El Serrano Merida

For those of you who don't have access to Facebook here are the links to our photo albums on Facebook, just copy and paste the link into your browser<br><br>back in the UK june 2009<br>http://www.facebook.com/album.p hp?aid=122018&amp;id=698211564&amp;l=fa 5f182756<br><br>Thailand &amp; Malaysia<br>http://www.facebook.com/alb um.php?aid=114307&amp;id=698211564&amp; l=af29dba032<br><br>laos<br>http://www. facebook.com ...

... hand we knew to come to Merida as its known as the adventure capital of Venezuela! What better way to shake off the real world and get us into holiday mode! The first posada (hostel) we tried was closed so we trekked across town to find another one we´d read about. Posada Guamanchi was really cool and our room overlooked the mountains. It was also great to have our own bathroom for the first shower in 36 ...

... asks to do a hike in the cloud forest and to stop at the vegetable shop where she saw a dog the first day. It starts to rain heavily and we get soaked running into the restaurant. Its the same meal as before. Birgitte and Eric stock up on meat scraps for the 'starving doggies' that they will meet. Im feeling the slight altitude, have a sore throat and am very sleepy. We 'miss' the stops for the hike and veg shop ...

... last year. We picked a guesthouse out of the book (Guamanchi) and headed there from the bus station. It's a really nice place, cheap with a great roof terrace with hammocks. But there was another place that I had my eye on from the 'splurge' section of the guidebook, Casa Sol, but we weren't sure if we could afford it. So we settled into a few days of exploring the town, checking out what trips where available ...

... as I was sitting outside the Cucuta bus terminal waiting for daylight and also waiting for the usual guy on a bike with an array of coffees in flasks to warm me up with nice cuppa. At 6am the sun came out and the bus terminal was abuzz with activity. Bought myself a large cup of Tinto (hot coffee with a dash of sugar) and pondered my plan of action for crossing the border. The border is 14km away starting at a bridge (Colombian side) and the bridge is no mans land. After ...

What´s Hot: canyoning (abseiling down waterfalls with up to a 35m drop!), sliding down a rock slide and pin dropping into a mini canyon only 1m wide... scary!, our first bacon and egg breaky in SA, hotel room with a hot shower, meeting and eating pizza with a Danish couple, iced granita lemonades. What´s Not: not being able to ...

We awake at 7.30 and head to the Arassari office for 9.00am to collect the stuff needed for the next 4 days, whilst we hike up Pico Humbolt, Venezuela´s 2nd highest peak (4924m). Ice axes, helmets, harnesses, crampons, tents, stoves, food - everything you need for a 4 day trek in the mountains. We pack our Rucksacs and put them on our backs, they weigh a ton - Dude where is my porter?! After a 45 minute drive we arrive at the national park where we begin the hike. The height is ...

... I don´t give a damn, it`s cool and more than worth returning for. The scottish couple´s conclusion: Girl: ¨Because it´s stormy, does that mean the lightning could hit us now?¨ Guy: ¨Yeah, I wouldn´t want to be holding a golf club out here.¨ Well, the lightning was mostly worth coming back for and I did sleep well that night. Oh, wait a minute, no I didn´t. Did I mention they have electricity in El Congo? Apparently, an abundance ...

We took the road from Barquisimeto to Merida. The road is very long, but very interesting, because Merida is in the Andes. So it's a mountain road, and there is a lot of panorama of over the road. You can see the mountain, small torrents and typical place. I saw one laguna in the mountain and we stop in one mountain refuge, to eat and drink a little. I tested the chocolate drink, one strange alcohol with anis, and some meat. I bought a poncho too

... bought another "La bomba" which was the final straw that broke the camels back as far as I was concerned I could do no more, I was finished and had to call it a night. Next day we only had to walk down for a pre tour briefing that the tour guide gave us before we would set off the next day. The briefing was given on the balcony of the Posada which they also owned. The view over the valley was really pretty and as the sun set the full moon rose with awesome ...