The End II, and another beginning

October 16 1998


In 6 hours I’m on a plane to London (via Amsterdam and a little change and wait). I can barely believe it’s a year already, but in looking back, I’ve done enough to have filled a year. Venezuela has been a good and bad way to end the trip. Good in that it has given me some impetus to get back to the real world, and bad in that it has been my least favourite country, despite its awesome beauty. Travelling cheap in the big V is not easy, and the constant grind just to keep in budget got me down. Venezuelans as people did little to get me enthusiastic about them. Like everywhere there are some great folk, but by and large they are a lazy bunch that just slouch around and look menacing. A Venezuelans idea of a good time is to go somewhere nice (and they have plenty of choice there) and ruin it as thoroughly as possible. They get blind drunk, drive their big American cars noisily around, listen to tasteless music and discard as much litter as they can carry to the spot. OK so I sound in not too enthusiastic mood. Whilst griping, let me finish with the Audrey gripe. Audrey I have ¨met¨ via the net and she decided to drift down to Venezuela for a while. I didn’t think this was the greatest plan to start with, and my fears were proved right. She was very 21 and very American. Both of which I can endure for a day or two, but little more. Unfortunately we did Roraima together, after which I could take no more, and have had a great time since. Not that Roraima wasn’t good, but I’m ahead of myself. First we drifted down to Cuidad Bolivar, a lovely town right on the Orinoco. An amazing river too, wide and strong, not like the piddly little streams back home. The town was the centre of the independence movements in the early colonial days, and is justly proud of its colonial centre. After a day there we headed down to Santa Elena, a border town and the jumping off point for Roraima. I was constantly griping about the silly cost ($100 for a week) to climb the mountain, so we joined a couple of cheerless Germans and with this incompetent group from hell I tackled a magnificent mountain. Fortunately our obligatory guide was great, as was the porter the others hired. (A porter, for that little walk !!!) I approached the hike as if going solo, and aside from the fact that we went at snails pace (and took an extra 2 days to and from the mountain, and hence extra guide costs) I began to enjoy myself. It’s an easy stroll with great wildlife and way too many little biting insects. The climb is nothing, and the top is a maze of pure sandstone, and huge. We spent two full days on top, which I thought was not enough. The plants are way cool, and there is a lot to discover. My budding fellow naturalists never once even bothered to look at a single plant, and after 4 hours on top seemed bored. Well, I entertained myself grandly and once back off the mountain had an amazing walk out. the walk is through rolling high grassland, and it rained lightly in warm weather. For 2.5 hours I strolled in utter bliss, it was just like the berg, which I miss greatly. Anyway, I was left in Santa Elena whilst the others headed off, and hung out for a couple of days going bird watching. Eventually I got to go rafting with one of the tourist agencies. They were making a promotional video and needed people with experience to help out. So it cost nothing and I got to run an interesting stretch of river 6 times. Eventually I moved on to Santa Fe, a little Eurokid hangout on the Caribbean. Here I passed a few days, reading, swimming tonnes and even did a day’s snorkelling trip, which was pretty good. Diversity wasn’t great (those Venezuelans sure like ruining good stuff) The best spot was a wreck, all of 12m down. Unfortunately I only had air to get there, and have a sort look before going up to surface. However, throughout visibility was great, the best I’ve ever seen, and it was fun just porposing around. Eventually I pulled myself out the sea and off to the hills around Caripe. I was on a birdwatching mission, and not disappointed. I saw lots on three day walks, including walking up to the caves of the Oilbird, and doing a touristy guided trip around the average caves. Then it was a bus right across to Maracay and Henri Pitter national park, the best park to watch birds in the world they say. As it turned out, there were a group of students doing bird ringing there, catching the north American migrants as they passed through. In my distant youth I did a fair amount of this, so spent 4 busy but excellent days helping out. We caught tonnes of good stuff, including humming birds, which are indeed smaller than the insects around there. I got my little list of South American bird to over the 300 mark. Not very good all in all, but I am happy. I also pulled a species of swift from the net that has yet to be identified. Perhaps its new to science (Aeronautas devliegii ??)The station I stayed at is great. Its like this relic mall, huge and filled with big empty rooms. The jungle is trying to swallow it desperately and it has an atmosphere that is unlike anywhere I’ve been After my great stay there it was back to the beach at Santa Fe, and a couple more days of the same as last time. Yesterday I got back to KaraKA (as pronounced here) and that’s about all I have to say. Soon, very soon I will get around to catching up all the personal mails, and smiling my greeting to a load of friends.