Venezuela #1: The Lost World

This winter (2011-2012), SQ planned an epic trip to S.America to find himself. I managed to join him in mid Dec for the Venezuelan leg, and pulled in a couple of Stanford folks to enliven the party. It was a great trip, and Venezuela had much to offer beyond the bad political reputation and currency controls. As I'm starting to learn in Biodesign, barriers to entry represent opportunities, not roadblocks =).

First activity: hike up Mt Roraima!! Beautiful sandstone table mountains (tepuys) adorn the plains of the Gran Sabana. The famous Angel Falls lie off the Auyun tepui, but the highest point is on Roraima tepui. We'd arranged a 6D 5N trek by Backpackers, via Gekko tours. Dec 12th: fly to Puerto Ordaz, transfer to Ciudad Bolivar. Spend day at Posada La Casita, o/n bus to Santa Elena. Dec 13th: start hike.

Hmm. We missed the trip briefing, didn't realize that the porters only carried the tents and food. So 1) I had to somehow fit sleeping bag and pad on my backpack, and 2) carry the 8kg load up the mountain. Didn't seem like a big deal until the first uphill stretch, where my legs were transformed into jelly, and my shoulders felt great empathy for Atlas (he who carried the weight of the world).

The porters lashed all their stuff to a tall rattan frame/basket, and managed to fit an incredible assortment of food, tents and cooking pots.

The first day, we walked 12km across rolling hills, punctuated by a few small streams, some of which we crossed on narrow tree trunk bridges. To our astonishment, halfway through we see one dude on the trail, riding a bicycle. I think he was ferrying beer and coca cola to sell at the camp. How he managed to get his stuff across the skinny tree trunks is probably a closely guarded family secret.

Arriving finally at camp #1 near the River Tok (tok = stone), I release bag from grateful shoulders, and became immediately absorbed in the activities of a colony of leaf cutter ants. Dinner by torchlight. We feasted on spaghetti bolognese, while the sandflies (puri-puri) feasted on us.

The next morning, breakfast was an interesting combination of fried pan (bread/dough/'ham jin peng') and mayo chicken salad. Breakfast of Champions! Fuel for the 10km length of steady uphill trek. SUPER TIRED when we arrived at camp, which was at the base of Roraima. The sheer rock face before me was shrouded in fog-- Roraima was beautiful yet forbidding. Later that afternoon, the fog had cleared, and the sun bathed her in a golden hue.

Next morning, start the ascent at 5.30am. Trail up was thickly forested, with occasional splashes of color from pink orchids, leopard-print orchids (Boomz!), purple and red berries. Crossed a large waterfall. Very slippery, just gotta keep moving. Last section was a steep pile of boulders, some loose rock. Steady scrambling required. It would have been more enjoyable without the backpack, but I had fun on this stretch.

And then we were there! On top of Roraaaaaiiiima! All covered with cheeese! er... should be sweat, not cheese. Andreas, a Venezuelan girl in the group, celebrated by doing yoga poses (she's a yoga instructor).