Posada Los Bucares de Merida

... nectar. The climb itself was challenging as we both struggled to breathe in the high altitude as we scrambled over bolders. Once we were closer to the next camp than our previous, I figured I needed more of a challenge, so I dislocated my knee. The climb was worth it! The paramo was incredible with its contrasting resiliant plants and stubby trees and fragile-looking flowers. The leaves of the tough plants are covered in a thick fuzz to protect ...

... year´s eve day, that was absolutely AMAZING!!! the scenery was spectacular, way up in the mountain´s were i got to see the mountain´s, river´s and the hole city. I will never forget that. Unfortunately i really haft to go now, but i have a story about Cannoning, look it up and next time i will lat you know.( I WILL NEVER DO IT AGAIN) a little hint. hope everyone is doing well, and i will talk to you soon, till then tack care Nicole,

... A4 printouts glued to first floor windows everywhere. Shoe shops are on every corner. How much does a Chinese pair of all plastic shoes will cost you, in case you forgot to pick them up from a street market in New York for $10 - anywhere between $35-$80. It looks poor. The town looks poor despite the expensive cars and freshly repainted haciendas here and there. The street fashion has not changed in decades, I bet. All, I mean, all women are ...

From the bus station I got a taxi to the first pousada mentioned in the guide book: Pousada Alamania Suisa. Asked the driver to stop at an ATM so I could get some cash as I didn´t have enough for the taxi. After 4 unsuccessfull attempts (the machine asks for the last 2 digits of your ID - which in our case has nothing to do with our bank card) the driver took me to the airport´s cambio de exchange. A short que, but inefficient service meant queing for 40 min, keeping my eye ...

... heron, the capped heron, great egret and flocks of the cattle egret. On the lake itself we found a couple of pink river dolphins who proved to be very shy, and a very sick caiman - apparently an unprecedented sight on the lake. The lake itself is vast, a muddy brown and dotted with water lilies. Lightning Alan is a butterfly expert with a new sub-species of the blue morpho to his credit, but he has also made quite a study of the catatumbo lightning ...

... and step into the cold water. Along the route we navigate 3 waterfalls, 1 of 10 meters, 1 of 20m and the final one of 35m. Not particularly high, but difficult due to being wet and getting wetter as we absail down under the water, cascading off the top. Along the way there are natural water slides, high rocks to jump off, into pools below - these pools look really shallow and with rocks either side, Rachel is a little warry of jumping off, so ...

... Catatumbo lightning tour, the one we were to cheap to pay for the first time. It costs the two of of us 800,000 bolivares (Arassari gave us a deal out of pity), not to mention the 640,000 bolivares we paid for the first tour and another whole day in a friggin´ jeep. I know, ouch. This time, our guide`s Cesar, a Spaniard who hates Venezuela´s food, music and litter problem. He´s also discovered over 70 species of frog and knew ...

... to let us in as the owner was out somewhere else. However a nice German girl who was staying there heard us and let us in and we waited for Ricardo the owner to return so we could check into our reserved room. The girl who let us in was on her last two weeks of her year long tour around Sth. America with her boyfriend. Seeing how we were at the start of our year long trip we asked her a few questions about where she had been and what places she liked the most etc. One of the things ...

... microwave with it constantly swaying about for some reason. The next day we understandably slept in and wandered out late afternoon to buy some fresh food to cook, which by the time we got back couldn´t be bothered to cook so instead ate left over peanuts and went to bed watching cable. Ahh the hectic schedule of the traveller. Got up nice and early this morning to check out the Zoo and the botanical gardens which were small enough to only take up ...