Over Thanksgiving we had a couple of days off so we (myself, Heather, Erin, EMack, Saliha, Sandra and Dereek) decided to take advantage and go to Angel Falls. For those who don't know, Angel Falls is the tallest waterfall in the world. They are about 3,200 ft and are found in Canaima National Park in Venezuela. We left Anaco on Wednesday right after our half day was over and got back on Saturday evening. That's 4 days of traveling, so this will be a long post.
On Wednesday we left Anaco via bus to get to Ciudad Bolivar. It took about 3 hours to get there so since we left at about 2pm, we were there around sunset. This was perfect because as we crossed the Orinoco River into the city we got some gorgeous views from the bus on the bridge. Upon arriving we didn't do very much besides get dinner and go to bed since we had an early start the next day.
On Wednesday we left Anaco via bus to get to Ciudad Bolivar. It took about 3 hours to get there so since we left at about 2pm, we were there around sunset. This was perfect because as we crossed the Orinoco River into the city we got some gorgeous views from the bus on the bridge. Upon arriving we didn't do very much besides get dinner and go to bed since we had an early start the next day.
The view of the Orinoco River from the bus
I keep forgetting it almost Christmastime, but there was this Christmas tree in our hotel
The next day we got up early and went to the airport in Ciudad Bolivar. We had breakfast there (empanadas, typical Venezuela..) and got on a flight at about 9am. The plane was tiny, only about 20 people fit inside in total including the pilot. I'd never been on a plane that small and the ride there was smoother than I expected (with the exception of the landing). After arriving in Canaima we were transported via truck to our campsite. We were able to put everything in our rooms (myself, Dereek, Erin and EMack in one and Heather, Sandra and Saliha in the other) and explore a bit. Canaima is on a lake with a bunch of waterfalls. The water is really red because of the minerals in the rocks. We had until lunchtime to explore before being taken on our first part of the guided tour.
Boarding the plane in Ciudad Bolivar
The inside of our little plane
Landed safely in Canaima
The lagoon and waterfalls in Canaima
Three random palm trees
Able to see the red color of the water
The tiniest frog ever!
Later that day after lunch we were taken across the lagoon by our guide. We got to do some hiking, swim at the base of some small falls and go behind some other waterfalls. The views from the hikes were AMAZING. Shockingly, swimming at the base of the waterfall was quite warm. I was expecting it to be freezing, but it was like being in a pool. Going behind the waterfall was awesome. The amount of water that was flowing was incredible and getting to look through the water over the lagoon as the sun was setting gave me the opportunity for some great pictures.
One of the canoes
The waterfall we got to walk behind
Awesome looking dragonfly
Spider
A giant toad that we saw while hiking
The waterfall we got to swim at
Dereek, me, Erin and EMack swimming
Panoramic picture
Nice view from the top of the waterfall
The waterfall we walked behind
Sunset at the waterfall
Looking out from behind the falls
Walking behind the falls
That night we went out for a bit. Some people were dancing, I opted out of dancing on a smokey, empty dance floor for sitting at one of the tables in the sand looking across the lagoon at the waterfalls at night with my drink. It was relaxing, but we went back early since we had to get up very early the next morning to begin out trip. The process to get to Angel Falls is a long one. The first thing we did was take a 5-6 hour boat ride upstream. This would've been much shorter had it been rainy season and the river would've been higher. At some points we all had to get out and push, but mostly it was Dereek and the guides doing all the work. I think Dereek must have some sort of adverse reaction to the word "amigo" after hearing it so often as his call to get out and push the boat. Despite the work it took to get upstream, the views were absolutely amazing.
In the canoe on our way to the falls
Clouds of the tepui
Dereek helping to push the boat upstream
Continuing on our way, looking much easier than it was.
Very first view of the falls from the canoe
Once we finally got to where we were supposed to, we had about a 45 minute hike up to the falls. We did it pretty quickly since we wanted to have time to see both the lookout and get to swim at the base of the falls. It was a pretty decent hike and lots of older people did it. One of the most impressive was a completely blind and partially deaf man. It was him and one of the guides and they came back well after dark, but he completed the whole thing. I'm still not sure what the gain was since he couldn't see the falls, but nonetheless, I'm really impressed by his determination.
Hiking to the falls
View from the first lookout
So tall
Me, Erin and Dereek swimming in the cold water at the base of the falls
Gorgeous
Dereek and I
After spending some time swimming and admiring the falls we had to walk back down. We had the option of wading across the river or waiting for a canoe to take us across to get to the campsite. Since we were already wet, Dereek and I decided to wade across the river, but everyone else waited for the canoe. Dereek and I were rewarded with some awesome views of the falls before it got dark.
Angel Falls from the campsite across the river
Panoramic picture of the falls
Another nice picture of the falls from across the river
Surprisingly, there were showers, toilets and even a few hours of electricity at the camp. We got to take cold, but refreshing showers, feel clean and then sit down for a delicious chicken dinner that was made there. After dinner there wasn't too much to do so we went and looked at the falls in the dark and then went to sleep in our hammocks. It was kind of chilly and not a way that would be comfortable to sleep every night, but for the one night it was awesome.
Ucaima camp sign
Our chicken cooking over the fire
The hammocks everyone slept in
Comfy in my hammock
We got up early the next morning to head back down river to the village of Canaima so we could catch our plane out. The ride back down river was much quicker, though Dereek and the guides did have to get out and push a couple of times, one time they had to guide the canoe backwards through some rapids for a bit. I was thoroughly impressed with the crew and learned that the man working the motor had been guiding canoes up and down the river to see the falls for the past 40 years, he obviously knows the riverbed extremely well. The views coming down the river were amazing and we got to see the water evaporating and forming clouds that were rising over the tepuis. Once we got back to camp we didn't do much besides repack, change, do a bit of souvenir shopping and I found puppies! Puppies were the perfect end to the trip. =)
Leaving Angel Falls as the sun rose
Some of the clouds starting to rise of the tepuis
Gorgeous morning
Absolutely stunning
Panoramic pictures were the only way to capture everything
Our guides taking a much needed and deserved break. They were awesome
Puppies!!!
They tried crawling up my pants. SO CUTE
They made my day. (that's the rainstick I bought at the Canaima camp that I am holding)
Once back we took our flight back to Ciudad Bolivar. (Slightly more bumpy this time.) When we got off the plane and got to the bus station we then had to find our way back to Anaco. First Dereek went by himself to try and find a bus, but because Venezuelans are ridiculous and the authorities are untrustworthy he was stopped because he "looked suspicious." aka they didn't like his long curly hair, or height, or some other stupid reason. After that Erin and I began walking around with him. We found a bus that left at 9pm (about 5 hours later) and one place that would've had buses had Chavez not decided to rent them all out of the day... We got back to our group and were told that for 150 BsF per person (about $15) we'd be able to get a cab from Ciudad Bolivar to Anaco. (Note that Venezuelan cabs are NOT through a company and are just random people who stick taxi stickers to the car, so you have to be careful about getting into them sometimes.) Three girls were originally in one car then yelled they needed a fourth and took one that was going to be in ours and left before our car had really figured out what was going on. With me Dereek and Erin left we started talking to the cab driver and found out that it wasn't 150 BsF per person, but 600 BsF per car... It was only 150 BsF per person if you had four people, and now we had three. When the driver found out that there were three of us and we didn't have 600 BsF (we had lent money to people in the other car who needed it...) he shut off the engine and wasn't going to take us anywhere. Dereek and the driver were arguing and when Dereek found out that the other car was at the gas station he convinced the driver to bring us there to meet him. The driver angrily drove away, sped into traffic to the gas station. Dereek called the girls in the other car asking if they had any extra money at all because if they didn't we were going to be stuck in Ciudad Bolivar (not a safe city at night...) and they said they didn't and kept going. Dereek and the driver argued for a while longer and thanks to Dereek's amazing people skills he managed to explain the situation to the driver and calm him down and convince him to drive us. It was quite a scary experience to watch them both yelling in Spanish, almost being left in a city that we don't know as the sun was going down and seeing the other car of people drive away. The rest of the car ride was pretty uneventful until we got to El Tigre. Suddenly we got off the main road and were driving through little, sketchy looking side streets of El Tigre. Like I had previously mentioned, taxi drivers are just random people, not from a company, so Erin and I got pretty nervous and asked Dereek if he knew where we were. He said he did and said our driver had told him we were going this way because of traffic and how we were getting out. I felt better that Dereek knew where we were, but it was still a sketchy experience because it was definitely not an area where we wanted to be left. Eventually we got back to school and everything was okay, though it cost more to get home than originally planned and I was left with less money then I would've liked. Overall, with the exception of the disaster of trying to get home, it was an amazing trip.
