HAPPY BIRTHDAY FYNN
Trip Start
Jul 12, 2009
1
151
255
Trip End
Aug 18, 2010
Where I stayed
Canaima National Park, Guayana Highlands, Venezuela
Wednesday, March 10, 2010
Within seconds of getting dressed the kids were up and playing with the Dalmatian puppies, they even cleaned out their kennel. It was pretty hard to drag them away for our flight.
Saint Elena's airport is brand new. The only thing it appeared to lack was some aeroplanes. Our flight was at 11am but after half an hour we realised we were on some serious "laidback time". However the walky talkies and the discovery of a tortoise on the runway managed to entertain the children.
Eventually after two and a half hours we were shown our plane – a tiny plane with five seats (there were six of us) creaking with our luggage. The pilot’s statue worried us even further as he was large but cheery. Fynn by this time was uttering “This is the worst birthday in the world” after having to wait so long for the plane.
We were eventually up in the air and buzzing along and much to our surprise the pilot handed over the controls to Fynn (who was sitting on Ian’s lap in the front) and Fynn pulled the wheel down to take us up into the clouds and following the pilots nods he turned the wheel to the left or right. This was turning out to be an OK birthday.
After one and half hours in the sky we landed at Canaima where we were staying at Waku Lodge. As soon as we arrived at the Lodge we were ushered into the dining room for lunch. The view from our table was stunning. We were on the bank of the Canaima lagoon facing various thundering waterfalls.
After lunch we went in a canoe across the lagoon with Jose our guide. We reached one of the waterfalls, Salto El Sapo a 20-metre long and 120 metre wide waterfall. Behind the waterfall was a path that we could walk along and stand safely in the cascade. On our way back we stopped at a small beach in the middle of the lagoon and swam in the tea-coloured water.
Later that afternoon we watched UP but before settling down to the film we watched the Extras and saw a documentary on where the cartoonists went to source ideas and factual information and low and behold they started at Santa Elena and went where we had and then flown to Canaima to see the Angel Falls where we were now! What a coincidence. This was great preparation for our flight the following day to the Angel Falls.
At supper time the Lodge presented Fynn with a birthday cake, which completed his birthday nicely.
