Ok, so I will now
talk about the climb to Roroima tepuy. (Each tour is different, but I will talk
a bit about the one I went on).
You leave San
Francisco de Yuruani in some 4x4 jeeps’
that will take you up to Paraitepuy. Paraitepuy is a town located 1600 metres’ above the sea level (approximately), and the
INPARQUES office is located here (This is the Venezuelan National Parks’
authority). You have to pay the entrance which I think it depends on whether
you guys are nationals or foreigners… I paid Bs. 300. You then have to sign a
‘guest book’ just in case you get lost, authorities will know you were there
(joking you can’t really get lost if you follow the path kids!)… You can also
go to the toilets (please do, considering you will be camping it out for the
next couple of days!).
Day 1: Paraitepuy – River Tök.
As everything in
life, in your daily life, this journey depends solely on yourself. The first
day’s journey is received as a starter for the magnificence that you will
experience. Your connection to nature, the smells you will enjoy, it’s infinite
colours, the souls you
will feel, everything and I mean absolutely everything will amaze you and
continue to do so, because everything will be unknown to you, and somehow you
feel like you have already been there, and of course you have, you come from
this earth you come from this soil you come from this amazing place. I set my
own rhythm (this is such a beautiful word by the way, rhythm)… I was
tranquil, I wasn’t rushing, I knew I would reach my destination…On the
first day we walked around 5 hours (but don’t believe me too much on this, as I
don’t have good relationship with that thing we call time!)…I do know that you
reach a height (and a high) of 1050 metres’ above sea level and you have to cross two rivers. (When doing this you
have to take your boots off and cross them wearing socks, not barefooted).
Day 2:
River Tök – Base Camp.
So we left River
Tök Camp really early, literally after breakfast and we arrived at Base Camp
around 2pm. This camp is found at a height of 1870 metres’ above sea level. For me this was a little rough walk
because in so many parts (and I mean parts are synonyms of hours here) you have
to walk uphill (and let’s just say if I wanted to breathe then I wasn’t able to
talk, haha). It was amazing how the weather and the flora started to change on
this path…you start seeing beautiful endogenous orchids everywhere!!! It’s like
an orchids’ heaven! This is literally a wedding between your being and nature,
only to find out that it is also a birth, nature takes you in its belly and you
are impregnated by her.
Day 3: Base Camp – Top of Tepuy.
Well, well,
well… without a doubt this walk was a ‘’4 season’’…in other words, WHAT THE
FUCK!?. Haha. Through my mind, body, spirit, soul, life, etc. Everything
had occurred. It all started off as something really fun, there were lots and
lots of rocks to climb, and we were really just messing around and playing all
this time and we are two kids playing and going up those rocks and we did it
pretty well…then in the middle of the road I started to feel a little bit sick
(some people here call it the communist aunt, or miss tomato, I call it my
menstrual period) came for a visit, and all my energies went on to observing my
body and its change. Mago (the magician) was our tour guide, and he was lovely
and really helped me out when he decided to take my (very heavy) backpack for a
little while. We ended up reaching balcony I, then balcony II, and then the
tears’ path (or paso de las lagrimas) which is one of the most impressive
waterfalls I have ever seen in my life. You finally reach the top of the tepuy
Roroima, at 2700 metres’ above sea level and your life changes even more.
Camping at the top of the Tepuy, for x number of nights
Roroima:
So, once you are
up there you can visit these places: abyss (el abismo), the window (la
ventana), the natural Jacuzzis (with quartz, for real, there are quartz all
over the tepuy, please do not take any away, you will be searched once you come
down), the maverick (which is the highest point of the tepuy), and something we
didn't do was the triple point (which is where Guayana, Brazil and Venezuela
converge.
Day 6: Descend from the top of the Tepuy up to River Tök.
We left around
7am and the 5 of us in the group (Annie, Susana, Juan Pablo, El Mago and I) had
to remain close by because it was really foggy and it was drizzling a bit. Thanks
to the universe we now had two guides, since Juan P was the first non-official
Ecuadorian tour guide in the Roraima Tepuy!
Day 7: River Tek – Paraitepuy.
And this is when
you start smelling everything again, haha.
 |
| Kukenam Tepuy on the left and Roraima on the right |
 |
| Kukenam Tepuy |
 |
| Canaima National Park |
 |
| Base CAMP |
 |
| Welcome to Base Camp |
 |
| Paso de las Lagrimas |
 |
| What a beautiful light! |
 |
| Annie and I |
So, the tour we
decided to go on only included: Mago as our guide, transportation from San
Francisco de Yuruani-Paraitepuy-San Francisco de Yuruani’ (well, we ended up
going down to San Francisco on a 4x4 with 8 guides, us 5 and 2 chauffeurs,
amazing!) It didn’t include the food (so we had to take that ourselves) it
didn’t include ‘porteadores’ (which are basically the guys who you can pay and
they take all your shit), which meant we had to take EVERYTHING ourselves,
everything we were going to need, our bags weighted about 8 to 10 kilos, I
think.
Things I learned during this trek and physical dimension (and maybe useful
information in other dimensions)
· You
will not need 7 pairs of underwear. When packing, take the minimum amount of
things.
· Be grateful, with your
body for taking you to all these beautiful places, with your soul for being
there, with the other folks in the trip for allowing you to be part of their
trip as well.
· Listen to your breathing, it is a beautiful cycle!
· Competition does not exist. If I wanted to rest, I would do it, if I wanted
to go faster, I would do it, If I wanted to cry, trust me I cried.
· Even though it sounded really REALLY tempting at the time, a Coke in River Tök
for Bs. 700 will never be ok. (Too expensive)
· Take some ice teas or something to alternate with water.
· I didn’t die from drinking the river’s water, especially since we didn’t
have those pills to ‘purify’ water.
· Puri Puri (a type of mosquitoes) are some freaks and unbalanced beings, but
you learn to live with them.
· Take a sweater (a nice and warm one) with you. If not, you will have to ask
your camping partner to hug you during the night because you are freezing.
Haha.
· Do not think that your drying techniques will work out, especially when
your tent is getting flooded. Accept things and situations as they come, haha.
· PLEASE THIS IS IMPORTANT, ALWAYS AND I MEAN ALWAYS pick up your rubbish,
trash, garbage, shit (and I literally mean shit on this one). This includes all
sanitary towels, tampons, etc. Those are not part of the Roraima.
· There is this rule in Roraima that if you poop, you have to bring your poop
down with you, my friends. Haha. So you can buy some special things for storage
that I don’t know what they are called, or you can do like I did, and meditate
it out, that way you won’t go. Haha.
· If you have a piece of chocolate, (or any other snack) why not share it?
Even if it’s with a stranger!
· Fill your water bottle all the time. Water is life.
· Love nature, love the earth, love the air, love the wind, the animals,
humans, yourself, the stars you see, the moon that whispers to you, the rock
that cuddles you, the sun that wakes you up, it is truly a magical experience.
Anything else I could tell you or write about what I
saw, laughed, enjoyed and cried will never be enough and it will not do it
justice to how this Paradise really is. I will leave some photographs for you
to see and enjoy, see happiness through the camera.
And for those who like
numbers:
This is the cost of the trip.
Tour:
Bs. 40000
Food:
Bs. 4500
Travelling
tickets: Bs. 2300
Food in San
Francisco de Yuruaní: Bs. 2500
Nonspecific
things: Bs.
2500
Total:
Bs. 51800 (approximately,
December 2015).
******** Ps. As some of you
may have heard Venezuelan economy is let’s just say not doing so well, so let
me put this into perspective for all of you guys who live abroad and do not
understand much of what is going on here (to be fair I sometimes don’t
understand what’s going on in this country either)… The month’s minimal wage is
Bs. 16,399….so, for people who have other currencies this amount of money will
be a small amount of money…in other words for you guys is REALLY, REALLY,
cheap. For us who earn and live with Bolivars as a currency, Bs. 51,800 (the
total amount of the trip) Is something like 3 months’ of wage. We decided to do
this trip really cheap, we basically saved as much money as we could, we were
the definition of backpackers with not so much money, haha. But it was truly
amazing. ********
And what’s best of all, this
is found near us, here in Venezuela!!
ENJOY YOUR COUNTRY, ENJOY
VENEZUELA, ENJOY THE COUNTRYSIDE, ENJOY YOUR SOIL, LOVE THE WATER, LOVE TO SOW
AND SPREAD THE SEEDS, LOVE THE SKY, TAKE CARE OF THE ANIMALS, TAKE CARE OF
PEOPLE, TAKE CARE OF YOURSELF, WE ARE EVERYTHING OF THE ALL OF EVERYONE, WE
COME FROM ONE FOR ALL BY ALL TO ALL. ALL.
Lots of blessings and love…
Travelling through these
galaxies makes my world better!
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