Venezuela: Angel Falls and Canaima Lagoon

We awoke the next morning to a special sight. Since it had rained so much the night before the Falls were overflowing with water. Rafael (our guide) said that this was about 80% of the potential water coming across the falls. You can see in the picture below, that there are 4 distinct components of the waterfall, whereas there were only two the day before.

(Angel Falls, night before)

(Angel Fall, morning of)

If there had been any more water, the four would have merged into one huge waterfall coming over the edge. Due to the height, it didn’t really seem like that much water was coming over the edge, but after hiking up the path, that thought was quickly put aside. About a quarter of a mile from the falls we felt a gentle “rain” coming down; that gentle rain was actually the mist that was coming off of the falls that only intensified as we got closer. At the falls overlook, we briefly got a view all the way to the top before the cloud cover rolled in and cut off the view, but unobstructed was the mist coming from above that made any picture of the falls pretty darn hard. But, much thanks to Ivan’s persistence, we were able to get a couple of good pictures.

(Bottom of the falls)

Heading back from the falls, we picked up our stuff from camp and made our way back down the river. Unsurprisingly, it was much faster coming back, and we were soon hiking through a mild rain to our next camp at the base of the Canaima Lagoon and lower waterfalls. Not missing a moment, we dropped our packs suited up to go for our next hike under Salto el Sapo. Walking up to this falls, you can hear the deafening flow of water coming over the ledge and see a little ledge going through. Stripping off everything but our suits and socks (for grip) we slowly made our way BEHIND this falls. Stopping in the middle, my senses were being overloaded: I could feel the chilly mist coming from the bottom of the falls and my chest felt the pounding of the water; every breathe I took was saturated with the smell and the moisture of the falls; the roar of the water drowned everything else out; and the sight of millions of gallons of white water pouring down merely feet from me. Making it through to the other side, we were able to stand under part of the falls, where the water falling from tens of meters above hit my skin and felt like the sting of being continuously pelted by hail. After a stop for pictures, we headed up to the top of the falls and followed Rafael out to the precipous of an adjacent falls as far as we dared to go...overlooking the amazing plains of the park (and one of the scenes from Jurassic Park, where they first see the Brontosaurus). Feeling the rush of the falls beside me and the amazing views beyond was such an incredible experience, it’s hard to describe.

(Falls we walked behind...the path is to the right)

Leaving the top of the falls, we meandered back down and under Salto el Sapo again, reclothed, and headed back to camp to unwind. Meeting Susan back at camp, we headed down to the lagoon for a nice leisurely swim and float. Don’t be fooled, just because the lagoon falls are shorter than Angel did not make them any less powerful. Coming into the lagoon were five incredibly powerful falls that made for an impressive backdrop for our quick swim in the lagoon.

(swimming lagoon!)

Emerging much more relaxed and grabbing a shower to rinse off, we all showed up at dinner worn out and ready for a good meal, which Irma and her son readily delivered. After some quick games of rummy, we all succumbed to the fatigue of the day and retired to bed for the night.

The tragic story of Santa Puppy:

So, arriving at the lagoon we immediately notice a little boy playing with an adorable 1 month old puppy. Incapable of controlling ourselves in the face of such cuteness, Christina and I go over and play with the puppy and talk with the boy (probably 7 or 8ish). Not only is the puppy adorable, but the little boy has 4 different collars that he is constantly putting on and taking off (while the puppy is passed out). Having our cuteness quota filled we retreated to the room to change for the falls, and come out to the puppy being decked out in a red cape and Santa Hat. NORMALLY, I'm not too keen on dressing up dogs, but on a 1 month old puppy, I have to admit it was pretty darn adorable. So again, we play around with the puppy while waiting, soaking up the cuteness...

So, when we arrived back from swimming in the lagoon, the little boy came out and mentioned something about the puppy to Tracey in Spanish, Tracey, knowing that Christina and I had been playing with the puppy earlier forwarded the kid to us to talk about the puppy (assuming that he just wanted to share the lastest puppy fashion trend). But when he started to talking to Christina he just said "the puppy died...my mother accidently stepped on it while cooking..." and then wandered back to the house. Needless to say, when you expect a cute puppy and you end up with a dead puppy, it puts a little bit of a damper on the night. So, to immortalize the cuteness of Santa Puppy, I give you the following photos and videos. RIP Santa Puppy.