day. Our 3 days there were like heaven on earth. While the lodge, like most things in Venezuela, was not exactly value for money - we still had the most delightful time lazing next to the pool or in the hammock, enjoying the beaches, eating excellent food and just doing lots and lots and lots of relaxing. The weather was perfect and it seemed that every time we retired to our wonderfully airy bungalow the tropical rains would begin to pour - magical. It was probably the most battery-recharging time we have ever experienced.

It seems that whenever we go off to look at a waterfall we always get more than what we bargained for. The Angel Falls in Venezuela was the waterfall that exceeded our expectations the most. Recognized as the highest waterfall in the world, this 976m column of water attracts visitors from everywhere - and especially at this time of year. Inaccessible by roads, we were part of a group of about 30 tourists who made our way, first by a 70 minute 5-seater Cessna flight, then by a 5 hour boat ride to a camp at the base of the falls. The boat ride was excellent fun (although long and rather uncomfy on the exterior) and we arrived drenched at our hammock camp with the late afternoon and evening all ours for relaxing, swimming, chatting with new friends, staring at the falls and good eating.

We were blessed with excellent weather. No rain (except at night and for a brief spell on our journey back) - which is exceptional for Venezuela now. Relatively cool temperatures, good water temperature and, to Johan's delight, no plaguing insects. What struck us the most about this 3 day trip was the scenery. The area is full of towering flat table-top mountains called tepuis, churning dark tannin rivers and stunning wild jungle. The area looks so wild, striking and spectacular that it makes even the likes of the otter trail look like a walk in the botanical gardens. We have thus earmarked Venezuela as a country we will return to.

Day two took us on foot through the jungle for about an hour until we reached a good view point of the falls. A little while deeper into the jungle and we could swim in the pool at the base of the falls. Breathtaking. Johan went wild with the camera. The afternoon boat ride back was downstream and faster. We returned to the village at the airport where we would spend the night and enjoyed the lagoon beach at the base of one of the cascade waterfalls nearby. Quite a surreal setting with a dark brown fresh-water sea, waves and all, pink beach sand, cascading waterfalls in the background and palm trees in the foreground - feet in the water.

The last morning, before our flight, our guide took us over the lagoon to one of the cascades. We walked under and behind the waterfall and swam in the waters just above the falls. This was another exhilarating bonus to the trip. While the trip organizers often had us a bit confused as to what was about to happen next - all in all it was a fantastic experience that we are so glad we were privileged to have.

Overnight from Santa Elena in a bus and we arrived in Ciudad Bolivar. We definitely cannot say that this is the best place we have ever stayed but we did end up spending 3 nights in total. We struggled with everything from getting money from a bank to finding food. The vibe, the huge old Fords and the general feel however make it a quaint city nonetheless. There was an international jazz festival on just near to where we stayed so we had jazz to lull us to sleep - South American style.

Culture shock: We searched and searched for a restaurant or decent food selection in a supermarket and found none. The city is just blocks and blocks of enormous shoe and clothing stores, the supermarket isles and isles of hair products and the country has one beauty salon for every restaurant!

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.