THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, December 18, 1994 TAG: 9412160080
SECTION: DAILY BREAK PAGE: E1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY WILLIAM M. MILLER, SPECIAL TO THE SUNDAY BREAK
LENGTH: Long : 207 lines
EDITOR'S NOTE: William M. Miller of Virginia Beach is a retired teacher and guidance counselor with the Norfolk Public Schools. He wrote this, suggesting that other readers might be interested in ``a different vacation area.'' Angel Falls, in a remote corner of Venezuela, is indeed different. It is the highest waterfall in the world, and getting there is one of the world's great adventures. We're glad he's willing to share his experiences.
MY BROTHER-IN-LAW, Richard Gourley, and I began planning a year ago to visit Venezuela, primarily the spectacular Angel Falls. Needless to say, our friends hurled a barrage of questions at us: ``Why go down there?'' and ``Don't you know that they have a high crime rate?'' Even my long-time travel agent said, ``Promise me, will you, that you both will be careful?''
She had never said that to us before, even though she helped prepare eight foreign trips for us in the last decade, including three trips to Russia, a trip to Greece and one to China.
The first thing we found out is you can't go just to Angel Falls; you must at least go to Caracas. So we decided we would see Caracas, go to Angel Falls and go over to Merida in the Cordillera de Merida mountain range, which is the northernmost part of the Andes.
In Merida we wanted to ride the Teleferico, the highest cable car ride in the world. It goes up more than 15,500 feet in four stages. I had been psyching myself up for the cable ride across 1,000-foot-deep gorges for over six months.
I should have been preparing myself for the unexpected as well.
We went in November because it is considered the best time to visit Angel Falls. That is the end of the rainy season, when the weather is still wet but less cloudy than in the rainy season.
The capital city. In Caracas we found everything was centered on Simon Bolivar, the ``Great Liberator.'' The man from Venezuela tried to unite all of South America under one flag in the early 19th century. His memory is everywhere. The airport bears his name. All currency bears his name. Every town in Venezuela has a main square named Bolivar Square where you will find a statue of Bolivar and a cathedral.
Caracas, a city of about 5 million, sits in a valley surrounded by 7,000-foot mountains. The very rich live in the lower areas, in walled, guarded areas of the city.
About one half of the population are poor and live dangerously, clinging to the sides of the city's east and west mountains in ranchitos. Ranchitos are anything from a cardboard box to a poorly constructed, unpainted box house. Electricity is pirated from the nearby power lines. Garbage and trash are thrown down the mountains, sometimes very near cars driving below.
Not everything about Caracas is so grim. Besides the squares, museums and monuments, we found other things we liked.
The city subway, which opened in 1983, preceded by a year's worth of propaganda and praise, is considered one of the cleanest and best-kept in the world.
No one should go to Caracas without trying its delicious thick fruit juices. We tried two that were in season, peach and raspberry. We had a street vendor squeeze us two fresh glasses of orange juice. A dozen and a half oranges later he charged us about 10 cents each.
One of our biggest disappointments was a visit to the much-heralded shopping area, the Sabranda Grande. We mostly found street vendors trying to sell cheap or used goods.
Off to the Falls. Angel Falls is in a region known as the Gran Sabana in southeast Venezuela. Canaima is the main tourist center of the Gran Sabana. We stayed in the Avensa Camp. The camp is owned by Avensa Air Lines, the national airline of Venezuela. The camp maintains about 100 cabins usually booked months in advance.
Avensa Camp sits beside the Canaima Lagoon. The lagoon is ringed by seven waterfalls called La Hacha Falls. The water on the falls is the color of iced tea. On the beach of the Avensa Camp, the sand is pink. The pink color comes from the tannin and acid content that washes into the lagoon.
It is perfectly safe to swim in the lagoon. Canaima Lagoon has been rightly nicknamed ``a piece of Eden.'' The food at Avensa Camp is excellent. It is cafeteria style and you can have all you want. We found it to be very refreshing to spend the time in the jungle with no TV or radio and no worry as to what is going on in the world. Even though the shower had only cold water.
At 5 the following morning, after a cup of coffee and a biscuit, we began our final trek to Angel Falls. We boarded a vehicle and trailer to ride some very rough roads that would take us above La Hacha Falls.
With our guide and his two Indian boat drivers, we and eight other excited tourists boarded our long motorized canoe. It would be our home for most of the day.
By air the jungle, the Falls are about 30 miles away. On the Carrao River ride, we traveled for about 70 miles. For the first 30 miles we made great time and the ride was smooth. Midway, we made a stop at an Avensa Camp for a breakfast.
The second half of our boat ride was on whitewater rapids. We were never in any real danger. Not once did our boat turn in the rapids. This is a whitewater ride that anyone of any age and in reasonably good health should be able to handle with ease.
On the trip up the Carrao River we entered another world. There is no other place on earth quite like this area. We were surrounded by jungle and tupuys. Tupuys are mountains named by the local Indians. In the land of green jungle these tupuys are high, flat, mesa-type mountains. Almost vertical, they are jagged reddish sandstone.
There are 150 of these tupuys in the Gran Sabana region of Venezuela. The 150 inches of rain annually in this region usually gives these tupuys a cloudy halo. Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, the writer of the Sherlock Holmes stories, wrote a novel about the tupuys called ``The Lost World.'' In the book, dinosaurs live on the mountains.
As our boat powered up the Carrao River, we saw waterfalls of many sizes as they cascaded down the sides of the tupuys, many of which were too steep and rugged to be climbed. The rapids were too rough for our camcorder but we still were able to snap a few Polaroids as we dodged the whitewater waves that washed into our boat.
We reached the Churun River and entered Devils Canyon. We had been aboard for about 3 1/2 hours. Around the bend we docked and the reason we came here was in sight. Even though Angel Falls was more than 3 miles away, we stood and stared speechless.
The waterfall is 3,212 feet high. Water plunges 2,648 feet, hits a jagged mountainside and then falls another 564 feet. It takes the water about 14 seconds to hit the bottom splash pool from the top.
I tried to take my brother-in-law's picture with the Falls in the background. Finally I had to lie flat on my back. Even then I couldn't get all the falls in the picture.
Angel Falls was discovered by the American bush pilot Jimmy Angel in 1935. He was flying in the area looking for gold when he spotted one of the great marvels of the world. He returned with a guide and his wife two years later. He crash-landed on top of Auyan Tupuy, which is the source of Angel Falls. It took them eleven days to get safely out of the jungle.
Our party of 10 and our guide next began a hard climb that would take about 1 1/2 hours and would bring us to a bluff overlooking the base of Angel Falls.
It was pure jungle and the path was up, up, up. No sun could be seen. It was very rough. The path was not worn down. We walked on vines of all sizes and shapes. We walked and crawled on, and over rocks and boulders of all kinds and shapes. Slime on the rocks made a slippery, mossy mess. You need a good pair of non-slip, ankle-supported shoes.
But people of all ages should be able to make this climb. I am 62 years old and my brother-in-law is 68.
We stood on the bluff and stared in disbelief at an indescribable sight. The roar was deafening. Hugh sheets of water fell down. The water hit the mountainside and reshaped itself as it continued its fall. In the splash pool at the bottom, water was bouncing everywhere. Though we were a good distance away, we were sprayed by a fine mist.
After we left the bluff we forded a whitewater rapid stream. The water was hip deep. Hand to hand and with shoes on, we crossed. We then were treated to a fine, riverside cook-out and an optional swim. Later, we stopped at a couple of good-sized waterfalls on our trip back to Canaima Lagoon.
The next day brought a different perspective: Angel Falls from the air. The DC-3 was old but FAA-approved. The flight was very smooth.
Flying along the Carrao River, we viewed the beautiful green jungle with the rugged tupuys rising above the horizon. We turned and flew into Devils Canyon. Our plane flew near the tupuy walls in a circular path as we made several close passes along Angel Falls.
Inside the cabin I moved from side to side to get good pictures. I was invited to take pictures from the cockpit. As our plane hugged the canyon walls once again I was reminded that this place was properly nicknamed ``The Lost World.'' I couldn't help thinking, as our plane few back to Camaina, how great it would be to spend your honeymoon here.
The last place we visited was Merida in the northwest part of the country, about 400 miles west of Caracas. Merida is a university city of 263,000 people. Situated at more than 5,000 feet, the city has an average temperature of 70 degrees. The nights are cool and pleasant. It never snows in Merida, but the surrounding mountain peaks are usually snow-capped.
I had traveled to Merida mainly to ride the Teleferico, the world's highest cable car ride. Frustration overtook us when we arrived and found the Teleferico was closed.
The Teleferico is built in four sections. Each separate stage has its own cars. When one car is full going up, another car is empty going down except for a driver. Before we arrived a cable broke and an empty car with a driver aboard fell and he was killed. Now the cables are being replaced.
The tour company we traveled with did not tell us that the Teleferico was inoperative. My advice to any traveler to Merida is to insist that your tour operator tell you if the Teleferico is open or not, because all tour-package information about Merida advertises the cable-car ride.
Our trip to Merida was rescued by our local tour guide. He was a full-time college student and went the extra mile to make our time in Merida enjoyable. He was an excellent representative for his country.
There is not much to see in Merida. It is a town of white buildings. The town square, Bolivar statue and the cathedral are about all you can see. Two interesting things are the town market with 400 stalls selling food, and the souvenirs vendors. No one really seemed interested in selling anything. We found an ice cream shop that sells 500 flavors - including onion and hamburger.
Our guide was committed to us for only a morning tour of the city. He volunteered his services all afternoon, free, taking us by car to the mountains to see a special park similar to Colonial Williamsburg. The park is set up as Venezuela was in 1925. It is an excellent representation of that period and tells something about each of the 20 Venezuelan states.
We gave our tour guide a nice tip for his generosity. I think he went the extra mile because only 3 percent of tourists coming to his country are Americans.
We enjoyed the trip to this oil-rich democracy where gas costs only 9 cents a liter. You can fill a mid-size car for about $2.50.
Again, if you are looking for a different type of vacation, Venezuela would be well worth your time. ILLUSTRATION: Color photo
RICHARD GOURLEY
AT LEFT: William M. Miller visits a Venezuelan lagoon nicknamed ``A
Piece of Eden.'' Behind him are La Hacha Falls.
Map
ROBERT D. VOROS/Staff
Photo
WILLIAM M. MILLER
Richard Gourley rests after the difficult clumb to a bluff
overlooking the base of Angel Falls. At 3,212 feet, Angel is the
world's highest waterfall.
by CNB