Posada Turistica Tabay Merida

- Up about 7 am today having had a good nights sleep, the first thing was to go over the road to a tyre repair man to get the tyre fixed. It transpired that the valve fitting had pinched the tyre and blown the inner tube so we had to get a new one fitted. We also had to swap the tyres as our spare is not in as good a condition as the rest. Whilst winching the spare back up the hook that holds the wheel snapped and so we ended up getting a new one welded out of reinforcing rod at a ...

... me back in as I´m gonna try and jump the border tomorrow so I don't have to pay departure tax. Sounds worse than it is...as long as I get my Colombian entry stamp I should be fine...fingers crossed. Ive had a great night tonight sitting in my hotel all (stones throw from the border); feeling a little under the weather after 9 hours traveling. 2 bottles of coke, Hawaiian pizza not another living soul. Sometimes alone time is necessary. Sheer Bliss....(no offence, Pete).

... to climb up there" and I agree but know I would probs die of exhaustion along the way.... The hostel is really nice, as are the people in it. At breakfast on the 1st morning, Imo and I got chatting with this old german man who describes himself as a "professional vagabond" (which obvs makes him a hero), and has apparently been "vagabonding all over the world since ´95" (his words!). Best of all, his name is Ruddolf. We have decided we want to do ...

... 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 ...

... lunch back at the hostel with the other canyoners...I tried to find some bus tickets back to Caracas. There was absolutely nothing for the next few days as all the Venezuelan tourists had to journey back home in time to start work again after the holidays. It´s incredible how many Venezuelans travel during Christmas. You see family after family making the most of their time off. It´s the first time I have seen local tourism to such a great extent in Latin ...

... 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 ...

... man aus dem boot faellt, wird nicht uebersetzt...). wir sind aber furchtlos und setzen uns mit den anderen ins schlauchboot. die fahrt ist sehr abwechslungsreich: wirklich reissendes gewaesser, erstaunliche vegetation am ufer, kuehe und spektakuleare landschaft. angenehm angestrengt kommen wir nach fast einer stunde fahrt und zwoelf kilometer weiter unten am fluss an und werden zurueck in unsere unterkunft gebracht. dort geniessen wir wiederrum eine absolut geniale aussicht ...

... 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 ...

... Sushi! Encouraged by our good fortune we set out to explore the town only to find that the worlds highest and longest cable car and what we thought would be the highlight of our stay here and gateway to the peaks is closed for maintenance along with the ice cream shop, Coromoto, which is in the Guinness book of records for having the largest number of ice cream flavours (900 plus). Why they are both closed for maintenance at the same time is beyond me, Andy was really ...