Day 1 & 2 – Caracas
I arrived in Caracas in the late afternoon on a Saturday. Based on everything that I ever heard about the city, I expected it to be a crime-ridden place where very few people ventured out into the streets. Instead, I found a city bursting with life with people going about their daily business just like anywhere else in the world. I wandered around the area surrounding my hotel (aka The Alex Hotel which I highly recommend since it is comfy, safe, and affordable). My first impression was that it is a “young” city with tons of kids and that people there really, really like ice cream. This opinion didn’t change over the next 24 hours as everywhere you looked people were enjoying their ice cream cones. (Coincidentally, it also reinforced my theory that the amount of ice cream cones that people eat in a city has a direct correlation with how safe they perceive the city to be but that is a different story).
Michelle, my travel buddy for this trip, arrived late in the evening and we got up early the next day to start exploring the city. It was raining most of the day so we didn’t get to fit in a lot of what we originally hoped as we were dodging rain clouds most of the time but we got a good impression of what downtown Caracas is like. The city has a handful of beautiful colonial buildings, fantastic street art, and the same lively main squares that you find in most Latin American cities.
Day 3 – Caracas to Canaima National Park
Our first day at Canaima National Park was an exciting one! We arrived at Waku Lodge just in time for lunch and then left on an excursion to the handful of waterfalls lying just across the lagoon from the lodge. It started off with a quick boat ride across the lagoon, followed by a quick jaunt up the side of the waterfall. When we reached the end of a stone staircase, we were greeted by a rushing torrent of water and a scattering of boulders. None of us actually believed that we were going to be able to walk behind this curtain of water and along the backside of the waterfall until our guide expertly made his way over.
One by one, we climbed over enormous rocks perched seemingly precariously on the edge of a cliff. I was terrified at the time and suddenly, I was behind the waterfall. It was an amazing experience walking along a stone walkway between a wall of rock and a wall of water. We walked to the end of the water and back and once again, crossed back to dry land. From there, we made our way back to the boat and continued on to the next waterfall where we repeated the experience.
After exploring the two waterfalls, we boated back across the lagoon, ate a delicious dinner, and had a great night’s sleep.
Day 4 & 5 – Angel Falls
The next day, we were off on an overnight trip to Angel Falls. It took around four hours to get there by boat and along the way, we were surrounded by emerald green trees and dramatic mesas. Suddenly, we got our first glimpse of the falls, high above the treeline. As we made our way to our “base camp”, the falls got closer and closer until we were right in front of them. After taking a million pictures and having a hearty lunch, it was time for a nap in the hammocks and a quick swim in the river before dinner. We finished off the day curled up in hammocks where I, more or less, slept a very peaceful night.
The next morning we woke up with your guide Jorge excitedly yelling for us to come look at the falls. They were shrouded in whisps of mist and looked even more dramatic than the day before. It had rained heavily throughout the night so the river was raging as we boarded our little boat that would take us to the starting point of the hike up to the viewpoint of Angel Falls.
The boat ride took about 10 minutes and then we were trekking up a pathway coveted in puddles, tree roots, and rocks, making you feel like you were on a real adventure. We hiked for about an hour before reaching the Mirador which was sadly covered in clouds and was very, very windy. We tried to grab a few photos to prove we were there and then walked another 15 minutes or so down to the pool of the falls. While people apparently normally swim there, we were barely able to cross over to it.
We headed back down the way we came and hopped onto the boats back to base camp. There, we had a quick lunch and started the three-hour boat ride back to Waku Lodge.
Day 6 – Kavak
After a wonderful night’s sleep, it was up bright and early for breakfast and an “optional” excursion that I had somehow gotten convinced to go on despite it costing an obscene amount of money. It started off with a chartered flight on a tiny plane to a place called Kavak. From there, we walked for about 20 minutes through the beautiful countryside before canyoning along the river as it carved its way through a slot canyon. In the end, we reached a gushing waterfall that was the perfect place for taking photos and then headed back to the plane.
The flight back was spectacular as the pilots made a few passes over Angel Falls, allowing us to get great views over the falls. There was significantly less water at the falls compared to the previous day and it was fascinating to see how quickly the water levels could change day by day. It also made me very grateful to see the falls at their most powerful.
We got back to Waku Lodge early enough to take their free kayaks out for a spin on the Canaima lagoon before relaxing on the resort’s floating dock as the sunset and then having one last dinner before heading to bed.
Day 7 – Canaima to Moroccoy
Sadly, we got up early to pack our bags and get ready for our flight to Caracas. From the airport, we rented a car and began making our way to Moroccoy National Park. Along the way, we took a detour to the adorable German colonial city of Tovar. The drive there was slightly scary with lots of twists and turns as we climbed up through the mountains and a ton of fog which made it feel like there was a chance of plunging over the side of the mountain.
As we got closer and closer to Tovar, we began seeing over-the-top advertisements featuring cartoon Helgas and Bavarian men in lederhosen. When we finally got to the center of town, we were greeted by a charming little place that looked like it had been transplanted there from the Alps. The fog magically cleared so we had lunch, took some photos, and wandered around for a bit before jumping back in the car to continue on toward Moroccoy.
The drive between Tovar and Moroccoy was equally as scary as the drive up the mountains thanks to the countless drivers driving without their lights on and a major lack of lights. Not to mention the potholes the size of a Volkswagen. We survived though and after an uneventful dinner of pizza, we passed out in our hotel room.
Day 8 – Moroccoy to Caracas
The next morning, we woke up to a horrible thunderstorm and were sure that we wouldn’t be able to go on our planned boat trip to the Moroccoy National Park. However, our ever-hopeful boat captain told us that it would be fine and that we would just need to delay our departure by 30 minutes. She was right and the heavens cleared up just long enough for us to get out on the boat, visit one gorgeous beach, and then get pummeled by rain while we were on the boat. Determined now to let it ruin our day, we decided that that was the perfect time to go for a swim (I mean, we were wet anyways).
The sky eventually cleared up and we made our way back to the dock so we could start the long drive back to Caracas. It was another terrifying drive back but we made it to Caracas late that evening. Michelle had a flight out a few hours later but I collapsed into bed with a pounding headache that was about two seconds away from becoming a full-blown migraine.
Day 9 & 10 – Isla Margarita
The next morning, I dropped the car back off at the Caracas airport and hopped on a flight to Isla Margarita. This enormous, mountainous island is just a 30-minute flight from the city but it might as well be another planet. There, everything felt laidback and relaxed and I spent a day hanging around at my awesome guest house that was just steps away from the beach.
The next day, I got up bright and early to go for a drive around the island, stopping at a few colonial towns and some breathtaking beaches. It was the polar opposite of the drive from Caracas to Moroccoy and I couldn’t have been happier. It was the perfect way to finish off a great trip to Venezuela and definitely left me wanting to see more of the country!
