Venezuela

We´re having a great time so far - but WOW is it hot!!

Our group is quite a mix of people. We have our guide (who is my age) Leticia is half Spanish half French. Then in the group there is us, our 3 South African Friends Steve, Lance & Shelly. Then there are 3 Canadians, 1 German, 1 Floridian, and a couple from Hawaii.

Caracas was fine, but quite a big city. Just loud & busy & bit dirty. Our first day we just met the group, had a few beers, dinner and got the game plan and schedule from our guide.

Day 2 - we did our first all day bus trip. Dramas straight away - the lovely German girl in our group showed up at the hotel without her bag - the airline misplaced it, and then she also forgot her passport at the hotel and didn´t realise until we got to the bus station. Thankfully when she went back quickly with the guide it was still there! Oh and there was supposed to be 2 other people in our group, I guess they are young (24?) and had a fight so decided not to come - but they already paid!! Oh well, good for the group to only have 13 including the guide, seems to be an ok size. SO Day 2 we did an all day bus ride. Our first exposure to ICE COLD South American bus travel!! Holy cow - I had on a t-shirt, thick socks, long trousers, a long sleeve long underwear top and my jacket, and I was still cold. NICE bus though, super reclining chairs and leg rests - like business on a plane really. And they had movies... although it was all in Spanish. But they were Jet Li kung fu movies - so not too hard to just follow along by watching them. It took us 7 hour to get to Puerto La Cruz.

Then we hopped into cabs - we got the 90´s party cab. The driver had a REALLY great 90´s mix cd - Guns & Roses, No Doubt, Counting Crows, etc etc. Lance bet Shelly, Murray and I that we couldn´t guess the next song - so Murray guess REM - losing my religion. And wouldn´t you know - it wasn´t the next song - but the one after! Too funny. It was dark when we drove out to Sante Fe (about a 45 min cab) so we couldn´t really see where we were going to or the landscape, but it was a crazy road with many turns and the cab driver seems to love tail gaiting - scary!

The hotel i.e. posada looked bleak in the dark. Just as the lonely planet describes it - prison like with it´s bars and barbed wire - but RIGHT on the beach. We got a huge room with a double and a single bed and our own bathroom AND air conditioning though so I was HAPPY!

Day 3 - got up and OH MY GOSH - wow - beautiful. Our pasada - Pasada Sierra Inn - was RIGHT on the beach. And across the beach - stunning mountains, blue water and WARM! Oh and I can´t forget the cute little dog that lives at the posada - a poodle named Casandra. They decribe this place as caribbean like - and I would say that´s right on the money! Had a lovely breakfast of fresh pineapple juice and sliced fruit, then we all headed off for a day exploring beaches around the Mochima National Park by boat. We went to 4 different beaches, swam a ton, did a bit of snorkeling and just relaxing in the water- wow was it nice. We stopped for a very greasy and expensive lunch, but at least the restaurant was in a stunning location. A giant iguana watched over us from a treetop as we ate.

That evening we BBQed at the posada, fresh fish from the market (tuna we think?) along with rice and salsa that we made with some veggies & tomato sauce. That along with local cervezas made for a great night!

Day 4 (today) we got up early in anticipation of another long bus ride to Ciudad Bolivar. A bus showed up at the posada to drive us, then he told our guide that although we were paying double for the ride (cause of all the bags), he was still going to go pick other people up. She argued, he insisted, so finally she said fine - go pick them up and be quick about it. Then... he never came back! She eventually arranged another open back bus - well really like a covered back of a pickup with benches to pick us up, but we had to do it in 2 shifts cause there are so many of us & tons of bags, thankfully it was only a 10 minute drive. We then had to take a large van to the bus station, we were all worried that we had missed the bus as we arrive 20 minutes after it was due to leave. Thankfully though the bus was also running late, a blown tire or something, so it arrived just after we did! Thank goodness cause otherwise we would have had to wait til 2 (we had the 9am bus) - NO FUN! The ride was only about 6 hours (helped by the movies on our laptop - WOW is that anice luxury to have with)! We did get stopped at one point by a lady who came on and said we all had to have proof of a couple of shots, immunizations, or we would have to have them then & there. We showed her our books, and she was satisfied that the whole group was ok - strange! Works for me!

Now, we are in Ciudad Bolivar. The town is CUTE! Lots of pastel painted buidings, a gorgeous cathedral and it´s right on the river where you can see a huge suspension bridge. Only bad thing, like everywhere we have seen around Venezuela - rubbish i.e. garbage all over the place! These people do not know how to use a bin! We went down to the river and looked over and there were thousands of bottles and it stunk like old beer - gross. When we went swimming yesterday we had to be careful as you´d sometimes find glass and junk in the water. Ít´s a real shame cause the country is just SO beautiful!

Oh well. Oh and TODAY is our friend Steve´s 35th Birthday! Shame he has a stomach bug so can´t celebrate today:( We´ll keep the tequila shots for later on once he is feeling better. We are being as careful as we can be about what we eat and drink. Only bottled filtered water, avoiding most meat other than fish, etc. But I supposed it´s inevitable that everyone will get sick at some point - not looking forward to that.

Tomorrow we leave EARLY to fly to Angel Falls. We will be there for 3 days and 2 nights, doing hikes, riding down the river on a barge, and walking behind the waterfalls oh and swimming of COURSE! I can´t wait! We had to go buy another bag today, just a small backpack to bring with for our clothing - good thing it´s cheap here!

The money situation in Venezuela is so strange at the moment! If you exchange US dollars at the bank you get 2,500 bolivars per dollar, but if you trade on the black market you get 4,500!!! At the hotel where we are now they are actually offering 4,800 - amazing! Apparently this is the only country like that though, also the only one where you cannot draw US dollars from an ATM, so we´re using up all our dollars now in order to get the best rate on things.

ANYHOW, I will try and get some photos up once we get back from Angel Falls:)

Oh and wishing a VERY happy birthday to my Grandpa Don who turned 90 yesterday!