Venezuela - family and friends

Translate this page to Spanish or Portuguese

Dear family and friends

It was great to catch up with Carmen's large extended family in Venezuela (many brothers and sisters, and their families etc), they are very welcoming and I always feel part of the family. It was also a nice break from travelling.


Country road in Venezuela





The after-market shock absorber arrived from the Netherlands, and thanks to friends Yveth and Thomas for hospitality and helping us to track down the lost parcel (shock absorber) in Caracas. Carmen's brothers Guillermo, Ygnacio ('Nacho'), Julio and Freddy gave me a hand to install it.  To avoid having more shock absorber problems we reduced our load by about 10 kg by leaving our camping gear in Venezuela. It was a difficult decision, as we had brought this equipment mainly for emergency shelter.  Time will tell if the decision is a good one!  Thanks to Carmen's sister Cruz, who will send our camping equipment back to Australia, when she returns to the USA.


Carmen's brothers lend a hand with bike maintenance, while young nephew David looks on.


We could have easily stayed longer (especially given the wonderful cooking by Carmen's sisters Herminia and Miriam), but the wet season in Guyana was beginning and soon the 500 km of dirt road we had to ride would be muddy, reducing our chances of getting to the 3 Guyana countries (Guyana, Suriname and French Guiana).



Herminia making Hallacas, which are traditionally prepared for Christmas.


Guacharaca (Ortalis ruficauda) - wild pheasant-like birds that survive in the city and occasionally visit the family house for a feed.  Spanish moss hanging from a eucalypt in the background.



Colourful houses near the Caribbean.

Visiting the family in the Caribbean areas of eastern Venezuela.


Nacho and partner Elva accompanied us in their car for the few days it took to get to the Brazilian border, and carried some of our gear (including 2 spare tyres). Although Guyana is next to Venezuela there is no road directly connecting these countries, so to get to Guyana we need to take a 1000 km detour down into Brazil then back up into Guyana (see map in the 'Planned Route' tab above).

On the way to Brazil we visited more of Carmen's family on the Caribbean in eastern Venezuela (where Trinidad is not far off the coast), and more family in Puerto Ordaz on the Orinoco River (the second largest river in South America after the Amazon), and in Guasipati in southern Venezuela.  Thanks to Marina's family for the warm hospitality while we visited the Cueva del Guacharo (Oilbird Cave). Thousands of nocturnal, echo-locating (noisy!) Oilbirds (Steatornis caripensis) roost and nest in a large cave, and emerge at night to feed on the fruit of a local palm tree.


Stopping to buy hand-made chocolate in the Caribbean. Venezuela produces some of the world's best Cacao for making chocolate.


We also passed though La Gran Sabana (the Great Savanna) a remote area in southern Venezuela near the Brazilian border. La Gran Sabana is a large plain dissected by high flat-topped mountains (Angel Falls, the world's highest waterfall, pours off one of these mountains). These plateaus have unique ecosystems and strange monster-like rock formations, though their tops are usually blanketed in cloud. These plateaus inspired Sir Arthur Conan Doyle to write the famous book 'The Lost World' (where dinosaurs still roamed on the tops of the plateaus).



The 'Lost Eiffel Bridge' being reclaimed by the jungle. This bridge was designed by Gustave Eiffel (of Eiffel Tower fame) and built in the 1950s to cross a river in remote southern Venezuela. The bridge became disused and largely forgotten, and apart from some locals, apparently few people in Venezuela and elsewhere are aware of the design origin of the bridge and its significance.


Permon Indian huts in La Gran Sabana


Quebrada de Jasper (Jasper Gorge) in remote southern Venezuela. This shallow (3 cm deep) rainforest stream runs over a flat bed of red semi-precious Jasper rock. We arrived too late in the day to take a good photo, so I've used one from a previous trip.


Tyres for the bike became a logistical exercise. We needed good dirt tyres for the 500 km stretch of dirt/mud/sand in Guyana, but the dirt tyres on the bike were worn and wouldn't last until we got to Guyana. Unfortunately we couldn't find the right dirt tyres for our bike in Venezuela, which is the last place we can get tyres before the dirt in Guyana. So, we put general purpose tyres on the bike (good for most of the roads we'll be riding but not good for mud/sand) and decided to carry our old dirt tyres with us and swap them back onto the bike before the dirt. At that point we'll send the new tyres to Belem (on the Amazon River) and collect them later, when we pass though Belem after the Guyanas.  Well, at least that's the plan....


Good-bye Venezuela. At the Brazilian border, setting off through Brazil to the Guyanas carrying our old dirt tyres and 10 litres of extra fuel in a green fuel bladder on top of the fuel tank. So much for reducing the load!