In spite of the fact that in Venezuela not only have electrical service failures not ceased but also have increased and the connection to the Internet is more and more complicated, here I am again.

TO THE ENCOUNTER OF THE LOST WORLD: 70 years ago, Ruth Robertson was able to defeat the puri-puris and arrived at the Angel Falls -- Part 1 --

It is an honour that a woman is the protagonist of the first in a series of post which, under the name To the encounter with the lost world, I intend to share with all of you here in travelfeed.io. As you know, the name The Lost World is due to the novel of the same name written by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, which refers to an imaginary expedition to the region located in the north-east of South America, characterized by the presence of a very particular type of plateau corresponding, in reality, to Mount Roraima, which, with its 2.700 meters above sea level, is the highest of a series of geological formations very picturesque and beautiful scattered along much of the Venezuelan-Brazilian Amazon forest and are known by the name that, over thousands of years, have given it the original settlers, ie Tepuis or Tepuyes. In the Scottish writer's novel, this is the region where several species of antediluvian animals still survive and a violent war is waged between a tribe of prehistoric men and a group of wild hominids.

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It was published in 1912, that is, some three decades before Miss Ruth Robertson crossed, for more than 10 days, the dense and inhospitable jungle that surrounds the waterfall that, with its almost one thousand meters of free fall, is the highest in the world and whose base she managed to reach. You can imagine the astonishment, the shock, perhaps the ecstasy felt by Ruth, the photojournalist specialized in covering wars, and the team of basically American researchers who accompanied her, guided and logistically assisted by a group of ten Kamarakoto Indians, which included a woman, Juanita.

Alejandro Laime, Enrique Gómez, Ruth Robertson (up front), Perry Lowrey. Photo Ruth Robertson, Venezuelan National Library Collection. Source

At the head of such a particular human conglomerate, Ruth demonstrated a marvelous capacity for planning and leadership, and she was able to overcome the challenge that came with going along mighty rivers and an unexplored jungle after arming herself with patience for a few years, until she was able to obtain the financing and technical support that such a journey deserves. But these difficulties are nothing compared to a tiny and torturing challenge that almost made them desist, the puripuris or jejenes.

Whoever writes these lines had the opportunity to return from one of his trips to the Venezuelan state of Amazonas in a small plane. Upon entering the ship I was very surprised to see a group of Swedish tourists absolutely covered in small red dots that did not look good at all. They were bites from a variety of mosquito whose scientific name is Lutzomyia longipalpis and which is known by its indigenous name: puripuri. Its small size, equivalent to the head of a pin, should not mislead us. Its bites, which can transmit the parasite known as Leishmania, are so unbearable, especially if you are allergic to them, that they almost made the expedition that would reach the base of Kerepacupai Vená, known among non-indigenous people as the Angel Falls, give up its objective.

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Nevertheless, and defeating such a fearsome and tenacious enemy, and as a result of much perseverance and endurance, 70 years ago the team coordinated by Ruth Robertson managed to reach its goal of stopping at the feet of a waterfall of amazing beauty and measuring, with the appropriate instruments, the height of that spectacular stone mass from whose summit a river is detached, nothing more and nothing less than an entire river.

In fact, the exact date of this feat was May 12, 1949, but, due to the difficulties, even techniques that we go through here in Venezuela, among them continuous failures in the electrical service and in the connection to Internet that can be prolonged by several days, it is now when I publish this article with which I begin this session of post about one of the most exuberant and diverse regions of the whole planet, the Lost World of the Amazonia. Exploring it in depth and sleeping in each of its corners is my great dream as a walker. And I am sure that it will be, if it no longer is, the dream of many of you, once you know of its beauty and mystery.

Ruth Robertson, the Angel Falls, 1949. Gelatin silver. Source

But for the time being, we will have to be content to go into a jungle made up of words. In the next post we will learn more about this adventure that was motivated by the marvelous thirst for knowledge that moves human beings and by the fascination felt by a girl who was born in Taylorville, Illinois, in 1905, when she read about a certain Jimmie Angel who landed his plane among the mud of the summit of Cerro Auyán, as it was known in the maps of the time, now Auyántepui. It is located in Canaima National Park, in the state of Bolívar, southeast of Venezuela. Its name derives from the word Audanes, with which the Pemons call the fearsome spirits called Mawaritones and that dwell in its summit, which extends about 700 kilometers and from which the waters of the river Churún Merú precipitate. We will get there, accompanying Ruth.