Chuao, Venezuela — ElEONORA GOMEZ BAS

Always looking for a fun trip to make, four of my friends and I decided to hike across a mountain to get to the beach. We had gotten very mixed messages about how long that would take, and for some reason trusted that it would be alright to start hiking around noon, in order to get to the beach by sunset. We ended up crossing the Henri Pittier National Park, sleeping in a cave, and arriving the next day around 2pm. The scariest, most daunting part of the whole experience was the fact that most of this time, we were convinced that we were lost. In this incredibly dense rainforest, there was no trail to follow and we had no compass, just a crappy photocopy of a rudimentary map. We had no food or water either. My boyfriend, who had gotten to the beach by boat (the only other way to get there, other than by crossing the mountain) was ready to report us missing and call a search party.

The happy ending of the story is that, once we did get to the other side, we arrived at one of the most amazing places I have ever been. Right at the foot of the mountain lies the town of Chuao, famous for its cacao plantations, which have been there for around 400 years. The beach, of course, was also incredible.

I have always wished I had taken more photos during this trip, especially during the hike part. Still, I'm just grateful that at least we managed to make it to the other side of the mountain!

All photographs taken using Canon A1 and Canon Rebel SLR cameras, with Kodak T-MAX 400 film.