CP, S&M - Of Cell Phones, Smoke and Mirrors

I had never heard of Angel Falls when ARB/USA’s president Jim Jackson asked me if I’d like to join him on an adventure trip to Venezuela and The Falls. “Heck yeah! When do we leave?” Months went by and it turned out Jim couldn’t make the trip due to business obligations. But he upheld his offer, and in October he sent my good friend, fellow photojournalist (and ORA contributor) Chris Collard and me on a great adventure that included some killer four wheeling (both off and [almost] on the pavement), hiking, an unplanned plane ride and some wild motorized canoe rides. We also got to hang out with three of the most hospitable ‘wheelin’ Venezuelans ever, Felipe Campisi, his brother Enzo, and Nino, Felipe’s right-hand-man Felipe and Enzo Campisi own Servicios Fien, C.A. that oversees several franchised Jumbok off-road stores in the capital city of Caracas. Jumbok carries much of the ARB product line, hence the connection to Jim Jackson, who supplies South American retailers with their Australian products. (Gotta love this global economy!) Anyway, the Campisi brothers make it a point to get away once a year from their thriving business and embark on a two week off-road odyssey to their country’s most famous attraction, Angel Falls. They have made the trek for six years now and we were fortunate to join them in their adventure.

 

It began for us as soon as we landed at the Caracas airport on a red-eye from L.A. via Miami. Nino met us at the gate and escorted us to a waiting Land Cruiser. We had been warned ahead of time to never allow ourselves to be alone in the country without a local bodyguard! As we threaded our way through snarled traffic, Nino explained in his broken English that we were taking the 1 1/2 hour “mountain road” to the city because the regular highway had a bridge out, making the 35 mile trip a three hour ordeal! Turns out the bridge had been down for months. Caracas has over 3.5 million people and is nestled in a valley inland from the coast. The airport is right on the water, hence the distance over (mountain road) or around (highway) the coastal mountain range that separates the two. The mountain route was a fantastic concrete serpent of a road that wound steeply up and over the pass, eventually tumbling into the streets of Caracas. The views from both sides were spectacular and I don’t think I’ve ever been on a paved road so steep. The Land Cruiser required low range the entire trip to muster enough torque for the climb and enough braking for the decent!