3 hours in the back of a minivan is not my idea of a good time but that’s how long it took to get to El Velo de la Novia (Bride's Veil) in Ucayali, Peru. Probably would have taken 4 hours but the driver was going scary fast up the winding mountain roads, past the villages whose economies were based on harvesting the jungle timber. The runoff from the rain forest form rivers brown with mud which eventually coalesce into the mighty Amazon. There are delicate waterfalls aplenty.
El Velo del la Novia is the equivalent to a National Park in the U.S., but was virtually empty. Since it was the middle of Spring when we visited, it seems likely we preceded the crowds to come in the summer. Everything had been newly painted, perhaps just the previous day; very sloppy with lots of messy overspray. A cave with water pouring off the ceiling seemed also indicated the rainy weather hadn't yet abated but it was still warm enough to walk through even if you did get wet. There was an excellent restaurant where we got the best and largest fresh raw seafood plate ever.
The mass of water pouring down the natural aqueduct was impressive. There was a tiny red sand beach.
Whoa be anyone unable to pull themselves out of the water before it joined the rushing river.
Nearby was a large series of natural rock water slides, quite impressive and with not even have a hint of safety. The river they fed into was mighty; only strong swimmers would make it out. Obviously, that didn't prevent people from trying because we saw many youths coming and going but never saw anyone actually make the dangerous descent during the half hour we were there. My bravado kept telling me I should try but my body complained it wanted to live a little longer.
El Velo de la Novia, Ucayali, Peru
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Martin Hash
- Posts: 18237
- Joined: Wed Jan 20, 2010 2:02 pm
El Velo de la Novia, Ucayali, Peru
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