family

Río Caura, day 1

Jonás Camejo is a pioneer in Venezuelan tourism. For more than 15 years he has arranged tours in the Caura Region specializing in boat journeys on the jungle river Río Caura. Jonás is also the proud father of 12 beautiful children, and he has two wives (!) living in different parts of Ciudad Bolívar.
I am going to Río Caura with “Jonas Tours” which means that I am now a part of his family. At least for the next days, where I follow them around 24/7.

The journey begins on the backseat of a tightly packed jeep. My rucksack has been thrown on the roof and I am introduced to a large group of family members. Jonás is in the front seat with one of his wives and the oldest of his girls. I am in the backseat room with a grandfather, a brother, a son, two teenage girls and piles of food and luggage. Oh. And two wicked 4 or 5year-old boys are crawling on top of it all, tickling each other and smiling naughty to everyone

Intense backseat slumbering

Everything is very hot and intense, and it is a little awkward to be this close to someone without really being able to communicate. Jonás knows a few sentences in German, but it is limited to things like “ist alles gut?” and the older backseat boys just speak very little English. So mostly I just sit there. Smiling. Slumbering. And looking at the weirdly pang-colored teenage girl sitting opposite myself dressed in a blue basket shirt without sleeves, trashy red pants, white plastic sunglasses and a reverse pointing cap. She quietly sings along to the Venezuelan music in her earplugs and looks cool in a strange boy-girly kind of way.

The bumpy ride last about five hours – including a number of beer stops in villages along the way. The local brews are ice cold Corona-like pilsners. People here apparently love beer. Only the family men drink, of course, but I am one of them now and the beers are included in the trip equal to food and other essentials. After 250 kilometers (the last hours on slow forest path) we arrive in “Las Trincheras” – a small village with around 100 people. The Jonás family owns a house here just by Río Caura. The girls cook a delicious and traditional rice/chicken dinner before I fall asleep in my hammock overlooking the water and surrounded by amazing rainforest sounds.

To be continued 🙂 // Peter