Posada Cara Del Sol Merida

... holding onto trees or anything else.. I survived the trip with some rope burn which got badly infected, and a bruised ankle because I jumped into the water and hit my foot on a submerged rock. You´d think growing up along a river would drill it into my head not to jump into water that you can´t see the bottom of.. but no.. not me. A few days afterwards we all went on the Los Llanos tour. Our guide was a Barbados dude who acted like Steve Irwin.. he jumped off the ...

... means we don't have to suffer a night bus back to Caracas the day before we fly down to Argentina. In addition to the problems organising Angel Falls we have had other issues to contend with too, particularly around money. Venezuela has a black market for changing cash. The rate you get on the black market is around 75%+ higher than what you would get with the national exchange rate, i.e. from a bank/cash machine (official rate for 1US to 2.5BF whereas on the black ...

... the Light of Maracaibo, since the boats which they furrowed the zone could sail during the night without problems at the time of navigation to candle. It has an annual occurrence of 140 to 160 nights, lasting up to 10 hours per night and taking place up to 280 unloadings per hour. In addition, these electrical storms anywhere in the world produce a 10% of all the generated ozone layer reason why the lightning of the Catatumbo can be ...

... chicken and rice, which is the typical caribbean meal. Spaghetti bolagnase tonight though - but unfortunately wont be as good as mums! In the night, Matty, Jess, some Danish guy and myself headed back to get some Ice cream, they had the wierdest flavours you could imagine! Hundreds to name, but we had a variety of things... Cerveza, Rum, Sangria, Sambucca, Cheese, Shrimp (yep, you heard right), liquor de Coco, Jurrasic park (?) and red wine. The ...

... compound this, the main reason I came to Merida was to go up in the highest cable car in the world. I tried in vain to get a ticket but this is a seriously popular ride (loads of Venezuelans and Colombians come here especially). Queued for hours left and came back again but no joy. Time to move on I think so catching the local bus to the main bus terminal I booked my bus ticket outa here. It leaves tomorrow night at 9.30pm and goes straight to Ciudad Bolivar (the main town to ...

... like some kind of hebe. The colour scheme was similar to the Central Plateau. I was surprised to see hummingbirds. It took longer than we had thought but we finally got to Los Nevados and stayed at a very poorly built place with a beautiful view over a very steep valley (on which the tiny township perches precariously), and which included dinner and breakfast and - this rarest of things - a hot shower for $20. Hot water is fast moving to the top of my list of 'things ...

... Lauren, a really nice girl who has been living in Englnd for a while. We all loved it. The jumping was a bit much for the girls but they did the absailing off the waterfall down 93 feet!! Really cool but really tough! Other than this in Merida we were walking along and bumped into Vera and her sister!! Because of the camera there was some animosity between her and Sarah, we had an ice cream together but I ...

... the lake in a stilted house, where do you think it goes?¨ ¨Why go through the charade of having a bathroom and toilet then, why not just a hole?¨ (We hear the same splash. Sara shakes her head, feeling deceived). Ingrid again joins us on the deck and in a rare moment of honesty for a tour guide on an inferior tour, tells us the lightning´s better at the village of El Congo. Knowing we blew this one, Sara and I nod our heads in ...

... has blown out! Is weird that we were in very humid temperatures about an hour ago and now in freezing cold. Fortunately we have our Siberian gear with us so are prepared! Have to drink loads of water to avoid altitude sickness (some of the kids are having oxygen administered in the first aid room) having had it in Quito (forgot to mention that before = v bad migraines and sickness) Get back ...

... out of town, and then up into the hills. Up and up we went, zig-zagging up the mountain, until, several miles past the point where I thought "ok, that´s high enough", we stopped and unloaded the gear. There were two instructors and two paragliders ("wings" to those of us in the know). I and the swiss guy would go up with the instructors (pilots?captains?skippers?) first, after which we would come to land at the same spot, then Andrea and the swiss girl would go ...