Guys, this is really embarrassing. I am so behind in my blogging, simply because I cannot tell an efficient story. And now, due to my extreme verboseness, I am going to have to severely abbreviate my life over the last three weeks. Which is tragic, because I have done so much! As I tell the kids: todo es terrible. Everything is terrible. But we will persevere.
So, let's finish off the vacation first. After Angel Falls we flew on another six seater to Uruyen, a small village constructed in the Pemon style that serves as a small camp for tourists. It is nestled on a river at the base of the Tepuy, surrounded by mountains, waterfalls and a vast savanna. It was breathtaking. And imagine our shock to find we were the only ones there! We had the camp to ourselves, and the BEST tour guide, Arturo, a Pemon guide who we later nicknamed Sneaky Arturo because he always had little surprises up he sleeve. Arturo took us to see and swim in a beautiful waterfall, and the next day, we hiked 12 kilometers to our next camp, Kavac. On the way, Arturo had us visit a few Pemon homes, including one village. Kavac was a slightly larder tourist camp, with an even more lovely view of the Tepuy, mountains, savanna etc. We were all in constant amazement of how every place we went was more and more beautiful than the last. At Kavac, they had beer at the lodge, which put Gordon in a better mood, and in the two days we spent there, we visited two more waterfalls. One was in a cavern that we had to swim to and I swear, if I could live in Kavac and swim to that waterfall every day of my life, I would die a happier and healthier person. It was just incredible.
To maintain brevity, we'll move on to our jungle adventure on the Orinoco river, which lies in the northwest corner of the country near Trinidad and Tobago. So we took another six seater, spent the night in Ciudad Bolivar and then the next morning took a three hour car ride. At the end of the ride, we found that the mountains were behind us and we were squarely in the jungle. We got dropped off, loaded on a boat and fifteen minutes later we were in a camp that was built literally on top of the Orinoco river. The Orinoco is the continent's third largest river and we were separated from this river by one layer of two-by-fours. But that didn't seem to bother any of us because there were dogs, cats, a myriad of birds and beer at the camp. Beer for Gordon, cats for me, dogs for Jackie and birds for Walli. All was well in the world. We took an evening boat ride and saw a stunning sunset over the river. While we were enjoying the sunset, we were also joined by a family of adorable children, who just paddled their canoes up to our boat and hung out with us for a while. I have to admit, they were more interested in Gordon's phone than anything else, but it was definitely fun to interact with them. After we returned to the camp and Jackie and I got into our mosquito net covered beds, I have to admit I was terrified. There was nothing but mosquito net separating me from anacondas and crocodiles and bugs of all sizes and weird jungle creatures of the night. Just as I was lamenting to Jackie about my fears, another unexpected concern came forth quite violently and without warning: an earthquake. A 6.5 Richter scale earthquake. While we were suspended over the continent's third largest river by one layer of two by fours. When it was over, I took two sleeping pills and told Jackie I was ready to go home. She agreed.
The next morning, I caught some piranhas while using my expert fishing skills, and then we took off to the airport. The flight was remarkably on time and uneventful, and we were greeted by a smiling Ivan at the airport- the best end to a great trip I could think of.
All in all, this trip was one of the best experiences of my life. It was my first real vacation that I paid for by myself, and it was unlike anything I have ever done before. And whats more, I really got to know my new country, and that was very meaningful to me. Now, I just can't wait to share all of this with you, friends and family! Get excited! :)
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