After 16 hours on a bus I ended up on the border of Brazil and Venezuela, in a city called Santa Helena. The city is famous for its treks to Mount Roraima and other tepuis (see above photo.) Tepuis are flat topped mountains. The treks take lie 6 days or so of hiking and travessing through the woods to eventually get to the base of the mountain and climb to the top. I opted out of doing it because of the time constraint, but I did get to take a tour of the Gran Sabana, a place famous for its indigenous peoples and beautiful tepuis. After my day there, I took an overnight bus to Ciudad Bolivar, the jumping off point for trips to the Salto Angel, or in English, Angel Falls, which is the tallest waterfall in the world. The overnight bus was... an experience in itself. The bus was super comfortable, nice and cold, which is quite conducive to sleep, however the bus was stopped 4 different times by military checkpoints. Hugo Chavez (the president of Venezuela, if you don´t know who he is please google him) has military personnel on all the roads stopping people for their ID cards and passports. Sometimes they make everyone get off the buses to show their bags and then are able to continue once they´re cleared. We were lucky, I suppose, in that we didn´t have to show anything but our passports. Some people say that the checkpoints are to check for drugs, I think that it´s more of a psychological power game, so that the people in the country know that the state has a lot of control.
Venezuela is an ineresting place, from what I´ve seen. Because of the large amounts of petroleum, the streets are filled with cars. There´s a lot of traffic, everywhere. Even in this small dumpy city. The city is kind of historical, so the streets are cobblestone and narrow, yet big ass cars clog the streets and don´t yield to pedestrians. They eat arepas here, which are basically pitas made of corn, stuffed with meat, cheese, or anything you want, really. They´re delicious. Also, randomly, there are a lot of places that sell "fresas con crema" or strawberries and cream. It´s delicious, but random. Also, the name Bolivar is everywhere. The name of the city, the name of the state, the name of the currency, there is a street name Calle Bolivar, there´s a huge statue of Simon Bolivar, there´s a Plaza Bolivar... it´s a little much.
SALTO EL SAPO
Salto Angel was incredible, as was Salto El Sapo, a smaller waterfall near Salto Angel. I got to Canaima, the small indigenous city that exists near the fall where all the lodges are, on Friday, and immediately dropped off my things at the lodge and went to Salto El Sapo by canoe. The guide told us that everything we had would get completely mojado (wet) so we had to make sure we put our cameras inside of plastic bags. We get into the boat, there was a group of about 10 of us, and glide through this beautiful lake, with water the color of tea, due to the high level of plant matter in the water. The rushing waterfalls were in the backdrop, as was the thick mist that they left behind. The air was chilly and humid, but with the excitement I didn´t feel cold. I wasn´t exactly sure what we would be doing, but whatever it was, I was ready. We docked the canoe and started walking, the guide pointing out different species of plants and their uses. We stopped by this spherical brown thing that looked like the ant´s home that I saw in the Amazon. The guide asked what we though it was and I said "una casa de hormigas¨ , or a house for ants. He said that it was, actually "una casa de termitas" or a house for termites. And then he ate a handful of the crawly creatures. He passed them around, I actually had already eaten termites when I was in Belize, but decided to go for it again. It tasted like herbs. The guide said that they´re an excellent source of protein and not harmful to our bodies.
A little bit later, after trekking over thick roots and wet rocks, we arrived at the Salto El Sapo. It was LOUD, thunderingly so. The water rushed down, and there was a little path behind it. I stripped down to my scivvies and started going through, leaving my camera and clothes behind. The water wasn´t that powerful at first, but once I got about midway, tons of water were falling on top of my entire body. I couldn´t breathe through my nose because I would be inhaling water, and I could barely open my eyes because of the force of the water. Three Italians from my group were in front of me and stopped because they couldn´t see. But I couldn´t breathe. I had to get out. I grabbed the rope and used my sense of touch to get out. The other end was paradise. A beautiful rainbow cascaded across the waterfall, and me and the Italians took a picture in front of the falls from a rock. The way back was easier, and the adrenaline rush wasn´t bad either.
SALTO ANGEL
The next day we left early for a 4 hour boat ride to the camp near the Angel Falls. The rain was pouring down on top of us and the river was tumultuous. Water splashed into the boat and the ponchos we were wearing did no justice. When we finally got to the camp, which was some hammocks under a roof, we ate and fell asleep, as it was completely completely dark. No light from the stars or moon, because of the clouds. At one point, I woke up in the middle of the night after the candles were out, and it was the same amount of light with my eyes open or closed. Scary, a little. We got up with the sun and trekked for about an hour through more roots and wet rocks, small streams, and mossy trees with birds singing in their branches. Getting to the viewpoint was absolutely stunning. We were lucky because it was a clear day, so we got to see the top of the Angel Falls. The mist and wind enveloped our group and we all stood in awe, watching the water fall from the peak, which is about 1 km tall. I sat on a rock and closed my eyes just feeling the mist cool my face and the wet rock beneath me. I listened to the rush of the water falls from the peak to the river, and then from the river down a smaller waterfall. When I opened my eyes after those minutes, the stunning waterfall was all I saw. It´s energy and greatness really struck me. Its power. Something that mankind could never create. After taking a few pictures and truly feeling grateful of my experience, we started the trek back down the mountain. I have this inclination to like being alone in nature, or at least with people I like. I was in a group with practically strangers, so I ran ahead to be able to experience the hike in a more profound way. I got to the bottom of the mountain and waited by the river, and then took a dip. Absolutely amazing.
Going back was hard, especially because going back to Ciudad Bolivar meant getting back into a scary 5-seater Cessna, but I did it nonetheless. And here I am, about to go to some crazy caves.
Peace and love
Anthony
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