Back In Time.......

Trip Start Dec 05, 2004

Trip End May 04, 2005

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Flag of Venezuela Orinocho, Venezuela
Wednesday, March 30, 2005

This morning we arrived at Tabule and eventually got off on our Delta tour by around 2 pm....although we were on a small boat, we were stocked up with food, beer and cuba libras!! Within 30 mins of being on board, the drinks were flowing and lunch was served- it doesn't get much better than cruising down the Orinicho in style!
The Orinocho was very narrow compared to the Amazon so afforded us great views of the jungle and wildlife along the riverbank....we stopped at a couple of villages along the way where we met many of the indigenous peoples living there in much the same way as they did 100 years ago! Some of the families were having a special treat for dinner- turtle! It looked pretty disgusting- a grey liquid soup with yams and bits of turtle floating in it including scraggy neck and head!!
Later that afternoon, we stopped at our camp for the night- a primitive structure built by the local Indians and soon local kids were visiting us by boat to check us out with kids as young as 5 rowing boats on their own!

Cruising down the Orinocho....

! We had a great evening chatting with the families- they have no idea of their age or where they live in relation to S.America or the rest of the world!! A few of us ended the evening with a canoe trip along a small tributary in the smallest canoe in the world! The water was at the very top edge of the boat and threatened to sink us with just one false move....when the torches were out it was an amazing experience with just the sounds of the jungle and the moonlight poking through the canopy!!
After a comfortable nights sleep in hammocks, we were awoken by the sound of howler monkeys which sound like a huge dinosaur rampaging through the jungle- you would never guess they only small monkeys! Next was a trek through the jungle...saw many different trees and plants and sampled jungle coconuts which were like tiny coconuts with a single serving of coconut juice inside!
We made camp at a site further down the river the following night and managed to catch a baby alligator! The following day, we had to head straight back to Tabule as we were hoping to get to Caripe by nightfall to catch the birds flying out of their cave there to go hunting. However, after a mammoth 4X4 drive we didn't make it to Caripe till around 9pm so after collapsing into bed we didn't make it to the cave till the next morning....

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