Hotel Don Juan Merida

... in Venezuela. We're back in the mountains but not sure<br>how high, certainly not as high as Colonia Tovar. The Suize is the<br>most 'backpackerish' place we've stayed so far, except we haven't<br>seen any backpackers yet! We've taken a room without a bathroom, in<br>an attempt to keep our costs down, but still this is costing 15 usd. <br>The lp book we have is 2007, and a new South America book is to be<br>published soon, I just hope they have ...

... will try arrange with other operators to make a group of 4 at least. At 700Bfs per person (~145 Euro blackmarket or ~290 Euro official rate) for 4 days/3nights, transport, accommodation, food and English speaking guide, it's ok. Its becoming clear we should have changed more money in Cúcuta. We go around to the ATM to get money and ...

Yesterday evening, a student was shot and killed at a protest in town. Just few hours before that I walked past the barricades and the burning trash piles in the middle of the street on my way to a Symphony concert. I didn't imagine it was quite that serious. Carolina had told me earlier that day that the university semester is supposed to end next week and as usual the students have started protesting. They always protest before ...

... Spezielle a Merida isch, dasses am Tag ziemlich warm isch und ide Nacht wuerkli uuu chalt wird. Mer chan go Bergstiige, Mountainbike fahre, Riverrafte, paraglide... wuerkli alles.... aber da d-eli und ich scho es bizeli mued gsi sind vom viele reise haemmer eifach mal chli entspannt und chli sache agluegt. Merida isch bekannt fuer de Grossi Maert wos da haend und det bini natuerli schier usgflippt. Mer haet vo ...

... the hotel Rio near bus terminal for an afternoon and evening of catching up on sleep and relaxing so I'mm be fresh for another longish bus journey to Merida tomorrow. Jan 8th San Cristobal to Merida Woke up refreshed and raring to go. After 30 minutes of walking aimlessly around the royal dump that is San Cristobal bus terminal (most of my time was spent trying to avoid the fake blind and crippled beggars that roam these parts) looking for a bus to Merida I finally got myself a ...

... al vino, black beans, coconut and rice and rose flavours.....I found the mushroom one surprisingly nice. Anyways, I am back off to the Llanos again for a 4 day safari tour over New Years, as the cable car tickets here to the peaks are practically sold out. I am actually looking forward to some more hot weather after spending a couple of nights in a sweater. If the anacondas don´t get me, I will write more in 2008!

... the hairpin bends on bikes that didn't have functioning brakes. Garvo did manag to overtake a car on the way down though which he was very pleased about. At the bottom the guide took us to the local sugar cane factory which was not operating as one of the machines had broken and it was a Friday so the workers abandoned work and started early on the rum. But to be honest neither of us could have ...

... in the middle of the lake, it`s quite nice. We`ve definitely stayed in worse places over the past 6 months. It has a clean bathroom, tiled floors and Sara`s favourite, hammocks to sleep in. Not that we´ll be doing much sleeping, we have a date with lightning. We just have to wait for nightfall. Me: ¨Wait a minute, is that a full moon?¨ Ingrid: ¨Yes.¨ Me: ¨Won´t that be a problem, it not being that dark and all?¨ Ingrid ...

... sunny day in the middle of the rainy season were met with scepticism, so imagine our surprise at seeing the clear blue skies early the next morning. Skipping breakfast, we rushed back up the mountain (only a 3,000 ft climb for DC3) where the clouds were already beginning to congregate. The next couple of hours might appropriately be termed a botanical hikers paradise. Climbing down the slopes, we were astounded by the tremendous variety ...

... only ones there. When we arrived however, it was more like a Butlins family pool in the height of summer, than the secluded mountain-jacuzzi I had been imagining. There was a large rectangular pool, about 5m x 10m, and was full of kids jumping about, laughing and screaming, and adults stood around with plastic cups of beer from the poolside bar. Unexpected. But the water was hot like a bath, too hot to stay in for long in the Andean heat- at least without a ...