We arrived belatedly into hot as hell Ciudad Bolivar on Sunday morning and checked into a really cool converted old mansion for our hostel. We really needed to get a few bits and bobs done (the most important of which was definately to wash my entire bag!), but the guy at the hostel just laughed at us expecting to get anything at all achieved, since it was a Sunday, and also a public holiday (yet again!) celebrating the fact that the river was reaching it's highest point! I couldn't help but think that we would never get a holiday back home celebrating some kind of time of year for the Manchester ship canal!?!

Given the fiesta, the only thing we did on Sunday was to swelter in the heat walking along the river, chatting to the odd local as we went, all of whom just seemed to be sat around with big coolboxes full of beer!! As usual, the girls drew plenty of attention and it's still quite amusing walking slightly behind and watching whole families gawp and stare at them, as well as young guys shout things and make a hissing sound which is supposedly a compliment to a woman! I have taken to saying 'Gracias' sometimes now whenever they shout over 'Very beautiful' and such like!

Monday was the kinda day which is not exciting in any way but which you need every now and again, and we were all really productive getting loads of stuff done. By the end of the day I was up to date on the website, had a full bag of fresh clothes, we had sorted out our everything for our trip to Angel Falls and best of all had spent almost 3 hours chatting to those most important back home!

And so on Tuesday we began what would turn out to be an epic 3 days. Missing out on Angel Falls last time was my biggest regret and so this had been the one thing that I had been looking forward to above everything else so far, and the excitement and anticipation had been building over the past few days. It was an early start with breakfast, and then we got dropped off at the airport where we all boarded a little 5 seater Cessna airplane and within a matter of minutes we were airborne. Even then, there was a great sense if adventure and it was brilliant fun, with some spectacular views during the hour and a bit flight to Canaima National Park, which is essentially the stepping stone to the falls.

After a quick walk to the beach and lunch at our posada in the park, we got in our little canoe style boat and crossed the lagoon close by a couple of the smaller waterfalls there and then had a bit of a walk at the other end to get to the Sapo falls - a curtain of water which thunders down but which you actually walk in behind of! With our cameras double bagged in plastic bags we tentatively plotted our way through the wall of water which was on your left but which occassionally would come spewing inwards into the alcove where we walked. With Claire's fobia of spray and Katie stacking it right at the start, by the time we got to the end in one piece and with cameras still dry, and then looked back at what we had walked through, it was a brilliant feeling!

We then walked a bit further and reached some other smaller falls where you could see some of the tepuis (table top mountains) in the distance. By the time we got back to the posada I really felt like we had had a perfect taster for what was to come, with the mood perfectly set for the next two days and the main event!

Despite the portions for tea being pretty meagre, the tour continuing to be slightly haphazardly organised and a pretty poor nights sleep on a top bunk so close to the ceiling that I felt if I sat up my face would go straight into the spiders web hanging from it, my excitement and expectation waking up on Wednesday morning was still as high as ever. The rest of our group arrived which included 3 English guys who were dead sound and then we got our tractor transfer to where our canoe-boat was waiting for us and our group of 10 plus 3 guides/cooks all crowded in.
Basically because of how remote Angel Falls is, today was all about the 4/5 hour boat journey upriver you have to undertake just to reach your camp area at the foot of the falls.

After a short time time we stopped off so that the boat could continue on through some serious rapids without us in, and we met up with it again about half an hour later at a spot where we could take a welcome cool off in the river. After another hour and a bit of weaving our way through the jungle we stopped off again for lunch in a spot that was a great little setting. There was a small fall set back amongst the jungle and after again chiiling out a bit under the water we had lunch looking out towards where we were headed in the distance.

I almost felt that if the trip had ended there and then I would have had a great time, but the second half of the boat trip made the day just get better and better. By now we were snaking our way through all the different tepuis which form the landscape of this area and it seemed like with each bend of the river it just brought yet another new one into view, and each time I wondered if it was that one which would actually reveal Angel Falls.

The scenery really was breathtaking and the whole mood was only enhanced by flying along in this small boat, going against the current and leaning into bends, grasping my camera tightly with each wave that crashed into us and spilled into the boat. At one point I swear my head was almost in the water as the boat tilted sharply onto my side and almost couldn't quite believe that we had managed to not capsize!!

We continued along our route and I was more than happy gazing from my small wooden seat either side at the mountains and the small waterfalls which occasionally came down. After a while though the sky turned grey, the mist came down and obscured the tops of the mountains and it eventually started raining. At this point I was a little worried that Angel Falls may be spoilt a bit by being covered in cloud, as they do say that you need a bit of luck to get to see it at it's best during the wet season, which we are now in. Thankfully the rain didn't last too long and soon the clouds dispersed again to give way to some blue sky, and we rounded a corner and got our first glimpse of Salto Angel there in the distance.

When we arrived at our camp for the night on the banks of the river literally in the shadow of the falls, we walked to a little clearing and got a good view of most of it. Despite being totally drenched our bags were fine and there had been no camera casualties. The original plan had been to do the hike to the base of the falls straight away but we didn't have enough hours of daylight left and so we were to do it instead at sunrise the next day. To be honest, this was another little thing which seemed to go our way as it meant that we would see it in the best conditions, without any late afternoon cloud and mist. So, after a nice meal and a good bit of rum and banter with the english lads, we finally got into our hammocks at the bottom of the worlds highest waterfall after a superb day!

The 5am wake up nudge duly came on Thursday morning and, with no time for any breakfast, we got up and promptly headed into the jungle for the hours hike to the viewing point - the final leg of the long journey to get to this most remote of places.

And then, finally, we were there. On a small piece of exposed cliff I scrambled out of the trees and saw the whole falls for the first time just a short distance away - all 979 metres of it!! It was an amazing sight and a moment that I will never forget, and made every minute of the journey to get there worthwhile. We were even lucky enough to have a rainbow going across it about half way down! Perfect.

We spent a good while taking it all in and then hiked a bit longer to actually get to the foot of the falls where we swam in the plunge pool whilst getting neck ache looking straight up to the top from underneath it's water!! It reallywas something else, a stunning sight and an incredible feeling to be perched on a small rock in the most remote place I am ever likely to be in and gaze around at the setting.

Eventually we were able to tear ourselves away and the trek back to camp for breakfast seemed to take forever! Going back downstream in the boat was a lot quicker if just as wet, helped by the fact that we did tackle the rapids that they usually don't take tourists through because we were running late!

We eventually got our return flight back to Ciudad Bolivar and reflected on the little bits of luck we had had over te couple of days which helped make the whole trip so memorable. Our luck continued enough to let us grab a quick shower back at the hostel before heading straight to the bus station for our overnighter to the Brazilian border!