I'm so bad at writing in a timely manner. In the beginning of March Dereek, Jay, Shannon, Morley and I decided to go to Caripe for Carnival. Dereek and I have been a bunch of times, but the rest of the gang hadn't been yet. Since we had a bunch of days off we stayed from Saturday-Tuesday. As always, it was nice to get out of Anaco. We stayed at a different posada this time. This was farther outside of Caripe in another small town, but closer to the cave and hikes. It wasn't bad, but they were having some serious water problems which was annoying. From now on we won't wait so long to book places to stay so we know we have somewhere with reliable running water.
The first day we were there we went to the Cueva del Guacharo. Still a cool cave, even though I've been before. We didn't get to go in as far as we went last year though because it was PACKED with people for carnival. Afterwards we went to salto la paila. This was an easy stroll to get to the falls. They were pretty. Not the coolest thing I've ever seen, but nice just as a relaxing stroll and something to do. At night we found this neat little restaurant/bar near our posada. We all had a bunch of beers and a HUGE plate of parilla (bbq meat). Just to make everyone jealous, for the five of us our meal was less than 700 BsF, that means under $10. For five of us. For dinner. Included like 3-4 beers a person. Times like those are when I know I will miss this country...
The next day we went to Las Puertas De Miraflores. Dereek and I have also been here, but it's also nice to go back to a nice place. It's a quite long drive and a short hike, but worth it for the awesome swimming hole. We got to swim around and watched some crazy local kid jump from REALLY high up making sure they didn't hit trees on the way down. We had lunch right there and just enjoyed ourselves. Once again, because it was Carnival, it was really crowded. When we got back to the beginning of the hike we had to wait for our driver to get through the packed road, so we hung out on the porch of a friend of our guides drinking beer and watching the festivities.
The last day we all went to Chorreron. This is a fairly strenuous hike but worth it for the HUGE waterfall. The scenery is gorgeous on the hike, but it is a lot of up and down and quite a bit of scrambling. It's safe to say we all slipped a couple of times. It was nice to go back to see the falls again though, do some swimming, and get in some exercise. After our exercise we all went back to the posada and had a few relaxation drinks then headed into Caripe to catch some of the Carnival parade. It was awesome. Honestly, I think this parade was better than last year in Margarita because we didn't have to wait for ages in the hot sun and we were close enough to actually see people.
Here are some my pictures from those few days, and after mine I'm going to include some of Jay's because I stole them from his fb and he is a far better photographer than myself.
The first day we were there we went to the Cueva del Guacharo. Still a cool cave, even though I've been before. We didn't get to go in as far as we went last year though because it was PACKED with people for carnival. Afterwards we went to salto la paila. This was an easy stroll to get to the falls. They were pretty. Not the coolest thing I've ever seen, but nice just as a relaxing stroll and something to do. At night we found this neat little restaurant/bar near our posada. We all had a bunch of beers and a HUGE plate of parilla (bbq meat). Just to make everyone jealous, for the five of us our meal was less than 700 BsF, that means under $10. For five of us. For dinner. Included like 3-4 beers a person. Times like those are when I know I will miss this country...
The next day we went to Las Puertas De Miraflores. Dereek and I have also been here, but it's also nice to go back to a nice place. It's a quite long drive and a short hike, but worth it for the awesome swimming hole. We got to swim around and watched some crazy local kid jump from REALLY high up making sure they didn't hit trees on the way down. We had lunch right there and just enjoyed ourselves. Once again, because it was Carnival, it was really crowded. When we got back to the beginning of the hike we had to wait for our driver to get through the packed road, so we hung out on the porch of a friend of our guides drinking beer and watching the festivities.
The last day we all went to Chorreron. This is a fairly strenuous hike but worth it for the HUGE waterfall. The scenery is gorgeous on the hike, but it is a lot of up and down and quite a bit of scrambling. It's safe to say we all slipped a couple of times. It was nice to go back to see the falls again though, do some swimming, and get in some exercise. After our exercise we all went back to the posada and had a few relaxation drinks then headed into Caripe to catch some of the Carnival parade. It was awesome. Honestly, I think this parade was better than last year in Margarita because we didn't have to wait for ages in the hot sun and we were close enough to actually see people.
Here are some my pictures from those few days, and after mine I'm going to include some of Jay's because I stole them from his fb and he is a far better photographer than myself.
Cave entrance
Salto La Paila. Nothing too exciting, but pretty.
On the walk to La Paila there were these neat little houses.
Well stocked for Carnival weekend.
On the hike to Puertas de Miraflores
Super sweet swimming hole
Everyone coming/leaving the swimming hole. There were ALOT of people that day.
Morley and Shannon hanging out and having a drink while we waited for our driver
Our driver stopped to let us take some nice pictures of the view
Beginning of the Chorreron hike
Able to see the falls from a distance
Now up close
Little girl in Carnival costume.
Handing the baby over for a photo.
And now, Jay's much nicer photos... =)
An orchid. It's the national flower.
Shannon and I relaxing at Puertas de Miraflores
Morley jumping in
Dereek jumping in
Chorreron waterfall
Crazy carnival makeup on this girl
This costume was cool. The black around the edges makes it look like she was glued into the picture and wasn't actually there.
=)
Baby ladybug with a lollipop!
And a miniature Simon Bolivar
And that's about it for now. Hopefully this weekend (or soonish) I can get up a school post about Dr. Suess Day, St. Patrick's Day and Splash Day.
