Hotel Caribay Merida

... than 14 but with the personality and confidence of a<br>30 year old. He sat himself down next to me, introduced himself and<br>told me all about his love of singing and dancing, and all things<br>Michael Jackson. As the bus was getting ready to leave and the top<br>deck was more or less full, Juno jumped up (literally, and for a big<br>fella who by his own admission eats too many empanadas) and commanded<br>the attention of his audience, namely ...

... on reception didnt speak Spanish with a lisp and/or other speach impediment! Back to the Posada and report the safe key missing. The owner arrives and thankfully has a spare so we can get the rest of our things out. After a long day, I just want food! A nice big chicken burger, chips and milkshake in the Venezuelan version of McDonalds called Note fills the void! Time to pack for our trip to Los Llanos east of Mérida and the Andes in the low plains.

... we spent the night. Before leaving in the morning we drove back a short distance to glimpse Merida once more. People are friendly and helpful and want to talk with us. Traffic lights are a perfect place for a little chat. In one case a man on Dom's side called across and spoke his best english with us and the next minute he was on my side chatting with me. How he made that maneuver in a traffic jam is only privy to a Venezuelan ...

Nach dene paar Taeg am Strand isch ois daenn s`gaelt definitiv am usgah gsi und mir haend beschlosse mal no schnell en Abstaecher nach Kolumbie gad ueber d`Grenze z`mache zum chli Galet abhebe. Es isch scho zimli ufregend gsi ueber die Grenze zfahre. irgendwie haet mer scho s`Gfuehl gha innere andere Stadt z`sii, aber gliichziitig isch au alles gnau gliich gsi. Mir haend also ei Nacht z`Kolumbie bi ganz liebe Luet ...

... There is so much to see here, the people are genuinely friendly and will bend over backwards to help you, the girls are staggeringly gorgeous and fun, the transport system works and most things are relatively cheap and there aren't that many tourists here (not yet anyway). Forget the dangers, I felt safe pretty much everywhere (there is such a big military presence everywhere). Using common sense and heeding local advice is important though. It may change in 5 to 10 years as the ...

Arrived in Merida yesterday...after a stunning trip up through the Andes, passing through quaint mountain villages. Merida is really beautiful, not to mention refreshingly cooler.The city is large, but surrounded by towering green mountains. It has a real Andean feel to it...reminding me of Peru somewhat... Today I went paragliding off some arid mountains South West of Merida. We set off as the sun was setting, and it ...

26th October 2007 - Day 137 Up early for our bike trip around the area we were introduced to our guide and then waited for then to load up the van with our antiquated looking bikes. We started off the day with a spot of bird watching in the cloud forests and some good views of waterfalls then headed up into hills to a town called Jaji which looked a bit like a construction site as Chavez had decided to ...

... the agency also dressed up with the promise of birds, monkeys and crocodiles. Me: ¨How many of these trips have you done?¨ Ingrid: ¨To Catatumbo, maybe four or five.¨ Me: ¨And how often do you see the lightning?¨ Ingrid: ¨Maybe 50% of the time.¨ Me: ¨What!¨ Okay, now I´m worried. Why is no one else worried by this stat? Sara`s putting on an optimistic front to counteract my usual pessimism, but the others on the tour (a Danish ...

... entire vicinity. Disappointing as the weather was, we continued our climb as the narrow road curved its way up and around the green hillsides. In spite of the intermittent rain, local farmers everywhere were busy tending to their small parcels of vegetables and flowers, often situated on slopes of forty-five degrees or more. They could be seen meticulously harvesting lettuce, broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage, carrots, artichoke, leeks and ...

... with Adrian. Two girls said 'buenos dias' to me as we walked past, and giggled. Adrian laughed. 'You stand out here,' he said 'to them you look like Brad Pitt'. 'Not just here' I said, 'happens all the time.' I shook my head gravely. Such a burden. After breakfast, we made plans to meet up with Adrian later in the week, and went to our 'posada' a nice guest house with a courtyard and hammocks with a view of the Andes, for a little siesta. For the rest of ...