Galipan another blessing of mount Waraira Repano

Among the Goodness of Waraira Repano National Park we recommend going to Galipan, a beautiful town located in the mountains, is a hose hold touched by God, for Families or couple is just fantastic...

 Photo: Press 

 How to get to Galipan? Very easy in Caracas you can reach via the cableway installations of the Waraira Repano’s Cable car System, park admission costs 75bs (Park subsidized by the Venezuelan State for the Promotion of the tourism) riding a cable car to the top of the hill and you are 30mins away from your destiny and a spectacular scenery.

 Once in the top of the Waraira Repano’s Cable car system. I recommend walking to the Humboldt hotel and then grab the jeeps that lead to the village of Galipan.

(Humboldt Hotel (Photo: World Radio)

By road, either from Caracas or from La Guaira you can grab your personal vehicle and drive to Galipan. In both cases, only the uses of four-wheel traction vehicles are allowed. If you go from Caracas, by the way of Cotiza (street Forestal with Penalver), go through the posts of the national park Rangers, Llano Grande and Clavelitos located just above, where the road Los Venados begins, nice area for amusement and administrative headquarters of Waraira Repano National Park.

(Formerly known as El Ávila National Park). Once past Clavelitos, follow up until you reach a crossroads : the left path descends to the area of San José de Galipan , then continues the descent to the coast. The path to the right leads to a new intersection, the one on plaza of the Virgin in Guayabo Mocho. At this point, if you go down the left path you will reach the top of Galipan, the San Isidro sector. If you take the right path, going uphill you will reach the recreational facilities of the cable car

system. Is important to remind drivers that at the end of this road, near the cable car facilities, there are no adequate parking spaces and up loaders are forced to put their vehicles scarce and often in difficult open space to the side of the road. Otherwise, the road is paved and in good conditions, but is narrow and has steep slopes with sharp bends. Remember it is a busy route on weekends. In public listed is a terminal mass transit that will take you into Galipan and Los Venados. If you raise from the Central Coast, you can enter Punta Mulatos or also from Macuto, up the Garden of Stones Marinas Soñadoras and through San José de Galipan.

Trails in El Avila (El- avila.com Photo) 

Trails in El Avila (El- avila.com Photo) 

 Hiking through multiple pathways within the park is one of the activities that the people from Caracas love doing in El Avila. The most commonly used perhaps, is the path which starts near the Hotel Avila in San Bernardino, up the Ranger station (PGP) Loma del Viento towards the Cross and PGP Papelón Ávila, passing through the antennas of Los Mecedores to reach the Hotel Humboldt, or even to reach Los Venados to take the road of Los Pinabetes or Guayabo Mocho , which comes very close to the plaza in the proximities where the Virgin is sited.) There are other paths; such as leaving from El Camino de los Españoles and passing through the Topo Infiernito up until you reach Galipan. However, if you are not acquainting with the routes of the mounting, don’t go by foot.

 In Galipan there are excellent inns with a homely treatment (the price range between 800 and 2,500 Bsf), in most of these inns you can enjoy the sea view from the inns, which is pretty magnificent.

 The important thing is that if you want to spend a weekend different I recommend the benefits of Waraira Repano and its majestic view.

Medanos La Soledad for the holidays:

Edith Parra sent us to quebellaesvenezuela@gmail.com her beautiful review of Medanos La Soledad:

For lovers of nature and adventure in the southwest of Venezuela amid the great of the Apure plains,


a huge dunes filled with wonder residents and visitors visiting Santos Luzardo National Park, also known as National Park Cinaruco - Capanaparo or Los Medanos de Soledad, this name is for its resemblance with the dunes in Coro, Los Medanos de Coro. Its immense shoals of sand move steadily through the intervention of the wind and qualify the place to be in the middle of a sheet full of vegetation and nearby rivers, such as Cinaruco and Capanaparo .

 The lower reaches of these streams allow the abundance of fish Pavon, Arrau turtles, and the Orinoco crocodile, endangered. Also, you can see some endemic bird species, more than twenty migratory, such as herons, overcoats, storks and imposing Jabiru. Among the mammals there are jaguars, capybaras and camerudo deer. This allows diverse wildlife allows the contemplating tourism, as the place has become a kind of station of interest not only for tourists but also for scientists and bird experts who have the opportunity to study behaviors of Venezuelan species.

 A beach in the Venezuelan plains 

 Los Medanos La Soledad has become a space to enjoy the sun and sand in the middle of the Venezuelan plains, as they are at the edge of the road.

 In rainy season, between May and December, these dunes are fill with water in the lower part making a kind of natural spa. There people can enjoy a swim in a freshwater beach along the mountains of sand this is also known as Playa Llanera, bringing visitors at this time of year.

 Dunes that inspire

 Tourists that are destined to go to Medanos La Soledad, may stroll through the Cinaruco River, the plains and also enjoy " La Ruta de Gallegos ", a historically known path in the region thanks to the novel " Dona Barbara " written by Don Rómulo Gallegos who was inspired by this area when writing the book.

 This wonder of nature is located in La Soledad, Pedro Camejo town, on the road leading from San Fernando de Apure to Puerto Paez, a journey of about two and a half hours. For this holiday season, you cannot miss visiting Los Medanos La Soledad. Walk and glide from its high mountains of fine sand, together with the enjoyment of the evening will be a unique experience that cannot pass by.

Boca de Uchire, Heavens Mouth

Sofia Davila sends us her review of his trip to Boca de Uchire, Anzoategui state, Venezuela:

 If there is a beach in Venezuela that deserves the name heavens mouth that is Boca de Uchire (mouth of Uchire). This virgin paradise is not one of those beaches that get crowed with tourist instead is a paradise of solitude. Through out the Venezuelan beach landscapes we can find an immense variety, beaches with red sand and crystalline water perfect for scuba diving are very common in Venezuela, but the characteristic that defines Boca de Uchire is its swell, perfect for body boarding. If you ask me where you can find accommodations to stay in this beach. Its easy just register in one of the inns that are in front of the coast and you will enjoy a very pacific night sleep with the sound of the ocean in your dreams. The food is not a problem, you actually have two main options if you feel in the mood of cooking you can just walk through the beach recollecting guacucos and chipi chipis (small scallops) and the put them in a bucket full with salt water for three days so the scallops clean themselves and they are clean enough to be eaten and then cook them they way you like them. The second option is to wake up early in the morning and walk through the coast until you get to Boca de Rio and there you can buy fresh fishes and shrimps. Very important! If you are going to spend your vacations in Venezuela you have to sleep in the chinchorros and try the drink guarapita.

From Buenos Aires to Canaima

A friend from Buenos Aires send us this chronic os his travel to el Salto Angel in Venezuela: A friend of mine from Venezuela told me about Canaima in the southern part of Venezuela after seen a couple of pictures of the Salto Angel I knew it was my destiny to go there.

 I bought my ticket and 3 weeks later y was embarking a plane in Ezeiza (Buenos Aires) with destiny Caracas. I arrived to Caracas and was suppose to say in this beautiful Caribbean city for 3 days.

The city is beautiful, is not has dangerous has the media reports, you just have to take some precautions and you would be ok, I even was able to go to the beaches in La Guaira about 20 minutes from Caracas. Afterwards I left to Bolivar the state in which Canaima is located.

 My trip to Canaima: The flight lasted one and a half hour. During the flight I was able to contemplate the beautiful rain forest of the Bolivar state, it's big rivers, cascades and its unique mountains called tepuys make the landscape breathtaking. Excited, I remembered my experiences traveling through Latin America, I had been in several Latin American forest but I was really looking forward to seen this one, its unique tepuys and its majestic Salto Angel made me feel amazing.



 1st day in Canaima:

Once I arrive I was receive by the people of the Waku Lodge Hotel and Canaima Tours, they gave me a beautiful necklace made out of Peonias seeds, this supposedly give luck to the holder. There are no words to define the excellence of the service in the Venetur camp of Canaima with comfortable rooms and the service was impeccable. Once I was set up in my room one of the guides of Canaima Tours, Nicolas Serratto, called out the people to start the excursion tu the lagoon Canaima, a marvelous natural form that is surrounded by the waterfalls El hacha and El sapo. This two waterfalls create a wonderful sound that becomes louder the closer we got to the waterfall El hacha.

El Sapo Waterfalls

This excursion to the cascades was unbelievable we went through the back part of the waterfalls, that exact moment was infinite. Around 7 pm we went back to the camp Waku Lodge. There we ate dinner, it was delicious the gave of us different traditional dishes from Canaima. We ate torta de casabe, Laulau and a bunch of different desserts with outstanding presentations also I had the best rum of my life. It was late and we were all tired so we headed back to the Venetur hoyel, it was hard for me to fall sleep, I was too excited because I knew that tomorrow I was going to the biggest waterfall Salto Angel



2nd day in Canaima: 


 We woke up really early, it was 4 am in the morning and we were with Nicolas Serrano and the shaman Isaac Garcia we were waiting foe the tourists operators so we could start our adventure. We arrive to the (aborigines boats) called curiaras, only them have the right to sailed in the waters nearby Salto Angel, the sun made a beautiful (siluete) of the tepuys in the horizon. I embark my curiara and after 45 minutes I arrive in a (sabana) very similar to the ones in africa and walked surrounded by tepuys for a while. In the other side another boat was expecting us, we sailed for about four hours approx. We sailed through the rivers Carrao and Churun until we arrived to the Salto Angel even dough it was a very exhausting trip all the tourist didn't stop taking pictures the whole trip.

Everyone was very amazed with enormous rock formations that are supposed to be the oldest in the world we were right in front of the Auyantepuy. A bit pass 11 in the morning I was in third phase of the trip to the top of the tepuy, the next stop was a viewpoint.


 Through the entire path we saw the waterfall Salto Angel, but we were only able to see the tip of it because it was cover by the clouds.  When we arrive to the viewpoint I was able to see the unique trees, big hills and the sheer road in Canaima Park.

We also were very lucky because the sky was clear and we were able to see the tallest waterfall in the world, Salto Angel. A Russian tourist was expressing out loud how he felt so little in comparison with enormous waterfall that has 980 meters in height. A few meters from the viewpoint you can find a small pound in which the water of Salto Angel falls, we all took a bath in there and I felt the energy of Canaima passing through my veins.

 Salto Angel At 2 inthe afternoon I was in the bottom of the tepuy inside a palm house called churuta, having lunch and getting ready to head back to camp

Overwhelm I said goodbye to the second day of this adventure in third day I will arrive to Roraima, I will tell you all about it the my next post.