Dear fellow travelers,

2013 was an excellent year of travel for me. For work reasons I visited several cities in Brazil and took advantage of some getaways to get to know significant places in it.

On this occasion, one month after the tour, the next trip was in my own country, Venezuela. The destination, Canaima.

In previous years, a cousin of mine who had a high position in the government had invited me several times to go with my family to visit the national park, which in 1994 had been declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO. Where are the oldest plateaus or tepuis on the planet and the highest waterfall in the world. However, on those occasions I declined politely, because of my fear of traveling by plane.

Not many Venezuelans know the national park for its difficult and expensive access. Today I regret not having taken my family to Canaima, when my family was all with me. Today some of my children, now adults, are out of the country with their couples.

Probably, in the Steemit chain there will be some fantastic reviews about this wonderful place published by some of my countrymen, so I will try to provide my experiences supported with enough photos.

I arrived in Canaima on a flight from the city of Santa Elena de Uairen. The first thing that caught my attention was the dirt track and the cleanness of the air I breathed.

In a Churuata were several people (tourists) waiting for the planes to board and return to the airport of Ciudad Bolivar.

The hotel was the Venetur, managed by the Venezuelan State. A bus me did transport to the hotel entrance.

After checking in at the reception, I went to the cabin to unpack, I will stay for three days. Among my luggage there was no lack of mosquito repellent.

Unlike the tour of Brazil, here in Canaima I had total freedom to decide my activities. So the first thing I did was to know the common areas of the hotel.

The main terrace of the hotel has a spectacular view of the Canaima lagoon. Even today, almost 7 years after the trip, I still enjoy the scenery.

The view to the right from terrace , you can see the jump of the toad. I think that without fear of being wrong, it is the most accessible tourist attraction in time and distance.

Also, the terrace gives access to the main restaurant area. I did not miss the opportunity to taste the buffet.

When I finished eating the food, I went down the stairs to the lagoon area. The color of the water immediately reminded me of the black river of Manaus.

I walked along the shore photographing three palm trees, which are iconic of the place. Here is my perspectives.

I spent the rest of the afternoon in the cabin, resting and reading for a while.

In the evening I decided to approach the Pemón community to buy some crafts to take home as souvenirs.

The next day, in some canoes I visited the area of ​​the Salto del Sapo (the jump of the toad)

There are hundreds of photographs about the place, but what caught my attention was that the guide, he was one of the Pemon community chiefs and was accompanied by his son, Friday. Curious parallelism with Robinson Crusoe. LOL.

The next day, the plan was to go to Angel Falls. Two options: the most fitness, sailing six hours by canoe along the river to see the Auyantepuy. In the Pemon language, Auyantepuy means the mountain of the devil.

The other option, take a plane Cesna and fly over Angel Falls, the cost at that time $ 100 for a flight of approximately 15 minutes if my memory does not fail.

My choice, the flight in Cesna. Now that I think about it, it was a visceral decision despite my fear of flying, but I wanted to see what the famous pilot saw in the 30s of the last century.

Unfortunately, that day it rained a lot and could not fly. Those who chose the canoe trip, got very wet but saw beautiful places.

I hope in the near future, when the situation in my country improves, I can return to Canaima, this time with some of my family to see Angel Falls.

The last day of my stay in the community of Canaima, a friend of my cousin, invited me to meet a beautiful waku lodge inn.

Thank you very much for reading me. I hope you have enjoyed my experiences and that they serve as a stimulus for you in the future to consider knowing this unique and wonderful place.

See you soon.

Photographs:

Camera / Smartphone: Canon PowerShot A590 IS / HTS One S

Category: Nature Park

Location / Date: Canaima - Venezuela / Jul , 2013

Setting: Automatic

Edition: Yes

Photographer: @janaveda