After arriving in Venezuela on the 26th I met 3 people at the hotel I was going to stay at who were taking a night bus to the town that people travel to Angel Falls from. I joined them for the trip as I had little intrest in staying in Caracas and they were also traveling into Brazil (which is what I needed to do). So I didn´t spend the night in Caracas instead I spent it on a bus on my way to Ciudad Bolivar. From there we chose a tour company -- from the 10 or so trying to hound us and hopped on a plane (a 6 seater -- including pilot) and headed to Caniamo.
Caniamo is an indigenous village that cannot be reached by road; so you have to fly in. It is a truly beautiful place. There is a medium to small sized lake there with 4 large waterfalls pouring into it. There are several tourist camps around the lake, but they are separate enough that by late afternoon the only people around are the people at your camp.
So we arrived there on the 27th and there were 7 other people in addition to us. The first day was spent exploring the area, swimming and relaxing. 
There was a 5th waterfall that you can walk to from the camp and 2 of the 5 (4 on the lake and one you walk to) had paths behind them.
There were tons of hammoks everywhere so we were able to simply relax and enjoy the paradise. 
From our camp you could see one of the waterfalls from the hammoks we slept in. 
That evening we had a campfire on the beach.
Caniamo is an indigenous village that cannot be reached by road; so you have to fly in. It is a truly beautiful place. There is a medium to small sized lake there with 4 large waterfalls pouring into it. There are several tourist camps around the lake, but they are separate enough that by late afternoon the only people around are the people at your camp. So we arrived there on the 27th and there were 7 other people in addition to us. The first day was spent exploring the area, swimming and relaxing. There was a 5th waterfall that you can walk to from the camp and 2 of the 5 (4 on the lake and one you walk to) had paths behind them. There were tons of hammoks everywhere so we were able to simply relax and enjoy the paradise. From our camp you could see one of the waterfalls from the hammoks we slept in. That evening we had a campfire on the beach.On the 28th we woke up just after 8 and packed small bags to take to Angel Falls. We hopped into canoes and headed up river to the falls. We travelled for about 1 hour, then had to get out of the motorized canoe we were in so that the guides could bring it over the rapids, while we walked past them for 25 minutes. Of course along this walk a gift shop was convienently located :) We got back into the canoe for another 30-45 minutes before we stopped for lunch (by another waterfall).
Then after that short break we had another 3-3.5 hours of boating upriver to do. Now you must keep in mind that although the first 2 hours were kind of fun (and very beautiful), and the fact that we were getting soaked by the spray from the boat really wasn´t a problem, by hour number 5 we were all very ready to get out of the boat.
When we finally arrived, there was a 1 hour hike into the forest to get up close to the falls. January is the end of the dry season in Venezuela, so the falls were not very strong, but they were still cool to look at. They are so tall it is hard to describe the hight. The main viewing area is about 100 meters from the falls and from that distance I could not get the whole thing into one photo! There are 2 parts to the falls, the free fall and then the fall along the rocks. In the pictures below you will see my best attempt at getting the whole thing (both parts) into one photo.
Then after that short break we had another 3-3.5 hours of boating upriver to do. Now you must keep in mind that although the first 2 hours were kind of fun (and very beautiful), and the fact that we were getting soaked by the spray from the boat really wasn´t a problem, by hour number 5 we were all very ready to get out of the boat. When we finally arrived, there was a 1 hour hike into the forest to get up close to the falls. January is the end of the dry season in Venezuela, so the falls were not very strong, but they were still cool to look at. They are so tall it is hard to describe the hight. The main viewing area is about 100 meters from the falls and from that distance I could not get the whole thing into one photo! There are 2 parts to the falls, the free fall and then the fall along the rocks. In the pictures below you will see my best attempt at getting the whole thing (both parts) into one photo.After viewing the falls we were able to hike the last 100 meters to the bottom of the falls. There we swam in the pool below the falls, which was pretty cool. This may help to give you an idea of scale, that is my head in the picture, and the bottom part of the falls.
The descent from the falls to the river again, now that my flip flops were wet was lots of fun :)
We stayed just on the other side of the river and had a great view of the falls from our camp.
There was no electricity there, so we played cards by candle light, and went to bed pretty early. There were toilets, that we just had to pour buckets of water in to get the to flush -- that was nice. Dinner that night was great -- bbq chicken done over a fire, pasta and salad -- yum!
There was no electricity there, so we played cards by candle light, and went to bed pretty early. There were toilets, that we just had to pour buckets of water in to get the to flush -- that was nice. Dinner that night was great -- bbq chicken done over a fire, pasta and salad -- yum!The next morning we returned to the first camp. The trip down only took 3 hours, because we were now traveling downriver and gliding with the rapids. On the trip up we saw some birds but not a whole lot. However on the way down we saw lots more, and many impressive ones including Scarlet Macaws and Kingfishers. The way back was a more relaxing trip.
All of our group left and went back to Cuidad Bolivar that afternoon, but we stayed an extra night so that we could fly to Santa Elena, another city right at the border. The flight back was a bit scary, as there was a fair amount of turbulance, and in such a tiny plane that is not so much fun -- I am very happy to be on the ground and not planning on getting into another plane for a while.
At the tiny airport we hitched a ride (sort of) with a guy (named Julio) into Santa Elena. He was very cool, his jeep said touristo on it, and he spoke fluent English. He told us that changing money is illegal in Santa Elena, so it only happens on the street and you have to be careful, so he took us to a safe guy to change money with. Then he even drove us to the border (7km away) and brought us through. In the little border town we bought him lunch, and he introduced us to a typical type of Brazilian meal that is amazing, more food (and meat) than you can imagin. You start with several dishes and then as you get going servers come by with all kinds of grilled meats for you and when you finally say no, they keep bringing more and look offended that you cannot eat more. They have a saying that you buy the beef and eat the cow since this insane amout of food is so cheap. Julio left us at the bus station in the border town and we took a night bus to Manaus, where I am now.
The next step is to take a 4 day boat ride up the amazon river.
