La Gran Aventura, Part 2

... Continued... Start with the previous post if you don't know what I am talking about.

We woke up the next morning, with shivering blue lips, in the Gran Sabana (Great Savannah). This part of the country is somewhat legendary around the country. It seems like everyone in Valera has something to say about it, though hardly anyone has actually visited it. People told me stories about insects the size of birds, overgrown toads that eat rats and cabybaras, and mosquitoes the length of your arm that swarm the entire area. They also believe it is the most beautiful and oldest place in the world. While I feel like I can say fairly safely that few Venezuelans have an accurate impression of the Gran Sabana, I definitely think that all the hype it attracts is deserved. It is really a very stunning place. There are enormous, ancient Tepuis (tabletop mountains) that tower above the clouds in every direction. These tepuis are remnants of the Guyana Shield, some of the oldest rock formations in the world (they were formed during the time when the supercontinent Gondwana existed). To give some perspective, these rocks are so old that although they once formed the seabed (you can still see the ripples in the rocks), there are no fossils in them because they were formed BEFORE any organisms that would leave fossils had evolved. Now that’s old.

In the Gran Sabana, we arrived to a little touristy city called Santa Elena de Uraien. We got our tour for the next day figured out— a 7 day backpacking trek up and down Roraima (see photo), one of the most spectacular tepuis. While we thought this might take all day, we ended up having everything figured out by about 9 AM. The tour guide mentioned that he was going across the border into Brazil for the day, and did we want to come with?? So we said, “duh!” and hopped in the taxi with him. It was strange how different everything was so suddenly. One minute you understand the language, recognize the food, are familiar with fashion and customs, and the next moment everything is new and foreign. Very strange. We ate a lot of meat, walked around a bit, and bought a few souvenirs, including some really ridiculous cowboy hats for our trek up the big hill. We excitedly spent the night in Santa Elena cooking a spaghetti dinner, playing cards and drinking beer on the second floor patio in the fresh night breeze.

The next morning we woke up early and went to meet the other hikers: a Dutch girl we had shared a room with the night before, a very friendly Polish girl, and two very personable Australian scientists. After a long, dizzying car ride and a quick lunch we were off on our big trip.

The hike was nothing short of spectacular. It was by far the longest, most ambitious backpacking trip that I have been on to date, and while it was hard and I came off the mountain shivering with blisters, soaking wet clothes, and smelly boots, I enjoyed almost every minute of the trek. The biologist in me was way overstimulated by the unbelievable ecosystem that exists on top of the mountain—the numerous endemic plants and animals, the carnivorous plants everywhere, brilliantly colored flowers growing in an unbelievably harsh environment, the strange animals that have evolved really bizarre characteristics (my personal favorite—the frogs that cannot jump. They walk/waddle instead of jumping. Super hilarious)… it was all like a dream.

We walked for two days to the base of the mountain, one day up, one day across, one day around and back (like 30 km + with packs!!), and for two days to come back. The top of the tepui was like a moonscape, with strange rock formations in every direction. I use the words walking or hiking, but really what we were doing was a lot of jumping from rock to rock, climbing up and down cool rock formations, and fording rivers in socks. We followed faint paths on the rocks, stones worn to a lighter color from all the people passing back and forth down the trails. It made it clear that so much of this enormous structure was left untouched, because if you left the trail you would surely get lost. We started to recognize the other hikers on the mountain, even at a distance, the French crew, the Brazilian women, the Germans…

During the day we explored some of the magnificent sites on top of the mountain—Crystal Valley, an unbelievable strip of perfect quartz crystals, El Foso, a huge cavern eroded by converging water sources, where you can swim and stand under a freezing waterfall, we went to the triple point, where Venezuela, Guyana and Brazilian territories converge in a single point, to Lake Gladys and to the site of a helicopter crash where you see only the remains of the aircraft. At night, we stayed in caves and ate dinner and played cards in good company, talking about the differences in politics, health care and economics between our countries.

Most of the time on top of Roraima it was really misty and wet. The clouds would pass by, above and below and on every side of you, drenching you although it never really rained. Leaving things out to dry often left them wetter than they started. When the sun came out it shined brilliantly, creating full rainbows that you could follow all the way to the ground on both sides. From the cliff at the edge of Roraima, when the sun shone momentarily through the clouds you could see forever, giving you butterflies and making you feel faint only for a moment, until it all disappeared behind the clouds again.

At the end of our trek, they greeted us with lunch, watermelon, coke, and beer. We hopped back in the car for our trip back to the city, exhausted and feeling much more comfortable with each other than the previous time that we were all in a car together. For me, the drive was terrifying. The driver drove like an absolute maniac down these sketchy dirt roads, with cars approaching in an equally crazy manner in the other direction. It was clear how nervous we all were, when suddenly as we drove head on past another vehicle the glass on the side window of our car shattered violently. The driver stopped the car immediately, started swearing and sweeping glass out of the car. We all waited silently, unsure of what to say. Turns out the cars were passing each other so closely that their side view mirrors collided and swung around to smash the window in an impressive explosion. As many of you know, moving vehicles of any sort are my biggest fear in life right now… this did not help. The driver continued on, driving just as crazily until, on behalf of all of the hikers in the car, I said in my politest Spanish, “Excuse me sir, we are all very, very uncomfortable back here, do you think you could slow down just a little bit???” It worked. The power of manners.

Part 3 will be on its way soon enough. I must go eat lunch! If you have facebook I posted a bunh of picture from the trip. If not, I will put a link up here soon so that you can all see them.

OH YEAH!! And Merry Christmas! I almost forgot given the lack of anything I associate with Christmas here… Except I did see a man dressed like Santa driving like a psycho down the street today in a car with only one door and no glass in the windows. A little reminder.  Love you all and I really wish I could be there to celebrate with you!