Cuidad Bolívar

Friday 17th June 1988

Once again torrential rain heralded the dawn, drumming on the corrugated metal rooves. The Aeropostal Airline Office next door to the hotel opened at 08:00 hrs. I changed up my last $5 US dollars cash and the Dutch girls chipped in with enough Bolívares to buy me a ticket to Cuidad Bolívar for 480 Bs.

Aeropostal (full name: Aeropostal Alas de Venezuela) is a state-owned airline that primarily operates scheduled flights within Venezuela. The carrier operates out of its hub at Simón Bolívar International Airport (CCS). The airline was founded in 1929.

My new Dutch Guardian Angels also supplied me with a cheese roll and mandarin oranges for breakfast. At 08:30 hrs. a jeep took the passengers from the airline office to the airfield. This was literally a field with no amenities but a tarmac airstrip.

The jeep hitched up to a small tanker to refuel the small 20-seater de Havilland aeroplane. The de Havilland Aircraft Company Limited was a British aviation manufacturer established in late 1920 by Geoffrey de Havilland at Stag Lane Aerodrome Edgware on the outskirts of north London. Operations were later moved to Hatfield in Hertfordshire.

Known for its innovation, de Havilland was responsible for a number of important aircraft, including the Moth biplane which revolutionised aviation in the 1920s; the 1930s Fox Moth, a commercial light passenger aircraft; the wooden World War II Mosquito multirole aircraft; and the pioneering passenger jet airliner Comet.

The de Havilland company became a member of the Hawker Siddeley group in 1960, but lost its separate identity in 1963. Later, Hawker Siddeley merged into what is eventually known today as BAE Systems plc, the British aerospace and defence business.

We paid 20 Bs for the “taxi” and 5 Bs per item of baggage. This left me absolutely penniless although I had $450 US dollars’ worth of impotent travellers cheques in my pocket.

The twin propeller plane took off into a cloudy, but clearing sky at 09:30 hrs. We flew at 10,500 feet over green plains, patches of thick forest and winding rivers. Several rugged bluffs reared out of the plains, capped in cloud.

We flew over the Angel Falls, Bolívar State, Venezuela. Angel Falls (Spanish: Salto Ángel; Pemon language: Kerepakupai Meru meaning "waterfall of the deepest place", or Parakupá Vená, meaning "the fall from the highest point") is a waterfall in Venezuela which is one of Venezuela's top tourist attractions, though a trip to the falls is a complicated affair. The falls are located in an isolated jungle.

It is the world's tallest uninterrupted waterfall, with a height of 979 metres (3,212 feet) and a plunge of 807 m (2,648 feet). The waterfall drops over the edge of the Auyán-tepui mountain in the Canaima National Park (Spanish: Parque Nacional Canaima), a UNESCO World Heritage site in the Gran Sabana region of Bolívar State.

The height figure, 979 m (3,212 feet), mostly consists of the main plunge but also includes about 400 metres (1,300 feet) of sloped cascade and rapids below the drop and a 30-metre-high (100 feet) plunge downstream of the talus rapids.

The falls are along a fork of the Río Kerepacupai Merú which flows into the Churún River, a tributary of the Carrao River, itself a tributary of the Orinoco River. The pilot pointed out the narrow stream of water which tumbled in apparent slow motion over a rugged high brown cliff. The whole area was a grand canyon, heavily forested on the wide valley floor.

At 11:20 hrs. we landed at Tomás de Heres Airport (Spanish: Aeropuerto Nacional Tomas de Heres, (IATA: CBL, ICAO: SVCB)) which is an airport serving Ciudad Bolívar, the capital of the Bolívar state of Venezuela. The airport is named in honour of Tomás de Heres, a hero of Latin American independence and governor of Venezuela's former Guayana Province.

We walked across the sun baked tarmac and retrieved our bags. I nipped over the road to the Banco Consolidado which was just closing for the 11:30 hrs. to 14:00 hrs. lunch break so I missed the chance to catch the 13:00 hrs. flight to Caracas.

The Dutch girls treated me to some excellent coffee and I sat with them until the late departure of their plane at 13:45 hrs. I returned to the bank to be told that the cambio (exchange) department didn’t open until 15:00 hrs. I sat down to wait in the air-conditioned modern bank.

At 14:30 hrs. the bank staff relented and changed a $100 US dollar American Express travellers cheque at 32.40 Bs bolivianos per $US dollar. I then stood outside the airport under a savage sun until the Ruta 2 minibus came along.

I would be staying in Ciudad Bolívar (Spanish for "Bolivar City"), formerly known as Angostura and St. Thomas de Guyana, is the capital of Venezuela's southeastern Bolívar State. It lies at the spot where the Orinoco River narrows to about 1 mile (1.6 km) in width, is the site of the first bridge across the river, and is a major riverport for the eastern regions of Venezuela.

Historic Angostura gave its name to the Congress of Angostura, to the Angostura tree, to the House of Angostura, and to Angostura bitters. Modern Ciudad Bolívar has a well-preserved historic centre; a cathedral and other original colonial buildings surround the Plaza Bolívar.

I got off at the Paseo Orinoco, the riverside promenade along the Orinoco River and asked some drunks for directions to the Hotel Italia. I found it a couple of blocks along and got a huge room on the balcony with a view over the sluggish brown river for 110 Bs bolivianos.

Consumed by thirst my first priority was to find a vendor of cold drinks. I changed into shorts and a vest and flip-flopped along the Paseo Orinoco. Shops along this road were doing good evening trade in casual clothing and shoes. I bought a can of Pepsi Cola and a roll of photographic slide film (36 exposure. 100 ASA, Kodak Ektachrome 124 for 50 Bs bolivianos).

I walked through Plaza Bolívar with it’s essential statue of the great man and some nice plants. On the west side is the huge three-nave church Nuestra Señora del Rosario de Curucay, dating from 1740, and occupying the foundational religious place of the priest’s house and the cemetery. It was declared a National Historic Monument in 1960.

I returned to my room in the Hotel Italia to get my trusty Ricoh KR10 Super camera to take some snaps as dusk fell. I attracted a lot of stares without knowing whether it was due to the fact that I was a gringo or because I was too casually dressed. None of the locals wore shorts or vests.

The South American Handbook 1988 said that a cool breeze in the evening moderated the constant heat, an average temperature of 27 ºC day and night, but today it was more like a hurricane. Trees with red flowers and long seed pods were shaken furiously and dust swirled into peoples faces and danced across the road.

At 18:00 hrs. I had some splendid cream of tomato soup (just like Heinz!) followed by steak and chips in the hotel restaurant. I had a Pepsi Cola in a small café for only 2 Bs bolivianos and went to the cinema to see a rough quality showing of “The Running Man” for 10 Bs bolivianos.

I had a bottle of mineral water back in the hotel bar and a manual shower using a plastic bucket in the sink as there was no water in the actual shower. I laid out on the super soft bed under the ceiling fan but it was a long time until I was able to go to sleep. My mind was overactive with plans for the days ahead.