Hotel El Teleferico Merida

... br>aversion to bananas) pineapple, mangoes and passion fruit appear<br>everywhere. The strawberries here don't look half as good as the<br>ones in Colonia Tovar though.<br><br><br><br>We are going to stay here for a couple<br>of days while we decide the next step, either we continue cycling<br>onto Colombia (several days), or, we simply hop on a bus and get<br>Venezuela over and done with quickly. <br><br><br><br><br>laters<br><br><br>< br><br><br><br>

... South America. It is surrounded by mountains, including the country's highest summit Pico Bolivar and has a lovely temperate climate. It is the dry season and is around 24 degrees but snow still graces the top of a few of the peaks that surround the town. The hillsides are cloaked in dark green forest. It is a very picturesque place and we look out on it all from our room's balcony at our hostel. The city itself has very few high rise and reminds me of some of the ...

... streets, etc., etc. Except, there was nowhere else to go then. But now, now I have a ticket to Peru. Sticking around won't help anyone, so I'm out of here next week. *** WORLD CHANGE STARTS WITH EDUCATED CHILDREN! Give a girl the life long gift of education! Support my appeal 100 GIRLS BACK TO SCHOOL! Donate at: www.justgiving.com/100GirlsBackToSchool Your money goes directly to ROOM TO READ (www.roomtoread.org)! Hugs &amp; Kisses, Vik

Arrived in the city of gentlemen, and still not found one!!!! The town itself is not so exciting but the surrounding country side is very stunning. Went up the cable car today, which is the worlds longest at 12.5km and rising up to over 4000 meters!!! Really lovely. Will be off on Saturday to Los Llanos with a guy called Tony Martin to see some animals, so off line till after Tuesday!

... walk around in the foggy and chilly streets of Merida (this is a real mountain resort) and settled for a cheap and cheerful burger dinner and then to my room for some blog updates and travel planning. I have now booked my hostel bed for the Rio Carnival at the ridiculous and extortionate price of $70 a night? (am I mad?). Sneaky buggers, you have to stay a minimum of 7 nights. But, its always been a dream of mine to go to the carnival and it runs from 31st Jan to 5th of Feb so ...

... kiwis: that's higher than Mt Cook) and gets up to 4300m, and then finishes with a 90 minute slog along a dirt road. The bit between the high point and the dirt road is delightful. The only thing wrong with the initial climb is that it is really hard work. It wouldn't be at sea level, but this was my first encounter with altitude, and I didn't like it. Although I was climbing this hill in baby steps my heart was battering my rib cage and I could feel my pulse inside my ...

... our fair share of down hill and Carly was a little nervous when our guide thought we were good enough to go down the old road but told us we needed to be very careful as it had some dangerous sections which was an understatement and on the last section Carly resorted to using her feet to slow herself down. Down at the bottom our guide treated us to an ice cold beer which was the perfect end to a fantastic day.

... informs us that the lightning has started. Yes! Sara and I immediately run outside to observe this once in a lifetime experience. Sara: ¨Is that it?¨ Me: ¨I think so.¨ Sara: ¨Where is everyone anyway?¨ They're finishing their card game. Are you ******** me, no wonder they weren´t concerned about the lightning earlier, they´d rather play crazy eights. And the worst part is, they aren´t missing anything. The lightning is sporadic ...

... up to the summit, but nothing could mar the pleasure of our morning hiking experience. Several carloads of Venezuelan tourists had just arrived, equipped with cameras and ready to capture the beauty of the area. Unfortunately for them, everything was already shrouded in mist and cloud, and would surely stay that way for the remainder of the day. As for us, we blithely made our way down to lower altitudes where the sun was still resplendent.

... the roof of Venezuela, and icicles hung down from the railings. We took some photos, and some video footage for our round the world documentary. This trip up was courtesy of Heather, so our thanks to her went out and echoed down the valleys. Our friend Dave who came here after he left Santa Elena, about 2 weeks previously, advised us that when he was here he was far too cold, and due to the lack of oxygen, couldn't move about too much to keep warm. We'd ...