Hotel Parque Turistico Apartaderos Merida

... to find a posada, quite likely one of the last rooms in town, considering how long it took to find a place. Things slowed down after a couple of days, and we were able to find somewhere a little more economical. Brief history blurb: When Bolivar's army left Merida to recruit additional soldiers, the Spanish invaded. Merida's women were able to fend off the Spaniards in the mountain pass using cannons until Bolivar's army returned and ...

... from Venezuela. No-one knows why and how on earth the banks know your passport number is also a mystery. 1984. So far our impression of Venezuela has been that of a very civilised country with really friendly people, many of which speak a little English. You stand in queues in shops and people will strike up conversations with you while you wait, it is really nice. Many will start up about their political situation and it seems to be a real love hate thing with Chavez.

... the surrounding towns, hot springs and a condor rehab facility as well as quaffing the ridiculously tiny 200 ml bottles of Venezuela's Polar beer (their reasoning is it stays colder longer that way). I took a ride up the telefrico to the blustery and snowy peak, a shade under 5000 meter, named Simon Bolivar (who else). We than trekked back to Merida via an isolated mountain village known as Los Nevados that looks exactly as it did ...

... for Macchu Picchu. The next day I set off at 8am to get to San Christobal and then to San Antonio where I did all the Venezuelan departure formalities for a visa to cross the border to Colombia, all relatively easy with no hassle until there was some mention about my Mexican stamp and then the final blow - I need a visa for Colombia! NO!!!! Not again!!! (Got deported from Mexico 2yrs ago as visa requirements changed 2wks before arriving) I told the guy that I just spent 3 ...

... after telling him several times and elbowing him to get him of my seat. Arriving at 5am in Caracas...I decided to metro and walk it back up the hills of Bellos Montes to Rosa´s house so as not to disturb her sleep too much. It was great to see her again......and after a quick catch up with her in the morning, I managed to book my ferry ticket to Margarita, where I will be heading off tomorrow to start my 3 month placement with Fundefir, the communal banking NGO...

... I was surprised to see pet cats and dogs marooned on the houses but looking happy enough. It's a nice little village and it is villages like this that got Venezuela its name (little Venice). People get around in boats and by any other material that floats. We saw one lady paddling something that looked like a plastic coated mattress. The kids paddle around in plastic drums with one side cut out. Following a tributary back out of the lake we sure an ...

... berge, wolken, dschungel und nebelwald im sonnenuntergang, und das aus haengematten und mit bier. danach gibt es essen. bestes rindfleisch mit einheimischen beilagen. richtig viel und richtig gut. danach sitzen wir noch ein bisschen mit den anderen teilnehmern gemuetlich zusammen, die allerdings irgendwie kein bier moegen. dabei faellt uns eine ca 15cm lange kakerlake auf, die fuer etwas verwirrung der gruppe sorgt und eine diskussion ueber essen anregt. muede gehen wir ins bett.

... when Cesar and the rest of our group pull up in their boat. ¨Don´t get in that water!!!¨ Cesar yells. Then he notices me, joyously popping out from under the surface. ¨Ughh, that water´s disgusting, I wouldn´t be in it if I were you. Get out right now!¨ I´m still not sure if our driver thought the water was clean or if he was just screwing with me, but from the reactions of others at the cabin, I can only assume I´m lucky to be ...

Lea has decided to take advantage of the cheap intensive Spanish language courses they offer here so we'll be staying a bit longer than first anticipated. So Lea has lessons from 8 until 10am and then 2 until 4pm everyday for five days which basically left me with time to read books in the hammock and watch cable. By the way daytime TV in Venezuala sucks a little bit less than in the UK as they keep showing Macgyver episodes and I have watched most of the second ...

... off for a 4 day trip to Los Llanos (an immense plain savannah south of the Andes). There were 11 others on the trip, of note a cool couple called (would you believe it) Rosalie and Fergus! The 1st night was spent at a fishing village on the banks of the Rio Apure. On the nighttime excursion by boat, captained by the very zealous Igunana Man (who frequently jumped off the boat to capture wildlife for us to get up close and personal with) we got to see Igunana, snakes, alligators ...