Post 10: Change of plans, we start in Venezuela by June

Ever eat a drumstick Sundae Cone as a kid?  Of course you have, it'd be un-American of you not to have.  You take that first bite into the nut covered chocolate shell that'd always stick to the back of your teeth, complimenting the cold vanilla cream melting along your tongue.  Then you move onto the cone; the chewy cone that somehow always kept the ice cream it encompassed colder than anywhere else.  But now you're coming to the bottom of the cone and we all know what's there, what has been anticipated and what is certainly the best part...... the fudge.  It wouldn't matter how much that ice cream was starting to melt and drip through, you would have that fudge.  It'd leave that dark chocolate taste in the back of your mouth and at that moment, nothing else could fulfill your palate.  Oh, the days of not caring about ingredients or caloric contents.

Angel Falls, or Salto Angel, in Venezuela was going to be the end of our journey.  It was going to be the fudge at the bottom of the cone.  In a sense, this waterfall encouraged me to take this trip.  Ever see Pixar's UP?  The landscape design was inspired and drawn from Canaima National Park.  That nudged me further.  I'm young, healthy and strong with little commitments that now is the time to seize the opportunity to go someplace I'd only seldom hear of, typically through magazines or TV shows that would speak of the world's highest waterfalls.  However, upon further research, I've come to realize that the end of our trip falls at the end of February, which means we'd be going during the later half of the dry season.  I could not risk making the rigorous trek there and potentially seeing no falls due to the dry conditions.  I'm not going to miss the "Auyantepuy" Table mountain in which she falls, or  the combination of breathtaking mountains called Tepuys, countless rivers, lakes, waterfalls, forests and savannahs spread like a green sea!  I want my fudge, but now I'm going to have to eat it first!

So the beginning plans are as follows:

Day 1
Arrival in Venezuela.
• Arrival at the International Airport Simon Bolivar in Caracas
La Guaira, - Maiquetía - Los Roques.
• Departure from Maiquetía to Los Roques.
• The tropical paradise with over 365 islands and about 95 miles off the coast of Venezuela.

Day 4-5
Los Roques - Caracas - Canaima National Park.

Day 9
Back to Caracas - Cartegena, Columbia(if they fly there?)

Note:
You can only get there by plane or helicopter.  There are 5 cities that have regular flights to Canaima.  Aserca y Aeropostal is the only direct airline from Caracas, running about $300 pp round trip.  We could save money by taking an 8 hour, overnight luxury touring bus from Caracas to Ciudad Bolivar, then fly from there to Canaima for est. $100.00 pp RT.

Next post will include further details for our plans in Los Roques and Canaima National Park.

It is not down in any map; true places never are.  ~Herman Melville