Venezuela – 1976
The 1960’s and 1970’s were arguably the heyday of the boy scouts. Growing up during that time period, I jumped head first into the cub scouts in Argentina, and later to the boy scouts in Venezuela. While I question my enthusiasm in hindsight, at the time, it was a big part of my life and it felt like a huge achievement every time that I earned a new merit badge.
In Venezuela, there was a boy scout pack associated with the American School, which I joined upon my arrival in Caracas. Many of my classmates were also members, so it was a good way to meet and get to know people. This particular pack was very active, particularly in the area of campouts. While my memory is somewhat hazy now, I believe that we went on 3 – 4 campouts per year with the scouts.
Venezuela is an incredibly beautiful country as it has some of the most amazing nature scenes and more diverse terrains than you can imagine. You can experience beautiful beaches, thick jungle and incredible mountains, all a couple of hours from downtown Caracas. While some of these areas were exploited for tourism, others were pristine, where you could be on a private beach and go for hours without seeing another human being.
On one particular campout with the scouts, we went to this large national park several hours outside of Caracas. We left early in the morning and arrived at the camp sometime around 9:00 AM. It was a beautiful park with a nice lake on the edge of a jungle area. Upon arriving at the park, we were met by park rangers who gave us a quick overview of our camp site and the typical warning not to feed any animals, and then they were off.
For next hour or so, we pitched our tents, dug trenches and generally prepared our campsite. Once completed, we decided to take a hike to build up an appetite before lunch. So off we set with our troop leader paving the way.
The terrain was pretty rough with no real path, but the leader felt that by following the bed of the lake, there was really no way to get lost. Several times during the trek, we would take turns using a machete to chop through the brush so as to stick as close to the lake’s edge as possible. After about 2+ hours of hiking, we were beginning to realize that the lake was much larger than previously imagined. What we did not know at the time was that the lake fingered out numerous times, creating a coastline of several miles in length and increasing ten-fold or more the distance on foot around the base.
As the kids tired and hunger set in, the troop leader was under increasing pressure to get the group back to the campsite. So, when we came upon yet another finger in the lake, the decision was made for us to swim the 50 yards to the other side, instead of trying to walk around it. I should mention that at that point, we believed that we were closer to the campsite by continuing to move forward then to turn around and walk back several hours in the direction from which we came. So, we all stripped down to our underwear, dove in the water, and began heading toward the other bank. Given the heat, we all splashed around and enjoyed the water a bit before climbing out on the other side and dressing again.
We set off walking, once again following the coastline, and after about 10 minutes, encountered a small hill which we all climbed. When cresting the hill, we suddenly realized that we were standing on an island in the middle of the lake. We also realized that the lake was very much larger than anticipated, and that there was no way that we would make it around the entire lake in what was left of the day. So, the decision was made to turn around and return the way we came. Off we went, back along the coast, stripping down once again, swimming across the lake and setting to backtrack along our original path.
By the time that we made it back to the campsite, we were all starved. Several of the scouts were also dehydrated as they had brought Kool-Aide or soft drinks in their canteens, which they had polished off in the first hour.
Upon arriving at the campsite, there was quite a commotion with several park rangers gathered around in heated discussion. By this time, it was after dark and we had been gone almost 8 hours. The look of relief on their face was clear as we slowly approached. Apparently, the rangers had been looking for us, concerned about our safety. And as it turns out, they had good reasons to be concerned.
According to the rangers, there were packs of cougars that made their homes in the brush surrounding the lake, which is pretty much the area where we spent our whole day walking. Further, the rangers informed us that the lake was full of piranhas, but that they mostly kept to the other side of the lake. Yes, this was the lake that we had jumped into not once, but twice, and splashed around quite a bit before making it to the other side. The rangers also mentioned that poisonous snakes such as the coral snake and the mapanare were also in abundance, both in the water and on land. One of my friends at school had been bitten by a mapanare and survived, however even six months later, would have episodes where he could not maintain his balance and simply topple over. So, it was easy to understand why they were relieved to see us stumble back to the camp relatively unharmed.
In addition to the sunburns, blisters and bloody feet that we all had, many of us also discovered that we were covered with ticks. And to top it all off, in our absence, a couple of donkeys had made their way into our camp and had eaten all of our bread, hotdogs and other supplies. So, we were forced to eat canned ravioli and soup before crashing for the night.
The following morning, we decided to break down camp and go home. The camping trip was originally planned to last two nights, but nobody was in the mood to stay any longer. As I rolled up my sleeping bag to stow with the rest of my stuff, I discovered 3 scorpions right under the bag. At that point, I was done and headed for the car, vowing not to get out until we pulled into our driveway.
We all made it to our homes later that morning, worse for the wear and tear, and all vowing never to set foot in that park again. Approximately one month later, at one of our troop meetings, we were all presented with the merit badge for the 50-mile hike. While I am certain that we did not hike even close to 50 miles, it very much felt that way at the time. And while that was not the last campout or hike that I went on with the boy scouts, that was the last time that I ever blindly followed a leader without thinking and questioning everything along the way.