camping in the clouds

Living in Maturin puts me in a great location to travel to nearby towns on weekend trips. A two hour-car ride north takes us to a mountainous region where we can do some great hiking. A few weeks ago we went to las Puertas de Miraflores, which invloves crossing a river several times to reach a scenic area where you can go swimming. Unfortunately the river was too high so we were not able to make it all the way to the end of the trail, but it was nice to just be outdoors.
This past weekend we did a bigger trip in the same region to hike through the mountains to a huge waterfall called El Chorreron. Day 1 we hiked up to the top of a mountain where we camped out overnight. When we made it to our campsite, we were literally surrounded by clouds, which blocked out our view of the surrounding mountains and small town below us. Within a matter of minutes though, things cleared up and before I knew it we could see mountainside farms, rainforest-covered mountains, a lake in the distance, and the waterfall that we would be going to the next day. We tested out our camp stoves, avoided getting rained on, and rested under the stars.

Day 2 we made our way up and down mountainsides (with packs) to reach El Chorreron, where we stayed just long enough to take pictures and turn around. According to the GPS, we covered about 20 Km (about 12 miles). A very exhausting trip but certianly worth it to be outdoors and see more amazing parts of this country. Here are some pictures from this past weekend.