Our driver, Jose, has an 18 year old daughter who is stunningly beautiful (she's been crowned Miss Ciadad Bolivia in the local beauty pageant). He tells me that every time there's a party, he drives her there and picks her up. Teasingly, I ask him if it's to stop the boys sniffing around. Sadly he shakes his head and tells me that teen pregnancy is the least of his worries - as a father his biggest fear is personal security, or that she will get in a car accident. These are very real threats in modern day Venezuela where violent crime and robbery is rife in the cities. However, to live in fear is to only half live, and as such everyone just gets on with their everyday business.
In comparison we have just spent two nights in a jungle lodge on the Orinoco Delta, home to the Warao community, the indigenous people who survive on the waterways, fishing and trapping and growing basic crops. Unlike the Creoles they don't speak Spanish, and are largely untouched by the outside world. The biggest threat to the Warao people is illness and loss of habitat/traditions, with high infant mortality rates and a gradual erosion of their culture. As with all indigenous people, they are keen to develop and integrate with the modern world, moving to the cities and earning money to buy satellite TVs and mobile phones, often at the cost of losing their own skills and traditions. That said, as health care and access improves, so do mortality rates (we met a 62 woman with 58 grandchildren who all looked remarkably healthy), so there are communities that are regenerating.
The Orinoco Delta was another magnificent biodiverse hotspot and the cacophony of noise at night was incredible. Sleeping in surprisingly comfortable, thatched cottages under mosquito nets, we had tiny bats roosting outside the rooms, frogs hopping across the walkways and pink river dolphins and otters outside the camp. There was also a plethora of bug life, which made for a bit of amusement (and a couple of shrieks!) at mealtimes. I have to say I was astonished by the lodge. In the middle of the delta we were treated to top notch food, cold beer and even a charging station for cameras and phones (run off a generator). Amazing how man can learn to adapt and fulfil his needs in the most inhospitable environments...
Nat has been leading our Venezuela Encompassed tour.
