Well after 2 weeks in Cumana I was more than ready to get moving again and the next hop was a bus journey 12 hours southbound to Ciudad Bolivar. Had great trouble trying to find somewhere to stay. Not too much to commend the city as by 6pm EVERYTHING is closed, there are no options to get food and the almost deserted streets become quite sinister. I found this out the hard way by venturing out at 8pm in the vain hope of finding some dinner!

Having left the guesthouse I made my way down the dark streets to where I believed there was a restaurant. Half way down one of the streets I became aware of 7 or 8 bodies that appeared to be settled into their respective doorways for the night. Worse was that they became aware of me! I heard several calls of "Gringo!" and carried on through 'the gauntlet' - half expecting to get jumped upon, I was very happy to reach the end of the street. At full speed I made my way to the restaurant only to find it closed (along with everything else). Not wanting to venture back up 'Muggers Alley' I took a large detour (not necessarily any safer) to get back to the guesthouse.

What Ciudad Bolivar does have going for it is that its a jumping off point for access the Canaima National Park and Angel Falls. Within 3 hours of arriving here i'd already booked my exit in the form of a 3 day trip to Canaima/Angel Falls.

Posted by Russ Jones at 4:18 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

I guess its one of the cannot miss sights of Venezuela so I booked myself a tour. If nothing else it got me out of Ciudad Bolivar! Canaima National Park is only accessible by flight (or maybe a VERY long boat journey). In my case, we drove for 3 hours to the small airfield at La Paragua and then caught a 20 minute flight to the park. A bit of a blunder on behalf of the tour operator as our group was of 6 people and the aircraft would only fit 4 (plus the pilot and some food supplies). This caused us a little delay in beginning the onward trip as the pilot had to make a return flight to collect the rest of our party.

Once we were all in Canaima, the journey began, it was to be 3 days by motorised canoe with two nights spent at different camps. Canaima (the 'village') is set on a beautiful lagoon with accompaying palm trees and waterfalls.

These falls were to be our first stop, with a chance to walk behind Hacha falls. Followed by three hours boat travel to the first camp. Unfortunately the delayed start meant that the last 30-40 minutes of the first leg were completed in the dark. What I hadn't been expecting was the degree of rapids we would have to deal with, in a rather unstable canoe, with low water (lots of protruding rocks) and in the dark! Still full credit to the boatman (who must have been navigating using 'the force'), we arrived at camp 1 safely after an exciting first leg.

After a night in a hammock we were up and off on day two with greater rapids to contend with. At least we had daylight on our side this time! Late morning brought us to camp 2 where we would spend our second night. The camp was only an hours walk from the Angel Falls. As we arrived at the camp we had our first sight of Angel Falls, which was unfortunately covered in clouds!!

I'm VERY pleased to report that the clouds were short lived and it wasn't too long before the blue skies broke through to give great views of Angel Falls. I took plenty of photos which i've already uploaded to the Venezuela Gallery. However here's a few for the blog:

Posted by Russ Jones at 4:23 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)

Having planned to spend 4 or 5 weeks in Venezuela and eventually spending 9, the urge to move on to a new country has been getting stronger and stronger. So now at last i’ve crossed an international border and I find myself in Brasil. Glad to say that nobody even asked to see my Arrival/Departure card on leaving Venezuela, so no problem with extending my visit there :-)

I’ve covered a lot of ground in the last couple of days with over 16 hours bus travel from Santa Elena across the border to Boa Vista and onwards to Manaus (where I arrived at 7am this morning). I was at least prepared for the ‘ice box’ conditions that you find on all the night buses here (Two fleeces required!) What I wasn’t prepared for was the ‘rally driver’ behind the wheel (of a 42 seater bus). Slipping and sliding, swerving all over the road. Extreme braking that sent the whole bus into a high speed snaking motion and i’d swear he got two wheel of the ground at one point! So, I Didn’t get much sleep on the journey to Manaus!

However, we did (currently travelling with a Japanese guy – Yoshi) find a decent hotel with a superb buffet breakfast included. The big plus was that the nice lady at reception allowed us to have breakfast this morning AND tomorrow even though we are only staying 1 night. We made it to the buffet breakfast 20 minutes before it was due to finish today and so it became something of a speed contest to get as many courses in during 20 minutes (quite successful i’d say). Should be a bit more leisurely tomorrow!

Not wanting to hang around too much, I have already arranged a 4 day trip out into the Amazon. I leave tomorrow at 7:30am. I’ll report back in 4 or 5 days.

Posted by Russ Jones at 7:22 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

I survived the last few days in the Jungle, although can't say unscathed! Those damn Mosquitos!! Anyway i've posted a few pics from the jungle. Enjoy...

AMAZON PHOTOS

Posted by Russ Jones at 6:34 PM | Permalink | Comments (7)

Well, its been a while since i've written anything in the Travel Journal but as they say 'a picture is worth a thousand words' and I figured the Amazon pics just about covered that quite nicely. If you've not seen them yet have a look at the Brasil Photo Gallery

Suffice to say that it was VERY humid, uncomfortable, hardwork at times and mosquito heaven, but most importantly it was GREAT FUN! The itching from the 1000 mosquito bites has stopped and I don't seem to be suffering with anything untoward, so all is well.

There are not many options to leave manaus if you are heading for the coast, as there are no roads, you either catch a boat or fly. Although the initial idea of travelling down the Amazon to Belem sounds like a good one, the reality didn't hold so much appeal. The boat trip takes 4 days, the weather had not been great so the idea of sitting in a Hammock for 4 days on the open deck and having to keep a very close eye on my stuff quickly lost its appeal. Anyway heading east from Manaus the Amazon is 15km wide in places narrowing to 1km in some areas, so not very much to see except lots of water and the occasional passing boat. I'm certainly not adverse to long rough trips, but there has to be some 'upside' - as I couldn't see one on this leg of the trip, I bought a plane ticket and 2 hours later saw me in Belem.

Theres not too much to talk about for many of the coastal cities that i've passed through so far (Have a look at the Route Map for details). Pleasant enough (a chance to catch upon laundry and email!) but nothing to 'write home about'. Typical decaying colonia architecture and run down ports. A couple of exceptions so far would be Lencois Maranhences National Park (Vast desert interspersed with large fresh water pools) and Jericoacoara (Wind/Kite Surfing capital of Brasil). I'll write more on these another time and hopefully upload a few pictures.

Heres a couple of Lencoise Maranhences pictures courtesy of NASA:

Posted by Russ Jones at 2:13 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)

I've already posted a full set of pictures in the gallery which cover both Lencoise Maranhenses and Jericoacoara, but thought i'd throw in a bit of narrative - because I have some time :-)

I don't think that my pictures of Lencoise do anything to capture the quite dramatic scenery there, it just doesn't seem to come across. I guess to really appreciate the landscape, you need to get a bit of elevation on the subject (Thanks NASA!). The area is just so vast.

It was the 'dry' season when I was there and the water level was a little low. Just in case anyone is heading this way - the best season to see the National Park is in July.

As memorable as the dunes themselves were, the 45 minute ride to get out there is also pretty 'special'. The form of transport was an old Toyota 4x4 truck with a number of seats welded onto the open back (under a canopy). Obviously the terrain was rough but it was the speed and aggression with which the driver (who seemed to be having a lot of fun) 'negotiated' the route. I think he was possibly a relation of the guy who drove the overnight bus from Boa Vista to Manaus - Pedro & Jose McRae ?!

At least the vehicle managed to get us out there, although it didn't survive the return journey as we (Mr McRae!) broke the drive shaft! Stranded in the desert! Fortunately it wasn't too long before another Toyota came by and although he couldn't fit us in, he promised to come back for us - which i'm very glad to say he did :-)

Jericoacoara, is a different place altogether. Touted as a "small fishing village" although I very much doubt that any fisherman still live there now. It is without doubt a tourist town/holiday resort. Internet Cafes, Restaurants, Tour Operators, Windsurfing/Kite Surfing Lessons, Dune Buggy Tours, soooo many Guest Houses.

Access to Jericoacoara was via dune buggy from Camocim (approx 2 hours away) over the dunes and beaches. A fun ride with 7 occupants (plus bags) in one buggy. I took the outside position - 1 leg in and one leg out - and hung on! Jericoacoara is famed for its windsurfing and kitesurfing so it would not come as a surprise to know that its a very windy place, so after only a short time in the buggy we were all absolutely sandblasted. Infact the whole time I spent in Jericoacoara I seemed to be covered in a fine layer of sand.

The nightly routine for the whole town was to meet on top of the large sandune that loomed next to the village and watch the sun go down, after that its off to the bars to begin the long night ahead of Caipirinhas and Capetas.

Although I didn't try, I must admit I was very impressed with the Kite Surfing. I'm sure it looks a lot easier than it is (and it didn't look particularly easy!)

Posted by Russ Jones at 6:04 PM | Permalink | Comments (6)