9 - 11 March Ciudad Bolivar and Angel Falls

Another campsite with lots of animals, including a few dogs (another Rottweiler!), a monkey and other friends. This would be our hop off point for Angel Falls, the tallest waterfall in the world. We were also introduced to the drink of the country, rum. This travelling's a hard job. I discovered that Cuba Libre here is made with a fair amount of lemon juice rather than a quick squeeze of lime.






We took a 19 seater plane to get to the town by the Falls, which is the smallest plane I have ever been on. 3 of the group went in a smaller plane which took 1hour15 mins to our 30 min flight. We settled into our lodgings, a 60 second drive away from the airport, and met the entertaining and quite nibbly macaw that lived there.
Yes Duncan, they must have known you would sit there - nice headrest by the way





Most went for a dip in the sea a couple of minutes walk away, whilst Mikkel and I took a wander through the forest to reach the top of the first of several waterfalls nearby.




We jumped onto a passing pick-up truck for a more relaxing trip back to town and after lunch, we all went off on a boat to see the waterfalls.
Hitching a lift back


Our first stop was to see the waterfall that appears in one of the scenes in Last of the Mohicans. Walking behind it was absolutely amazing.
Ok, let's go


From the beach





Inside the waterfall


Side view of the waterfall


Me inside the waterfall. It was wetter than this looks


Some clown with a brolly inside the waterfall


From inside the waterfall


We then went to another spot and after clambering over rocks, some of us went for a dip as others showed off their diving/jumping/bombing skills from the top of the rocks.
Terry led the way


After a quick shower, Kirsten and I decided to take a gentle walk around town. 12 minutes later, we'd seen town and bumping into a few of the others, went in search of a bar before dinner. We plumbed for a rather posh beach side lodge hotel and watched bush tv (a bush fire which was perilously close to our chosen spot).

Monday morning saw us return to the airport to go to see Angel Falls. 7 of us including the pilot on our plane, I wasn't sure if we'd all be seeing my breakfast again. But no, I loved it. I've never been in such a small plane and whilst it's not for me, I now 'get' why people learn to fly.




The fact our pilot had a pronounced twitch and giggled a lot for no reason (we suspected tourettes) made it even more fun. The falls didn't have a huge amount of water running over them (it is dry season) but nearly a km high, they can't fail to be impressive. The scenery around them though was even better. In the middle of nowhere, barely accessible and surrounded by spooky looking rocky mountains, touching the clouds and dense jungle below, a definite highlight of the trip.
Spooky scenery near Angel Falls



Angel Falls



Angel falls


Jeanne's squeals of fear made me chuckle


Just after a bit of turbulence. Eek.


Leaving the lodgings proved a little tricky when the nibbly macaw decided to trap me in the ladies loo and run at me every time I tried to exit. Much to everyone else's amusement, I wasn't going to take that little fellow on whilst I was in flip flops! Once freed by Terry, a 36degree (everyone melted) flight took us back to Ciudad Bolivar for a night there then off the beach for a few days.

6 - 8 March - Crossing the Equator, entering Venezuela

A couple of transit days as we reached the end of our time in Brazil.
Last hotel in Brazil. Fabulous retro bathroom and a green teddy bear bin!


We stopped for lunch on the Equator (or so Pete tells me).

Parrot marks the spot


Francois did this......


....before he realised he was right at the top of this...


Another stop en route....a quick dip...Vanessa waving





Pete wanted to get us into Venezuela on Thursday as the Venezuelan President, Chavez, just died and his funeral is planned for Friday. Our itinerary at this point was a little up in the air as Pete wanted to see how people were reacting to Chavez's death. Civil wars can start for all sorts of reasons. As it turned out, once we got in, we discovered it simply meant that many places/shops were shut (official mourning) and the exchange rate was great (they want dollars as they are stable in unstable times).

What a lovely AK47 you have


How lovely of the nice foreign currency exchange chap to come into the truck for us.....ahem


We had to wait a few hours at the border as Pete can't drive the truck in Venezuela without local insurance......which he can't buy till he is in the country.....and needs to drive 20km up the road to get......but the insurance office shuts for 2 hours at lunchtime and Chavez's insistence on having a 30 minute time difference to Brazil meant we hit that window.

Once on the truck, first job was to fuel up. We were limited to 200litres of diesel but Pete went a bit over at 213litres. How much? 50 USA cents!!!! Yes, I know!!! Cheaper than water, beer, everything! Motorcycles coming in to the petrol station to fuel up weren't even paying anything because the currency doesn't go low enough to enable them to pay! Filling my car would cost about 8 UK pence, my motorbike less than 2pence. No wonder everyone here drives V8s, huge pick up trucks and old gas guzzling American cars.

They like their political posters too.....and a thumbs up!


The scenery is everything I imagined Venezuela to be. Dense, lush forest, hanging vines, hilly. The only unexpected thing is there are no dustbins anywhere and people seem to litter pretty much everywhere, which is such a shame. Our first night in the country though was at one of our most beautiful bushcamps to date, with amazing uninterrupted views of mountains and another night of adoring the stars. Back in the tents after 11 days in hotels and hammocks, they smelt a bit ripe.
en route


bushcamp


same bushcamp...i turned around a bit





Next stop Eldorado and a campsite with a Macaw, a monkey, a cayman, a Rottweiler and other 'pets'.
Pete and Mikkel fight over who the macaw loves best





Monkey with Tina Turner hair


Not a bad view from the campsite


Pete had accidentally got Mikkel a bit muddy at lunchtime so Mikkel's revenge was to find a tarantula and grab Pete (not too keen on spiders) for a chat. Apparently he jumped quite high. Wa ha ha.

2 - 5 March - Manaus

4 nights in Manaus, with many of the group hopping off into the Amazon jungle for the middle two nights to stay in a rather luxurious looking lodge and to tramp around looking at spiders, frogs etc. The rest of us stayed at our hostel and took turns to cook.
Guard-cat by our room at the hostel


We mooched around town a fair bit and visited the large, bustling market a couple of times, buying bags full of veg and spices for just a few pounds.








Chicken curry, beef stir fry etc all worked out to be just over $2 a head. The character of the city is largely due to the market stalls that coat every street. A local guy told us though that the mayor is trying to get rid of those because they are ugly.


One highlight of our stay here was bizarrely a bus trip to the zoo. Not the zoo itself, as we didn't manage to find it (Vanessa and Heather had a second more successful attempt a couple of days later) but the bus ride itself. The driver flew round the hilly, pot-holed streets and Vanessa fell out of her flip flops at one point. Brilliant.
Mister, you really need to mow your house


Another highlight was the opera house, which was stunning, unexpected in what is a pretty grimy downtown area. Only seating 690 people, it's lovely a small, so the acoustics are great. We caught a rehearsal, which sounded amazing and made up a little for missing a show the previous night.









The chaps didn't seem too impressed with Black Swan (chick flick)

27 Feb - 2 March - Sailing down the Amazon river

9am came and went and we were told that we would now be leaving at 3pm. 3pm came and went and we were told we would leave at 6pm. Guess what? Yep, we left finally at 8pm. There was so much cargo on the boat now, that we were very low in the water but the water was pretty flat so all was fine. Dinner was chicken and lamb (I think) noodle soup. Those in the know had brought their own cutlery and a bowl so could dive straight in. Those without had to queue up and sit at the only bench to eat as fast as possible. Then when their bowl and spoon came back from being washed, the next in the queue could sit down.

Typical view


Our Geoff


The food was all being cooked with river water, which also fed the shower and toilet. However, the shower and toilet were also feeding the river, which was a murky colour. Best not to think about these things. We all slept on the middle deck, the top deck had a few hammocks (mainly crew I think), a bar, music and a cracking view of the stars in this light pollution free vantage point. Cargo, the kitchen and some toilets/showers were on the bottom deck. More cargo in the depths of the boat. When it rained, it was sudden and ferocious and we dropped the plastic sheeting/curtains to protect us from the battering. But mostly it was good weather and not too hot at all.

Relaxing


The boat sailed non stop, save for a couple of middle of the night dockings to offload people/cargo, which provided some light entertainment. A chap sat above the captain with a searchlight to look out for small boats and big trees floating down river.

Teach me so I can kick your butt, Kirsten


We definitely achieved a different level of relaxation on the boat. With little to do, some people (Heather) slept for pretty much the whole trip, we read, we dozed, we played a lot of backgammon, watched the world go by and lubricated conversation with a fair amount of vodka. When we docked in Manaus at 5am (it was meant to be 5pm that same day!) I was very sad to leave our boat, it had been such a cracking few days. I definitely need to have the hammock out when I get home. Docking so early meant we missed the point where the brown water meets the black water (different tributaries) and runs along without mixing for a bit, which was a shame.

Snooze through it, Heather


Middle of the night docking

23 - 26 Feb - Heading for the Amazon

Check a map....Brazil is HUGE! So, a couple of big truck days to get us across to our hop off point for our Amazon boat trip, Porto Velos. Due to board our boat on Tuesday (26th) in the afternoon for a 6pm sail, I was able to go in search of a watch to replace my destroyed, indestructible swatch watch. I am now the proud owner of a retro stylie digital number for a fiver. Let's hope it lasts 3 months.

Final pre-boat supper. Ordered a slice of pizza and a juice


That's how to keep your seat cool


We also went hammock shopping so we would have somewhere to sleep on the Amazon boat. Ten quid. Bargain.The woman who got our custom must have been happy to clear 23 hammocks and mosquito nets in about 30 mins. Set for the boat, we meandered down so that we could try and get a spot altogether for our 3 nights of sailing. Typical port, with prostitutes and drunks and (slightly more pretty), the odd dolphin (including a pink one). awww.

This was only a dent in the road before Pete drove over it


Quality bar at the port



Pete had to take the truck on a barge and would be leaving after us and likely to go slower than us. Some of us went to watch the loading of the truck, which was.....rustic. This involved Pete's skill, his 20 tonne truck and a couple of long planks, balanced on a block of wood on one side and a pile of mud on the other. When the front wheels snapped the plank just as they landed on the barge, there were some loud gasps and I learned later that even Pete nearly had a secondary accident in the truck cab. Ahem! With not a lot of choice, he went for it and we were relieved to see the truck get on board.

Bendy, bendy, bendy....


...and snap!


Watching the boat load up was pretty impressive. Truck after truck arrived, mainly with onions, but also limes, potatoes and some white goods. People started appearing and hooked up their hammocks. We were all along one side of the boat, ready to watch the world go by.

Setting up


We then learned that we would depart at 9am the next day, so we would have a night on the boat in the port. Clearly, they had room on board for more onions. So, we took to the top deck, for hamburgers and vodka and as those that had gone to bed at 10pm started getting up and coming upstairs again because it was so hot, I decided I was going to skip going to bed and just stay up! I few of us made it to about 4am but it then cooled down so I headed for the hammock. Trying to get into a hammock, squeezed inbetween two sleeping hammock dwellers after a couple of vodkas amused me a bit.

oi, Mikkel, get out of my hammock!


Loading up






That's our hammocks, that is


Boo!