Travelling across Los Llanos to the Andes

 Travelling across Los Llanos to the Andes 

After a few hours of driving we were off the plains and after Barinetas, we were driving through the mountains of the Andes.

The road twisted and turned as it sought out the best gradient across the side of the valley.

The views across the valley were clear to see trees clinging to the side of steep slopes with occasional patches of grass where the soil was either too thin or the slope too steep for trees.

Looking up the valley, there were only trees.

The road side was covered with trees and there were only occasional breaks in the foliage to see up or across the valley. There were a few houses built on a narrow strip of ground between the road and the sheer drop dowwn to the river raging in the bottom of the valley. They had tiny fields where they grew maize or bananas or long thin terracesacross the nearby slopes.

In one break, the hill side was so steep that there were no trees on it at all, just a line of trees on the ridge line, silouetted by the bright sky behind them.

As we rose ever higher up the valley, there were clouds covering the upper slopes.

Looking ahead or back, there was a scar along the valley side where the road cut into the slope and where trees had been removed. The road twisted with few straight sections, so traffic would have to wait for lorries and trucks to negotiate the tighter turns.

We rarly saw the river in the valley below but we did see the waterfalls of tributaries cascading down the slopes to join the main river.

We stopped at a waterfall where the authorities had hacked a small car park out of the valley side. We paid our one dollar entrance fee and walked up seveal steps.

It made for a break in the journey and a chance to stretch our legs.