Leaving Manaus into pouring rain we headed north through Indian reservations towards the border with Venezuala. We were trying to make the border in super quick time with just one overnight stop in Boa Vista as the Venezuelan president Chavez has finally died and we didn't know if the border would be open the day we wanted to cross, as it was the same day as his funeral. We as passengers had an easy crossing as there wasn't even a form to fill in. The truck however took hours longer as Pete had to drive it to get insurance which isn't available to pre-order. The insurance man was away for lunch so we all had to wait but we were in the shade though!
Venezuela so far has been very beautiful and low cost due to the fact that we havn't been getting our money at the official bank rate. The amazing thing is the price of diesel- US$0.50 for 213 litres!! There's plenty of jungle here, huge plateaus, lots of sun but dry heat which has been lovely. We had a great bushcamp in the highlands and then a dip in some waterfalls the next day which is a great way to plod along as we made our way to Ciudad Bolivar which is a city on the edge of the Orinoco River. Angel Falls in Canaima national park is the reason we have stopped here. The falls are the tallest in the world at 979m high and are also very remote. To get to the tiny town of Canaima we flew in a 18 seater plane from Ciudad Bolivar which took about 35 minutes. We stayed overnight in the town which allowed us to hop on a boat to explore the lagoon and its waterfalls that afternoon. The boat trip was excellent as we walked behind a huge waterfall and also jumped of a ledge into the plunge pool of another.
The following morning we headed out into 5 and 6 seater Cessna planes for a 30 minute round trip to see the falls. It's dry season so we weren't expecting much water to be flowing over the falls but it was actually pretty cool as the water was a straight line which went to mist towards the bottom. We didn't get very close to the falls but it was amazing to see. Even if the falls weren't there, then the flight itself would have been great due to the scenery and the overall feeling of how remote the area is.
We have driven north west today on very slow roads and it's been eventful. crazy drivers, crazy roads, a bit of the truck broke again and to top it off one of the spare tyres fell off as we were crossing a junction! The good luck (more like bad luck) aloe that we were given this morning has been ditched already! Tomorrow to the beach.
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