Hotel El Castillo de San Ignacio Merida

... realistic prices. The<br>accommodation we have had so far has been 30-40% higher than the<br>book, however, this could be the result of Venezuelan inflation. We<br>have the use of a kitchen here so we will be cooking for ourselves<br>tonight. neither of us can face anything deep fried for at least a<br>few days (just about everything reasonably priced in the restaurants<br>is deep fried) so we had some fruit and yoghurt for breakfast and<br>rice ...

... the usual loooooong queue. After 5 machines we realise we have a problem. ATMs here also require digits from your national id to access money. Our cards do not have this link and the transactions are cancelled and its too late to go into a bank and ask. Heuston we have a problem. Solution: quick (16hr) trip back to Cúcuta in Colombia!

... she said. This time the protests are against the violence...and few other things, including that Chavez had unlawfully banned some opposition leader to run in the November elections. The irony is that the protests are staged by a student organization which is, according to my teacher, known to be violent and carry concealed weapons. I know it sound surreal, but the people here are living it. My landlord told me yesterday that the ...

... ueber Bratpfanne und haengematte bis Zitronewii alles uebercho was s-Herz begehrt. Ich bin schier wahnsinnig worde und am beschte verzelli oi au noed was ich alles ersteigeret han uf dem Maert. am beschte luegeder d-bilder eifach mal ah. am Abig simmer daenn no anen ganz spezielle ort. und zwar in "Glacelade vo de 1000gschmaecker" det find wuerkli ALLI Gschmaecker. Spaghetti mit Hackfleisch, Aengelshaar ...

... on the right bus (really hope Venezuelan bus terminals aren't all like this..Colombia's bus service is so organised and user friendly (sigh). As predicted the bus left an hour late but we finally chugged off at 1pm (I got to the bus terminal at 11am). Everything went smoothly (apart from the driver announcing an hour into the journey that the aircon doesn't work...followed by a lot of sighs and boos from the passengers. The bus wasn't stopped a single time and thankfully any ...

... high. We stayed at a nice little posada (Suiza) where all the numerous girls who worked there were nice. They even asked us out dancing on our last night there but we had to decline. Merida also has what claims to be the world's highest and longest cable car. I believe it. The cable car leaves from Merida, at 1577m elevation. It terminates 12km later at Pico Espejo, 4765m high, where the thin air makes some people dizzy just getting off the car. And the view is ...

... that this place ever operated as a factory. Back up in the van we headed up to San Jose and our guide certainly didn't get our joke when we kept asking if he knew the way! Garvo certainly was close to losing his rag with his bike struggling up the up hill sections with only 7 gears working. Carly on the other hand was happy on the up hill sections as she did not have to worry about her brakes not working ...

... C´mon, a full moon. It only happens one day a month and we´re unlucky enough for it to be tonight. Again though, I appear to be the only person sweating it. Besides, Omar and Ingrid tell me the lightning doesn´t usually occur until the middle of the night (2am) and they´d wake everyone up if it did. So, we´d have to play the waiting game. But the waiting doesn´t last long. Around 11pm, while playing cards with the others ...

... flora, ranging from the tiny orange and red alpines, to mid-sized pinky-mauve daisies, and eventually to the woolly-lambs-ears-like yellow everlasting flowers that literally covered the mountainsides. We were ecstatic, to say the least! However, we had yet to make our way back up to where the van was parked, and had completely overlooked the fact that the high altitude was already causing us some discomfort. It was a long, slow grind ...

... of cooling beers... We had a nice chat with a guy who was originally from Merida, but now lived in New York selling ice creams. He said he was glad to have the chance to practice his English, as he lives and works there in a Dominican community where people speak only Spanish. On the way back, we stopped in a lovely colonial village called Tabay for lunch, and afterwards sat in their leafy square for a while, watching people go by, in the warm afternoon ...