Roraima Trek

Ok, here is the recap:

6 days of rain

Todo es posible, nada es seguro

6 days of Happy Birthday

5 nights in tents

1 proposal

1 crazy guide

1 sick American

1 invisible tepuis

1 tough trek

I am definitely getting weak in my old age, so it was good to be pushed at bit to my limit. The deal is to climb the Roraima tepuis, which is on the border of Venezuela, Guyana, and Brazil. 3 days to the top, 1 day at the top, and 2 days back.

It started off like a typical tour - a 2 second decision, and 10 minutes to pack. A tour had not left yet because they were waiting for some people, and I got to take their place. I just got lucky in that I asked the right people a the right time, and I saved about $100. The only catch was that I had to pack in 10 minutes for the 6 day trek.

Most of the group had gone ahead, except for me and a Spanish girl, Brunie. We started a trip which normally starts at 9am at 2pm instead. From the starting point at one of the Indian villages, we started alone and the guides followed us. This is when we first got a taste of the rain and mud that was to be with us throughout the trip. But the landscape was pretty impressive with lots of rolling hills of grass and some trees.

Luckily there weren't too many paths to follow because Brunie and I were sent alone to the camp. We finally arrived at the camp at around 7 when it was totally dark. The rest of the group was waiting, not so much for us, but for the food which the guides behind us had. The camp was made up of 1 or 2 other groups going up, and a few groups coming down.

That night we didn't eat until around 9:30 to 10:00. I thought that this was just because we started late, but in the end we always had to wait a long time for meals. Our guide Puripuri was totally eccentric, and a bit of a fanatic about cooking and preparing meals. But at the same time he was totally entertaining, so we all forgave him for any delays.

The rest of the group was made up of a Belgian couple (Fredrick and Iris), a Venezuelan/American couple (Juan and Rachel), a Swiss guy (Franz) and Brunie. We had 2 other guides also, to carry all of the food and tents... we were a bit spoiled.

That night was then the first of many nights of singing Happy Birthday to Franz. It was his birthday the night before, but throughout the trip it became tradition to sing happy birthday every night, in lots of different languages.

The next morning we got up early, but were the last ones to eat and the last group to leave the camp. This day was maybe 6 hours of hiking over the rolling hills, but generally up a slight incline to the base camp at the foot of the tepuis. The morning was beautiful, but as we got closer to the tepuis, the clouds came in and it started to rain a bit. That night it poured, but we stayed dry the tents.

The next morning we had breakfast in the tents - first class service. I didn't eat much, because I was sick... yes, we were drinking the water from the rivers, but I was the only one who got sick.

It was one of my toughest days of hiking ever. I had no energy, it was straight up and it was raining. This was the day we were going up the side of the tepuis. I was so exhausted after just the first hour, and i were still 6 more hours to go. What took most people between 4 and 5 hours took me around 7 and I was in pain the whole time.

I can remember that I just keep looking up and hoping that I was at the top, but i never seemed to come. Franz (you the man, thanks)patiently stayed with me the whole day, making sure nothing happened to me because I was dizzy and tired on a path which was steep and in some places pretty dangerous.

It seemed never to end. Even when I thought that I was at the top, there was still more. It was such a trick to my psyche. Puripuri told me ten more minutes, but I guess this was just crest, because when we got there he pointed off into the distance where our camp was set up, !higher! up in a cliff off in the distance.

When I got the top, I immediately put on dry clothes, there were no dry shoes. Then the fun really began, and the toilet was plastic bags because we were in a type of conservation area. I couldn't eat that night, I just had a bit of tea, and went to bed.

I wish I could say that the next day I was better and that I was able to enjoy the different environment at the top of the tepuis, but I couldn't. I was too tired and I just stayed in the tent the entire day, while the rest of the group went for a hike around to see the different species of plants, some carnivores, and crystal formations. Also come to find out, Juan proposed to Rachel in one of the crystal fields, what a stud!!! Yes, she said yes.

Overall on the trip we also saw a savana hawk, a grasshopper the size of my index finger, lots of ants and a small scorpion. I can't think of much else.

The next day I felt much better. I put my wet clothes back on - what a great feeling - and we left. The goal was to go back to the camp we had the first night. It was the hardest rain we had had the whole trip. The waterfall we had to walk through on the way up was even stronger now because of the rain. Once I went through the waterfall, it soaked me and then... nothing else really mattered. There was no way to get even wetter, and I wasn't going to dry anytime soon, so who cares. I took always the path of resistance, through rivers, mud, everything. It felt good to not to have to worry about getting wet anymore. It just became a nice day for a walk in the forest.

The weather started to get clear up and get warmer as we got father away from the tepuis and to a lower elevation. The only problem was that because it was raining so hard on the tepuis that one of the rivers we had been able, with difficulty, to walk across a couple days before, now had too much water and was moving too fast.

We decided to stay the night on that side of the river and see how it was the next morning. We did have one more problem, our food for the night was on the other side of the river at the camp we intended to reach that day. To get food our guides tied a rope across the river and used it and pulled themselves through the water. All just so that we could eat that night, what heroes! That night we were again the last to eat, and of course.... the loudest in singing happy birthday to the birthday boy.

The next morning the river was still too high to walk across, so all of the equipment was put into plastic bags, and we all had to pull ourselves across the river. Then it was another 5 hours of hiking back to the start where lunch was waiting, plus the much missed cold beer!!!

I don't know if I described it well enough or not, but every day of the trip was a lot of work (for me, at least). And this is something I don't really haven't come to expect from a "package" tour. Even thought I didn't get to see so much at the top, the trials of the trip were totally worth it, and the group was really fun!