Venezuela
Canaima und Isla de Margarita
The tour I’d booked was to go to the foot
of Salto Angel, but this was not possible
because the Rio Carrao didn’t have
enough water in it near the waterfall so that we
couldn’t go by boat. If you’d consulted
a travel guidebook before the trip, you could
have expected something like
this to happen as it points out
that the water levels are low in
the dry season from December
to April. The local tour guide’s
behaviour, however, was quite
cheeky: having landed at
Canaima on 7 March 2001, after
flying with a Dash 7 and closely
flying past Salto Angel twice, I
handed over to him the voucher
I’d received in Germany and,
feigning complete surprise, he
told me and the other four
Germans that this tour (to the foot
of Salto Angel) did not take place because there
wasn’t enough water. Wouldn’t we like
to fly back instead? When we then asked
him when it would be possible to fly
back he said that he didn’t have anything to
do with that because that was a different
company. --- (Yes, that’s the way things
are over there.) When we decided to
stay put he said that he didn’t have time yet,
so that we had to make do with an English-language
guided tour rather than
German. But in the end, it turned out
to be a wonderful trip in a nice international
group, the trip, however, being quite
strenuous at times since most of it was done
on foot. Towards
the end of the
three-day trip I noticed that
there were such things as
luxury bungalows in the
national park, but as close
to the table mountains as I
travelled, there’s just the
hammock camp. But at least
it’s got toilets and showers.
The food is good, everything
else is very simple, and a can
of beer sets you back four
Deutschmarks in the middle
of the jungle, which is, however,
hardly surprising. To those holidaying
on the Isla de Margarita, I’d like to recommend
a trip by jeep to the eastern part
of the island. The island is a free port zone and offers
some good shopping; you should go to
Porlamar, and if possible to the shops on and
around Avenida Cuatro de Mayo (Av.
4 de Mayo) where you’ll find international brands.
A bit further away from there, prices
drop, but so does the quality. The island is ideal for
surfers and windsurfers, and “El Yaque”
is said to be one of the world’s best centres. I
wouldn’t recommend the island to divers,
and I didn’t indulge in any diving myself. There
only seems to be one diving place near
the Isla Los Frailes, and the water is not clear
and remarkably cold. The “El Roques”
National Park, however, is supposed to be ideal,
but it’s far-off and very expensive.
If you’re tired of hotel food (all inclusive) and you want
to go out to have a very good (and
expensive) meal, then I’d like to recommend two places: Sevillana’s, Avenida
Bolivar (better take a taxi to get there and back – Sevillana’s is good
and expensive, but it is located next
to a slum of tin huts), and Dugout, Avenida 4 de Mayo,
both in Porlamar. If you want to get
cash with your credit card but don’t have a PIN to
withdraw money from a cash machine,
you’ll have to go to Unibanca on Av. 4 de Mayo,
Porlamar; don’t forget your passport.
All other banks will refuse to give you any cash.
Get US dollars or bring them in traveller’s
cheques. Always change into bolivares only
for a few days’ needs (inflation!),
and do change from US dollars. Calculated on the
basis of the dollar-euro exchange rate,
you’ll get more bolivares for the US dollar than
for the euro.
© Copyright Dieter Klinkhammer
webmaster: Dieter Klinkhammer
Last Date Modified of german page: March 31st 2001 ,
english translation published: June 28th 2003
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