The adventure of Miguel and Don Madonarra started earlier than they thought. The bus reached Ciudad Bolivar 5 hours later than announced, which meant they found themselves without accommodation in the middle of the night at 2 a.m. After several unsuccessful attempts to find a hostel or wake up some receptionists, they ended up under a palm tree in the corner of Plaza Bolivar, where they slept till sunrise. However, the awakening turned to be quite stylish as the sun illuminated colorful buildings, first people went to work and the life in the city began. After finding a proper hotel for the next night, they get some empanadas with orange juice on the street and sat down at river bank of Orinoco. The rest of the day was spent walking around the city and arranging all the matters necessary for a three day trip to Canaima.
Don Madonarra & Miguel Hudeiro in their bedroom
Colorful architecture of Ciudad Bolivar
Fisherman at Orinoco's river bank
There is only one way to get to the National Park of Canaima - by a small Cessna airplane. This 6-seat metal box with wings became a source of several funny moments, which are, however, better to tell personally. Nevertheless, the views of the landscape below were breathtaking. The roads slowly disappeared and were replaced by red mountains, blue water of Embalse de Guri and finally large green areas of jungle with table mountains occasionally sticking out signalized that National Park of Canaima is near.
Don Madonarra in front of Cessna airplane
Check out the fuel!
Canaima waterfalls from the airplane
The program for the first day was a boat trip through the jungle to the world largest waterfall, Salto Angel. Four hours on a red colored river was an experience by itself as it brought spectacular pictures of the misty table mountains rising from the savanna and jungle around. It took one more hour of climbing up through the jungle to see Salto Angel in its full majestic beauty. The water was falling from almost one kilometer height, on the way down crashed with the clouds and turned into a shower of small raindrops only to merge again in the river below. This view definitely belonged to one of the highlights of the trip.
The river ride to Salto Angel
Don Madonarra and Miguel Hudeiro below Santo Angel water fall
Locals at work, table mountains behind
The night was spent in hammocks in a camp not far away from the waterfall. In the morning, the two expeditionists took some more photos and then jumped on a boat back to Canaima. This small town lives from tourists, but for some reason there were only very few of them (despite the high season) - the beach along Canaima lagoon was therefore almost empty. The adventurers sailed again on the lagoon to see Sapo and Sapito waterfalls both from above and also from behind. Totally wet but happy from such a unique experience they dried back at the camp and enjoyed exceptionally delicious dinner provided by the tour operator. The last day in Canaima was rather relaxed with a free program to see the beach and the town itself.
Waiting for the dinner in Canaima
Behind Sapito water falls
Cuddling monkeys
Morning street hustle in Cumaná
Next three days spent around beach villages of Mochima and Santa Fe were the cultural highlight of the whole trip. Being alone in rather small villages resulted into being approached by many local people and led to lot of chats and invites for beers, lunches and dinners. Encounters with local characters were really diverse - such as guy speaking fluent German telling his life story, an entrepreneur knowing a lot about the relationship between the US and Venezuela, a local botanist (btw. a child of Swiss father and Austrian mother) explaining how his job was related to Chavez and many more. Those few last days were an amazing experience and gave El Fredovito new insights on life in Venezuela. After those few days, he was sure that this is definitely not his last time in Venezuela.
Pelicans around Mochima
One of several new friends :)
Sea life in Santa Fe
Besides all that, the beaches were fantastic - Mochima is surrounded by a national park full of small islands approachable by boat only and containing white beaches surrounded by crystal clear sea. They proved to be a perfect place to relax and reflect over the trip and the upcoming new life era.
The ultimate place to relax and think
It took one more day that the whole crew again reunited in Caracas at Plaza Bolivar - the very first sight of the whole expedition. Coincidentally, it was a day of parliament elections, bringing traffic confusion and many closed shops. Luckily the adventurers found a restaurant to finally try the typical Venezuelan pabellon criollo before they hurried to the airport. Their patience was tested there heavily while waiting in a never ending line for check-in as only two counters were opened for the whole airport. Finally, they successfully overcame all the bureaucracy (counting 4 security checks) and enjoyed the transatlantic flight to Frankfurt through Madrid.
May the Maya be with you! :)
Inside subway in Caracas
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