2007-05-03T01:57:00.000-07:00

You are here: home > My Angel Falls

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And finally after Manaus, the final lapse of my crazy south american trip starts. Because I really extended Brazil a lot, and I have my flight ticket fixed, and my mother waiting me with some rolling-pin to beat me up, I will have to rush Venezuela... ( I should admit though that I do not regret any of the options that made me rush Venezuela.. ). So I will basically see the angel falls and directly go ahead for the flight after working for my blog for 2 days in Puerto La Cruz in Venezuela. According to some of my friends, Caracas is the most dangerous city in all of my travels, with people making armed robberies in the middle of the day with other people around. The last thing I would want from that trip is to lose all my pictures at the very end of it, obviously. So there is no way I will allow that. I am going directly from Caracas bus station to Caracas airport by some registered taxi rather than risking myself.

But on my way home I meet some bikers. Those crazy guys are from US, and have been biking through argentina and chile for the past 3 months, they put their bikes on our bus from Manaus to Boa Vista, and from there on they will be biking to the border with Venezuela. I asked them for a favor and took their pictures to show my mom that there actually are people crazier than I am in this world =).
The second picture is a father and son from US as well, ironic that so many people from US is going to Venezuela =). They are a really nice pair, they had been hiking in the northern brasil for 2 weeks and have an extra week in Venezuela. They warned me about the double rates in Venezuela, apparently I did not pay that much attention to it from my guidebook. In reality, Venezuela has 2 exchange rates, which will make me lose around 400$ in the future because of a stupid flight booking problem. Apparently the official rate for 1$ is around 2150 bolivars, but the black market rate, which is the actual real rate is around 3300-3400 bolivars. This means that if you get the official rate ( which is the only one you get from banks or exchange offices) you will always end up getting 2/3 rd of the real money you can get. And whats more, Brazilian reais is even stronger than US$ in exchange rates in Venezuela. The main reason is to get money from the unsuspecting tourists in every possible way, and maybe there is additional advantages from the international agreements. In any ways, it is impossible to get dollars in Venezuela, and moreover the banks will always use official exchange rates, and also it is not safe to use ATMs in Venezuela. In the past there have been a bunch of fraud cases from people who used their credit cards in ATMs there, the gangs found a way to get credit card information from some tampered ATM machines. . Main idea, get some dollars before entering in.
So I decide to go back to Boa Vista and come back to the border after getting some reais from Brazil side. So I lost around 7 hours on the way and was able to get around 500$ worth of reais for my week. But I was still able to make it to the border on time, so it should not be a problem, at least this was what I was thinking.... I arrive to the border, and it is closed!!! What the hell!!!! I still made it earlier than its closing time I learned... And the soldier replies,,, today is Sunday... The lesson learned. There will be some times where you will not be able to calculate everything!!! Soo, look from the brighter side, I will be able to check if there are flights for angel falls from Canaima tomorrow early in the morning.. Anyways I lost 1 net day for this stupid miscalculation, but probably earned around 250$.

Anyways, so I come to my last night in Brazil, in Pacaraima in the Border with Venezuela. It is just before the night, I am eating some shitty 6 reais food, which is actually a pretty good price for food in Venezuela. They call it carne de sol (meat of the beef), I feel more like whereever of the beef. There is some music banging near me from the stereo of another huge camioneta with 6 huge speakers in the back (I start doubting either the stereos are really cheap in Brazil or they are really of huge help in getting laid). My head keeps banging, my nose feels like amazonas, mucoza falls down like iguazu and I am as tired as hell, and I will be taking some malarone soon, (although I know I dont have the malaria from a test I head in Tropical hospital in Manaus) and also some decongestant and antibiotics at the same time without knowing if they interact or not (definitely better not to know). And I do what???? I refuse the absolute urge to order a skoll (beer) and order a guarana antartica (soft drink) instead. I would have never never never ever done it with Melanie.... Maaannnnn, I am BACK!!!!!! Let's rush this Venezuela and hunt him down.... Back in Business!!!!!

The next day, I head up for the airport only to learn that actually the prices are more expensive than going from Ciudad Bolivar. Damn footprints south america guide, it really failed me in a bunch of cases in Venezuela, I will definitely write them about this. They have to correct their 2007 guidebook. I was really disappointed with them in Venezuela. Anyways... I notice that Venezuelan people favor baseball a lot, which is really interesting to me to be honest. It is not the first sport that you would think when you consider that baseball is the national sport of USA. On my cab to bus station I already see one training field and in the bus station people are actually watching american broadcast on baseball.

Anyways, on my way to Venezuela, I will be seeing the famous Roraima mountain on my right side, so I sit on the right of the bus. The day is clear and the mountain is beautiful. I am lucky, the most famous natural land sights of Venezuela are the table top mountains. Those mountains are high mountains who just have a huge valley on their tops which forms a natural ecosystem for the animals who can not fly and trap them down in a different environment than the rest of the world. This is the reason and inspiration behind the famous novel of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, the lost world.... This is The Lost World!!!!

And of course I do not miss a chance to capture a nice sunset.

And finally I am at the airport for going to Canaima from Ciudad bolivar. As you can see what airport in Venezuela and Turkey really differ from each other =). It seems as if they took the longest stripe of road they could find, put a few extra lines to it, closed it to the traffic and called it as the airport with a few airplanes stolen from the wright brothers =).

Anyways, it is not the time to complain, my propeller duldul is ready and I am sitting at the exact back seat, which will not help my stomach at all =). The window on the left part of the plane that you see is our air conditioning, whenever we feel that there is not enough air, we opened the window to get some more fresh air (and I am not kidding about this!!!!!).. The plane is interesting, because it took me some time to understand that we are in the air, not because it is extremely comfortable but rather I could not believe in to my eyes that we could be on the air with that speed!!!!! =)

Anyways, after a full trip with my eyes closed for doing a favor to my stomach, I finally open my eyes when I get closer to Canaima (the city closest to the angel falls), and I can not believe the gorgeous views... I really hope that I did not miss that much while I was flying here with my eyes closed, because the views are absolutely gorgeous now as you can see.

Finally me being in Canaima, I have a little more time to explore what I could see from far away. On the back side in the first picture you can see 3 table top mountains (called tepuy in Spanish) Nonoy-Tepuy (Vulture), Kuravaina-Tepuy (Deer) and Topochi-Tepuy (Blowpipe).

The beach near the canaima lagoon is safe for swimming, but for me I have my other plans like sending an email to my mom saying that I am alive after 3 days of not being able to send anything without notice. So it is much safer for me to not to swim =)

Another view at the beach near the lagoon.

Canaima lagoon is fed by several small waterfalls, namely Hacha, Wadaima, Golondrina and Ucaima right to left.

And of course we are ready to get to know those water masses better. I want to remind you that my LCD and the zoom in my camera are both broken, so please judge the photos with those being in your mind =)

Anyways, do you wonder how close we will get to those waterfalls? I do..

And now I know =). Actually you get to go behind those waterfalls, the view from inside is as gorgeous as the view from outside.

I really feel myself being in the middle of the movie last of the mohikans, although the contexts are pretty different and I am traveling alone since I put Melanie on the boat.

Anyways, time to get some harder to get pictures =).

And after those in the canaima lagoon, we walk for some time to reach Salto Sapa, which is another waterfall in a quieter lagoon short walk (1 hour) from Canaima. This time my email has been sent to my mom, so I am technically safe from that side, so we jump into the water and swim to the waterfall. It is quite fun, reminds me of bonito when I swam to Boca de Onca.

And of course some more gorgeous views from Salto Sapo area with the lagoon and the tepuys.

The first picture is flowing water from the top of Salto Sapo resulting up in that accumulated water mess. The second picture is a better view at the Tepuys.

And finally we are on our way to our first night camp, the middle way between us and angel falls. The views are as gorgeous as usual, but the problem then is in addition to my semi-broken camera, we also have some heavy rain, completely breaking my camera is the last disaster I would have before angel falls, so I go back to my camera protection mode sticking the camera to my .. (pockets) and enjoying the view for myself =)

The next day after the camp we are ready for some more action and jumping around enthusiastically to see angel falls. We will learn that angel falls is not a that easy beauty to be enjoyed the hard way=)...

As you can see from the boat the river is sort of wilder than you would originally expect from a river, and we end up moving against the rapids. And whenever the engine can not go forward much further against the rapids, we will have to push it by our hands while we are on top of rocks with cold currents pushing us!!! ( no kidding ). Anyways, the views are worth any japanese torture that you may see in your lifetime, so nobody really cares... My guide Oswaldo (he is a really good guide always smiling and real good in his job), explains me about those waterfalls when I ask him. I feel like I am seeing hundreds of angel falls in this trip, simply because all those waterfalls are at least a few hundreds of meters high, and I will not even be able to compare those waterfalls in size properly so all of them are actually the longest waterfalls I have seen on earth for me!!!!! Oswaldo explains me that those waterfalls are only flowing when there is enough rainfall, and will not be there during dry periods, so I am really lucky to be seeing them in this rainy week. Yes, I have probably seen 20 angel falls in this trip!!!

Also another point to express in this trip is that, normally when there is not enough rain, you will actually not be able to see the angel falls by boat, because there will not be enough water on the river to carry the boat over the rapids in the other direction. It already gave us some quite hard time today, and it was really some time of the river with a lot of water. So generally people end up flying around angel falls to be able to see it from the air. I am saying this for real, I have talked to other guides too, this is nothing comparable to the actual adventure of seeing the falls from close by being able to see the whole thing for more than an hour enjoying different lighting conditions. So if possible definitely try to go there in the rainy season and if there is a possibility to have some more water on the river during the week, actually wait for it. It will definitely be worth the lost time. And what is more, it is not guaranteed that you will actually be able to see the falls with the plane, if it is too cloudy, and then you will end up flying over the table top mountains to see nothing and come back... I really feel that we are lucky to have seen the falls like this.

And what is still more interesting about this trip is that, it is many packets combined with the angel falls. When you are going there by boat, you are definitely getting some rafting and some jungle tour for free as you can see from our way right now. I even did the tarzan swing, which was hard for my friend to capture but you can still see my feet in front of shannon's face going for the other tree =).

And finally the moment of facing reality!!!! This is Umut, I am near Angel Falls. The last hidden gem in my trip, and it is hidden for real!!!! =)

Yes, I guess it is our luck, our angel is really shy in terms of showing itself to us. I remember our times with Mehmet in Costa Rica with Volcano Arenal, and I am really scared that my angel falls will end up with the same destiny too. There is nothing I can do but wait, and also take some more gorgeous pictures from the area. =)

And of course we will not miss the chance to take some group picture with the very cool guys in our group in front of the angel falls. Venezuela is not the most touristic destination in the world, so if you see some people in front of the angel falls with you they are nearly always guaranteed to be cool people compared to the regular crowd that you would meet in the real life around you. It was also a really interesting crowd with me having 2 austrians, 2 australians, 1 french, 1 spanish, and 1 german, all of them very interesting people. And of course in the middle our friendly guide Oswaldo.

And suddenly the angel falls throws its shyness away and blinks at us, of course we will not miss the chance, damn shame on you Volcano Arenal, why did not you be a little bit more forgiving like angel falls?? And the views are really amazing, of course I immediately give my poses in front of the falls. We are the only group watching it at that time, and now I understand much better about its size and its beauty all over.

Now the shyness is completely over, and the falls is in front of us with all its beauty and magnificence.

Remember I was telling you about how I have seen at least 20 more angel falls before seeing the actual one in this trip here? Just simply forget it. I have never seen anything like this, It is absolutely amazing. And it is without doubt the most beautiful waterfall I have seen in my life, yes all the rankings are messed up once again. I know it is a subjective matter but still, for my heart angel falls have taken the first place immediately once I saw it. Just look at the sky, and the way it is hidden, all clouds are around it on a height of 1km above, it really feels like as if the rocks around are trying their best to hide it properly. But it is showing itself with all its glory once the clouds are gone. It has two creeks that support it, a big one and a smaller one with 3 supporting ones. The way the water simply flies is amazing, there is no other better word, the water really flies, the way it goes from the second creek to the point where the first creek falls, it is as if the water is slowly flying to meet its big brother. And the way the big brother falls, it is also obvious from the pictures, it is as if some angel feather is flying down to earth. It has absolutely no rush, it is enjoying the view slowly as it is swinging down. It is simply amazing. It is much more athmospheric too compared to the iguazu falls, which really simply feels like an amusement park with many tourists just following a simple rail path around to see the falls from different angles. Forget the angles go for the angel, is the simplest way I can explain this.

Yes, I have seen the best waterfalls of my life here. I loved iguazu too, but angel falls is definitely not earthly. Its name is given after the pilot who first discovered it (Jimmy Angel) who also did crash land his plane to Auyan Tepuy(the tepuy where angel falls fall from =) himself and died two years later. The second picture is still from our viewpoint to the falls in the exact opposite direction. As you can see from the picture below, interestingly it is still the same mountain (auyan tepuy)!!!!! Apparently all those mountains we were seeing all the way when we were climbing on top to the angel falls,,,, they were all the same mountain!!!!!!! Anyways,, still being amazed by this hidden beauty in the middle of a lost world I take a goodbye picture and hope that I will be able to see her again in my life at some point. It would be interesting to see her having lost nothing from her beauty when I get older.

On our way back Oswaldo gives us one last chance to take an extra picture of this hidden beauty.

And of course I will examine Auyan tepuy better when we have at least a little bit more sunshine. Another interesting part about this mountain is the smaller angels that you can see each being a few hundred meters falling down from the mountain, Oswaldo explains me that actually those waterfalls are not always there, they are fed by the creeks formed after heavy rains, and so they are only there after rain. And we were really lucky to see this kind of views after heavy rain and with sunshine when we actually are turning back. We told Oswaldo that he is actually living in one of the most beautiful parts of the world, he nods his head, and just enjoys the beauty of his homeland once more looking at the horizon.

And what do you think? Just look at the pictures and please warn me if you do not agree.

As we go back on our way from angel falls to our camp Auyan Tepuy starts showing us his best views, which we enjoy to the full extent. I look at the water splashing through the sides of my boat. All this experience here, I have been travelling for 6 months, and I was able to still be so much surprised by the beauty that I have seen in front of my eyes. Which proves one thing to me, I am still surprisable. I even made myself a small invention called the surprisability index. If it is high, you can be surprised with the things you see around more easily. My surprisability index did get a very strong hit after this trip, but still even before this angel falls, I was confident that it was going to be pretty hard for me to be surprised once again, even in Angel Falls. I was soo wrong, and I could not be happier about it. Soo I understand that I am still surprisable, thanks to god this planet is huge and it will never be out of beauties that can shock you real hard. I look at the water splashing once more. The water is splashing softer now, as we are getting closer to our campsite, I can see the small rainbow, which really has been a symbol for my trip. It really was the rainbow of my life, the trip which made me see all the colors of my life. It is another moment of sensory satisfaction, I just say to myself, those damn moments!!! I smile softly and get out of the boat...

And of course I will not miss the chance to take a good picture even if I am in my moments =). I take a picture of the place we are sleeping also to clarify in the minds of people who may expect to stay in their comfortable rooms with their hot saunas and gyms for seeing this beauty (I told you that it was no amusement park, remember=)

And even the scary truth about the forests (yes those spiders lived close to where we sleep=).

And some more of the beauty to be discovered during the sunrise.... Yes this tree has all those bird nests, which really makes you hesitate seriously about sleeping under the tree =)... And those birds have some of the most interesting sounds I have heard in the forests in my life. Yes, I am still surprisable and I am absolutely happy about it.

And of course I will give a goodbye pose with our strong guide Oswaldo... The night we spend with some girls from Denmark, where my brother actually is right now. They are those crazy danish that decided to come to Venezuela as 3 girls, they are funny too, definitely nice to chat with... We have some rum together with the french and spanish, and I enjoy a nice talk before I go to sleep with my last totally drunk moment in my trip. And the day after is the moment where I will notice that my second camera is broken too, and I am tired after all this, I miss my mom, and I am tired, I have no more money, and I am tired......

And of course I will give another goodbye pose to canaima from the better side of the waterfalls around the canaima lagoon. I ask shannon to take a picture of me for my goodbye pose as I do not have a camera anymore, and she kindly takes the picture. Goodbye Venezuela, my lost world...

In my trip back, I notice that my reservation from the internet is not done properly from Iberia, apparently they are not capable of sending a simple email to their users which explains that they were not able to book the flight!!!! I even had the confirmation email printed,,, anyways, after some small fight, I understand that my wrong reservation from their side does not mean anything to them!!! Those bloody spanish =)...

I have no more patience for waiting, I missed my mom and want my milk pudding. I just go out and get the first Caracas-Istanbul from Air France. =)... Jokes aside, from the smart official rate implementation of Venezuela, this flight did cost me 400$ more than what it could have costed in fact!!!

And finally I am in the place nowhere else can never ever replace in this world.... Home!!!!!!!!! See the evil eyes, kiss the floor and not listening to any other ""smart"" turkish who tells me that I am crazy to return back from USA to Turkey, embrace my homeland... I love my country and I am back home.

This is Umut, I am in Turkey, my home sweet home!!

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