Posada Viejo Apartaderos Merida

... site next door. After a couple of hours again it was all systems go and off we set for the town of Merida once again. Surprise, we actually made it today and managed to park in front of the tourist office. Here we got more good news; the main reason for coming to this town was to go on the cable car of teleferico, the longest and highest in the world. It is a two hour ride giving spectacular views around. It is also shut for the next six months whilst they are replacing the main ...

Hola chicos y chicas! It's been almost a week now that I am in Merida, and the time I spent here has been amazing! Merida is situated at 1300 m. of altitude, in the middle of the venezuelian Andes, and thus is surrounded by mountains. And of course if there are mountains, there are a lot of options for extreme sports! You all know me, I'm not the type of person who is going to jump out of the plane for the sake of excitment, but I do enjoy some new and funny activities! A ...

... kind of treck while we are here, but I´m quite worried about altitude sickness, as word on the street is, its not cool, so yesterday we did a sort of aclimatisation climb, which I will let Brig tell you about. It was amazing though, even if I did almnost die on the way up of exhaustion. Imo was very patient with me though even when I was climbing up at about the pace of a crippled baby. But in my defence: anyone reading this who was at PG ...

... on a bus travelling through Venezuela to get here and I´m not going back! Seemed to work, he gave me entry for 30 days and not the previous 90 days. PHEW. A hellish taxi ride through the worst streets and town of Cucuto to the airport, slightly late, but just in time. In the departure lounge I sat down and finally found myself looking forward to something - seeing my friends in Bogota. Finally being able to see someone I know, speak Eng and not having to plan anything. GREAT!

... I guess there is such a huge middle class (albeit diverse) that it is not surprising. I decided to travel back with Molly, an American girl who came canyoning with us, who was to drive up north to the Zulia state wtih her friends a day later. That evening we went to Coromoto again (the icecream parlour with 900 flavours)...and then on to a couple of local bars/clubs with her friends and a couple of local friends I had made in Merida during my time here ...

... and highly prized bird called a northern screamer which looks rather like a heron sized ostrich that can fly. We also came across a family skinning a couple of iguanas while a cat watched with eager anticipation. Another example of a national park not doing its job. We stopped in a lovely placid river of black (yes, black) water on the way back to look for butterflies and Alan caught a blue morpho, and we saw the brilliant blue sub-species that he discovered.

... 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.

... One group member informs me that Cesar just finished telling them that the last guide got a rash from swimming in the water, right before they all pulled up and saw me bathing in it. And one of the workers at our cabin asked me three different times if I had taken a shower yet. Needless to say, I scrubbed vigourously. I haven´t spent that much time in the shower since I was 12, if you know what I mean. And if you´re curious ...

... of Smallville. Classics everyone of them. They also show gameshows which are slightly surreal and difficult to understand even if you speak the language, they go on for what seem like hours and sporadically, for no visible reason what so ever random scantily clad females will come out and do a dance routine. Then at the end they all come out together and do one big routine as the credits roll. They are about 4 or 5 different shows and I can't quite make ...

... forward to a chicken flavoured ice cream just so that he could say "mmm tastes like chicken". Simple things people, simple things. With no idea when either will reopen I have signed up for a weeks intensive spanish course in the hope that I will be able to understand Andy´s Chilean family in 2 months time. In the meantime we are already planning tonights alcohol consumption and are looking forward to a good nights sleep in the quiet uneventful town of Merida. Yaaaaay.