Hotel Terepaima Caracas

... was so physically and emotionally overpowering that's the only analogy that seems to fit. Over-awed, is about the only way to explain how I felt. It was easy to see why the Pemón thought that the Cueva was inhabited by God and the spirits of the tepuí. The trip back was unusually quiet as we were wrapped in our own thoughts. But shortly after taking off we were brought back to the realities of human-altered Venezuela when we flew over a landscape of horrific destruction. Far ...

... in Caracas, and spent it in a small hotel near the airport. Just to head into the centre of town costs about £35 each way!! So we decided to just explore the area near to us and stay in the safety of the hotel. Caracas is apparently one of the dodgiest cities on the planet...and as there was not much that we wanted to do in the centre, we opted to just chill out on the verandah of the hotel and have a few drinks, in preparation of our trip to Los Roques.

... all, but in terms of air routes, Bogota is a bit of a cul-de-sac, and so Caracas it had to be. Venezuela is an incredibly diverse country, and there`s too much choice of things to do and see in the limited time I`ve got, but I eventually plumped for the Canaima region down in the South East, and a visit to Angel Falls. Whenever I tried to book anything from the UK though, things quickly became incredibly difficult and I got nowhere. The whole system seems geared up for ...

As we flew over Cuba again for the 3rd time, and Haiti, we were soon hit by nothing but ocean for quite some time. After a while I looked out the window and there it was ...South America!! I have been waiting so long to see this continent, and seeing this made me feel so alive. As the plane descended over Venezuela, the mountains rose higher and higher which were covered in thick, dense, deep green jungle. The mountains rose directly out of ...

... see a lot of pro Chavez posters and grafiti...Chavez is a man of the poeople.....vote for democracy, vote for Chavez....So much talk of a socialist democracy. Its so great that I have arrived here at such an interesting time in Venezuelan and socialist history - where the people themselves can participate in the process of reforming their own constitution. Shocked by the extortionate taxi fare, I finally arrived in the hills of Bellas Montes - a stunning ...

Our journey began when we arrived at the bus stop in Caripe at 5am, we were waiting for a ´reliable´ bus to take us to Cumana where we would get a bus to Caracas then onto Merida in the west, in the Andes. The bus stop was on the road just outside the bus terminal (not open at that time in the morning) and there were lots of people with truck loads of fresh produce. People kept coming up to us to tell us that ´yes, this is where the bus goes from´ and ...

... too many laughs to share for now. My pina colada is melting. I will try to upload the video I took in the cab from the island airport....OMG! I have never seen so many ford LTD's barreling down the roads through what I am pretty sure could not even pass for ghettos. There is frankly no regard for traffic laws, speed limits, or seatbelts. There was however a large regard for the 8 speakers lining the back of the car and salsa music, LOL. Cheers to all. Wendy

... up in the dining room of the guide´s house and he was quite proud of it. There is no doubt that Chavez has divided the country into two and given the country´s history and traumatic relationship with military dictators I understand the concern some people might have about Chavez´s motives but I do not agree with them. The election next year will be an interesting one and if people are not happy with him then they will speak once again.

... pretty good so far. Theres always a supply of beer and its cheap too which is a definite bonus. Even long drive days are good with plenty to see out the window, music to listen to and games to play. We started off by driving through the Henri Pottier national park up to Ocumare, fantastic views on route. The pool at the Eco lodge where we were staying was a welcome sight on a hot day so we all jumped in for a game of volley ball. The following day we spent a day at ...

... demonstrations occur and that if we saw one coming to leave immediately. There was a metro station nearby that we planned would be our escape if necessary. The metro in Caracas is very easy to use and a great way to get across the city. We walked around the plaza and it seemed safe. There was some sort of political meeting that was about to start. It looked like a speaker was expected and everyone was sitting in benches in red and yellow t-shirts waiting for ...