Hotel Las Lomas Merida

... 1st day of the year recovering, a group of us went canyoning. I´ve been canyoning before in Switzerland, but this was totally different. This had HUGE abseiling parts and not so much jumping off big waterfall parts.. which was kinda disappointing. We did get to slide down a waterfall which was very bumpy. There is absolutely no OH&S here either.. we had to abseil down small cliffs to get out of the jungle without any ropes.. very scary, and then climb along tiny ...

... reorganised, it is expensive to do Angel Falls any way you do it. We have decided to travel from Caracas, where we go tonight on another night bus, and fly down in a couple of days though it is far cheaper to get to Ciudad Bolivar by bus (either from Merida or Caracas) and then join the tours from there into the Canaima National Park where Angel Falls stands. As we are pushed for time and it's Julie's birthday we have decided to pay a bit more and fly down, it ...

... the Light of Maracaibo, since the boats which they furrowed the zone could sail during the night without problems at the time of navigation to candle. It has an annual occurrence of 140 to 160 nights, lasting up to 10 hours per night and taking place up to 280 unloadings per hour. In addition, these electrical storms anywhere in the world produce a 10% of all the generated ozone layer reason why the lightning of the Catatumbo can be ...

... flavour was so disgusting!!! Who ever thought of mixing fish with ice cream?? Was funny thought because the Danish bloke had that, and he had a cold so couldnt taste it, so he ate the entire thing! haha! We retired though to bed after a glass of red that Jess (the overbearing vegetarian, wine conesuer) picked out. 5.45am hit and the alarm bell sounded. It was the 30th, and we were getting up to take a ride on the cable car system. Jess, Matty and ...

... Then at the peak of 'Pisco Espejo' there was only rock and some scatterings of snow. Had a bit of trouble breathing at the top and a slight headache. Some people suffered worse and were lying down or sleeping at the top. Sadly there wasn't much of a view from the Andes as it was a cloudy day but it was still amazing to be sitting on the Andes looking out over a cloudy horizon (and it was bloody freezing up there). I had a smoke up there to test my altitude endurance and immediatley ...

... I was totally winded and had the metallic bloody taste in my mouth that I have only gotten previously from running too hard. We descended to the third station at 4045 metres, next to the beautiful lagoon, and began our walk over the saddle and down to a little mountain village called Los Nevados, passing up the offers to go by mule. The third station is only a bit lower than the fourth and walking up to the saddle peak was a real struggle. Never in my life have I ...

... learnt about the Venezuelans is that they have no regard for time keeping and tend to operate at a slower pace. We finally arrived in time for the rain and spent a good hour admiring the views before we had to head back on the bus. However with the rain pouring down we decided to try and hitch a lift (sorry Mums) back and we were in luck when a couple pull up in their Clio and offered us a lift. Despite not speaking much Spanish we managed to ...

... t need to. These people have a church, a plaza, shops and even a school. Me: ¨A school? What does this school teach? Ingrid: ¨I don´t know, like a normal school?¨ Sara: ¨Geography? This is a lake, we are here, Venezuela is 3 hours that way, subject finished.¨ Me: ¨History? This village was built many, many years ago. In 1996, Luis caught a big fish in over there, subject finished.¨ Intrigued, I beg Ingrid to tell me more. ¨Well ...

... lake in the mountains created by the recent dam. You can also see the cross from a church jutting out of the middle of the lake as a village was flooded here. We arrive in La Trampa at about 19.0 and are told we cant have our dinner until 2200 as a group of 100 have just arrived at the camp we are staying. By this point we are absolutely shattered but stay up for dinner anyway for some reason!

... spot, so that they could drive down to meet us at the bottom. So unfortunately, Andrea didn´t get a go that day, and we would have to come back tomorrow. The landing was fine, and the others came down to meet us mid celebratory-beer. I was glad to be back on solid ground, but I had really enjoyed it. So we returned the day after, and the weather was far better, and this time there was just Andrea and I with the instructors, so I got to go again, and we went up ...