Don´t judge a book by its cover (or indeed a country by it´s reputation)

Venezuela – what springs to mind when you hear the mention of this country? Perhaps Angel Falls (for those that know their geography), maybe Beauty Queens (for those with an interest in the fairer sex – Venezuela has had more Miss Universe winners than any other country), perhaps oil (for those that have an interest in the worlds depleting supply), and most certainly Hugo Chavez (for anyone with even a remote interest in global politics)…and, for any recent travellers to South America, the word “dangerous” is also very much associated with this oil state – even more so now than its close neighbour Columbia – for so long held up as one of the most dangerous places to travel - Venezuela is now perceived as much more dangerous. So it was, on the back of this knowledge, and the fact that the currency in Venezuela is fixed against the dollar, meaning that all currency exchanges must be done on the black market (at the official rate the country is more expensive than England to travel around!), that I set off from Brazil with some trepidation into this country on the Caribbean coast of South America.

On the bus to Venezuela I met a German girl from my hostel and 3 really nice Brazilian students all of whom had the same objective upon entering Venezuela – to climb to the top of Mount Roraima – a huge, flat table-top mountain, some 2700 metres high and the inspiration behind Arthue Doyles´ “The Lost World” novel. I had heard about the trek a few years ago from my sisters boyfriend and, apparently, Ben Fogle (that Z-list celebrity, darling of house wives) also completed the feat on the BBC last year (so says my mum!). So it was that the 5 of us arrived in the border town of Santa Helena and promptly arranged a guide for the 6 day trek. We decided to save as much money as possible by buying our own food and carrying all our equipment (tents, food, clothes, sleeping bags etc) and set off the next morning with large packs. The first glimpse of the mountain as we walked across the surrounding savannah sent shivers of excitement through my body – it was a truly impressive sight. 3 days later, after walking under waterfalls, through a cloud forest and, at some points, rock climbing over huge bolders, we arrived at our hotel (an overhanging cave) at the top of the mountain. Wow, wow, wow. It is going to be incredibly hard to try and put into words the next day and a half we had at the top, exploring what is truly a different world. The landscape was mysterious – the mountain is made of sand stone and the wind and rain have sculpted an incredible, eerie landscape over thousands of years, full of caves, crevices, waterfalls, lakes and pink beaches(!). In places the ground is littered with crystals (there are kilos of diamonds hidden beneath the surface) and the unique flora just add to the feeling of being on a different, alien planet. Being a table top mountain we were, at certain points, able to walk right to the edge and peer down a straight, vertical drop of over 1000m – the feeling as I crawled to the edge and looked straight down and across the savannah for miles was indescribable – a mixture of fear, excitement, freedom, insignificance and awe – just incredible. It is definitely one of those places that photos will never do justice – it has to be experienced to be believed – the best thing I have seen/done on this trip in South America – it blew me away.

Next on the agenda was to glimpse the highest waterfall in the world – Angel Falls – some 980m high (that’s 1 km!!). This involved an overnight bus journey to a city called Ciudad Bolivar, and an hour flight over Cainama National Park – a beautiful flight from which forest, mountains, lakes, rivers, beaches and waterfalls could all be glimpsed. This was made easy by the fact that we were in a 6-seater Cessna – the smallest plane I have ever been in – although the feeling of unease as the tiny plane jerked about in the turbulence wasn’t made any easier by the fact that the pilot just read a newspaper for most of the journey, oblivious to the sudden drops in height every 10 minutes! Before I booked the trip I thought that Angel Falls was the only point of interest in the park – how wrong I was. The first day was spent in a small village in the middle of the national park, on the edge of a large river with a beautiful white sand beach, and a back drop of 6, impressive waterfalls. It was these waterfalls that we explored by boat and foot on the first day, walking behind 2 of them – by far the biggest waterfalls (in terms of volume of water) I have ever had the wet pleasure of walking behind – it was like a solid wall of water – brilliant. I woke up the next day to board a small long tail boat for a stunning 5 hour boat journey up a river fringed by rain forest, beaches and table top mountains. The end destination was, of course, the big falls themselves – again an awesome sight – and whilst lolling about in the pool at the bottom and peering up 1km at the highest waterfall in the world I once again had to pinch myself and appreciate how truly lucky I am to be able to travel and see these incredible sites in the world. That evening was spent in hammocks opposite the falls and I woke up the next morning truly refreshed and in a great mood – what a sight to wake up to, it really doesn’t get much better than that.

The next, and final stop in Venezuela, was Merida – a university town in the Andes, famed for being one of the top destinations for adventure sports in South America, and I duly took advantage! I spent a great 4 days paragliding (jumping off a mountain with a parachute – great fun), mountain biking (on and off road in the mountains, crazy hair-pin bends – awesome), and canyoning (walking, running, jumping, swimming and absailing down rivers and waterfalls – wet, cold, brilliant!).

So, although I only spent the best part of 3 weeks in Venezuela, I had a great time. Angel Falls and Mount Roraima are the best things I have seen/done on this trip so far…and certainly go straight in near the top of my personal list of things to do/see in South America. Whilst I heard lots of stories from fellow travellers about violence and robberies in Venezuela, I didn’t encounter any myself (although I didn’t venture to the capital, Caracas, which is supposed to be crazy). Unfortunately I also didn´t encounter any beauty queens (apparently they are all on the coast in and around Caracas – you have to risk the threat of violence to experience the best that Venezuela has to offer in terms of women!!). Finally a quick insight into Chavez – a bit of an enigma in the West – I asked as many locals as I dared on their thoughts and got a thoroughly mixed reaction – it seems that, much like marmite, if you are a Venezuelan you either love him or hate him!!

Next stop Columbia, the hunt for Shakira begins(!)…

FOOTNOTE(!): I have actually been in Columbia for a week now, spending the last 6 days on a trek deep in the Columbian jungle to explore the “Lost City” (a city built by an ancient civilisation)…but you´ll have to wait for the next post to hear the full story of snakes, tarantulas, ticks, cocaine factories and the Columbian army…!