Well I have finally arrived in South America. Can't say its the best start as i'm full of a cold and suffering a little with a bad knee. Still things could certainly be a LOT worse. I arrived safely in Venezuela after 15 hours travelling time and decided not to head into Caracas itself - far too much trouble there at the moment and by all accounts not very much to see either. So given that it didn't have a lot going for it I decided to give it a miss.

I have instead made my way directly to the coast to a small place called Catia La Mar. Once again there's not really very much going on here, but its generally safer than Caracas and its a reasonable place to rest for a couple of days (try and get rid of this cold) before I start the journey westwards towards Coro and then on to Merida.

Its looking like I will have EVERY opportunity to work on my Spanish as i've yet to meet anyone who speaks any English. This is definately a good thing as it doesn't give me any chance to be lazy in trying to learn the language. Learning Spanish had been one of the key objectives of the trip to Spain last month. However, during the month in Palafrugell I spent a total of 1 hour working on my Spanish and a total of 'every day' drinking beer! A lot of fun but didn't really do very much for my language development. I'm hoping that being able to order 'Dos Cervezas' will be enough to get me through the first few weeks until I can expand my vocabulary :-)

Posted by Russ Jones at 4:04 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)

Well so soon into the trip and i've already changed plans! Plan 'A' was to head along the coast up to Coro stopping at various places along the way. However, given that i'm still full of a cold and would want to dive at these places (not a good idea with a continual cough!) ive decided to run to the hills. I was having a bit of trouble getting out of Catia La Mar for any reasonable price if I wanted to head west along the coast - lots of mountains in the way.

So what i've done is caught a flight out to Merida up in the Andes. Seems to be a very chilled place to hang out and a VERY different feel than Catia La Mar (read: it feels safe). First thing that caught my eye was the number of VW Beetles knocking around the places (can't be all bad then - check out the Car Photo Gallery for completed pictures of mine! ) and the large number of huge gas-guzzlers that look like a cross between 'Pimp My Ride' and 'Scrapheap Challenge'.

Not made any firm plans here yet, but i'm thinking that quite a bit of work on my Spanish wouldn't go amiss and Paragliding is pretty popular here so i'll probably give that a go too.

Its only day 1 in Merida but its made a favourable impression so far, might just hole up here for a while. I'll probably head back to the coast later in the trip when i'm fit to dive.

Posted by Russ Jones at 11:32 PM | Permalink

Well i'm still in Merida and it looks like I might just stay for a while longer. A very relaxed place lots of traditional squares and parks to hang out in. Excellent climate hot but not humid (cool mountain breezes.)

I've already been to talk to one of the local language schools and i'm planning to spend the next couple of weeks (at least) trying to learn some lingo! The only problem with that is that I kind of shot myself in the foot (not literally mum - nothin to worry about really) with my arrival card into Venezuela. I had expected to spend 3 or 4 week in Venezuela so I wrote 5 weeks (just to be on the safe side, I thought) on the arrival card. However, i've been here about a week already, 2 or 3 weeks language course, a week exploring the area around Merida - Los llanos and Los Nevados. Thats a month in Merida alone which doesn't leave an awful lot of time to see the rest of the country!

So, although I had said that I probably wouldn't be going to Colombia... my how 'plans' change! I'll wait another few weeks yet as I don't have to be out of Venezuela until the end of November. Then its a few buses down to the Colombian border 'stamp-stamp' out to Colombia 'stamp-stamp' back into Venezuela and then I can get on with the rest of the country. I'll keep you posted on that one anyway.

The good news is that my cold has almost gone and I should be in a better state to get out into the mountains and wander about a bit soon.

Posted by Russ Jones at 4:54 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

Went on a Paragliding trip yesterday, which was absolutely incredible. From Merida we drove for just over an hour up into the Andes.

Paragliding in the Andes

The jump off point was around 3000m asl, way up in the clouds. I say jump off point because I was a little suprised by the take off area. I've seen quite a few Paragliders back in the uk, they frequently fly around Holmemoss (a local site in the UK) and typically they have a decent run along a mild descent to get air borne. However we were approximately 4m from a cliff edge - a LONG way up! The guides advice was "Just run over the edge, don't jump, just keep running DO NOT stop! "

Well fortunately it seemed to work ok and we were soon airborne. An amazing feeling which I won't even try to put into words. Soared around the peakes of The Andes for just over half an hour before landing some 1500m below - Landed safely and with a HUGE smile which keeps coming back every time I think about the experience.

Posted by Russ Jones at 5:27 PM | Permalink | Comments (8)

Having realised that a better grip of the Spanish language would be a VERY good thing, i've enrolled at a local language school. I've opted to spend the next 3 weeks studying hard in the vain hope that i'll also be able to order some food to go with my 2 beers :-)

I went down for a TEST this morning and came out as a level 2 student! Although not exactly sure what that means, I assume it means that I know what a verb is and have some vague idea about where it should go in a sentence. Anyway classes start on Monday so i'd better go and sharpen my pencils!

I assume that i'll have little to report over the next few weeks as i'll be head down in the books!

Just incase anyone was wondering exactly where Merida is, have a look in the map section over on the right :-)

I forgot to mention that Merida has the worlds longest and highest cable car system (teleferico) at 12.5 km long and 4765m to the top! Just though you might want to know - you never know when that will come up in a pub quiz :-)

Posted by Russ Jones at 5:28 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

This is the first trip that i've ever bothered to bring a mobile phone. However, i've since discovered that South America does not have any International roaming agreements with Europe. Which obviously means that my mobile phone is useless in its primary function - however, it does make a useful alarm clock and calendar (always a silver lining eh!)

Apologies if anyone has been waiting for a response to any text messages - I simply can't get them. Once again it all comes down to good old email :-)

Posted by Russ Jones at 5:01 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

Well I have to say that the Spanish class in pretty heavy going. Somehow, i've progressed from level 2 to level 3 (I have no idea how!). Its all rather intense though as absolutely EVERYTHING is in Spanish - the books, the notes and all class discussion and explanation! I just hope that some of it is sinking in.

By the end of the day, after 4 hours of pure Spanish my brain has gone into shut down and I usually leave the school with a headache and no desire to speak for the rest of the day! Although I still have homework to complete.

I've still got the afternoon class ahead of me and I'm not really looking forward to it! I'm sure i'll appreciate the fruits of my studies once i've 'served my time'.

Got to go, I think I hear the school bell .... Ding, ding! Round Two!

Posted by Russ Jones at 6:43 PM | Permalink

Well its been a few days since i've written anything and thats because i've been well away from the Internet connected world. As was quickly becoming clear (and probably showed in the last posting) the Spanish class was a little on the intense side and so I decided to complete a week there and then take some time to absorb what i'd learned AND more importantly, put it into practice. I came to the conclusion that I can probably get by using the present, future and past tense without having to dig into the hazy world of the subjunctive.

So I left Merida and set off to Los Llanos some 10 hours drive away - Where I´ve spent the last four days. Los Llanos is in the region on Apure, south west of San Fernando (have a look at the map section to get an idea of where that is). Its a huge area of swamp/marsh land that is very sparsely inhabited (at least be humans). It is however densely populated by a huge variety of wildlife. Including THOUSANDS of bird species, large families of Capibara (imagine a 50 -70kg Rat - only a little cuter), Anteaters, Caiman, Alligators, Turtles, River Dolphins, Piraña, Anaconda (no sign of J.Lo though). It really is a long list!

Capibara (From the Rat Family)

Quite an amazing place, i´ll try and post some pictures soon. We had a bit of unecessary drama when one of the guides decided to catch a large alligator for us. This basically involves trying to lasoo the poor thing, before tying its jaws closed with a boot lace and then sitting on its back to hold its head down while pulling its legs behind its back WWF style (thats World Wrestling Federation DEFINATELY NOT World Wildlife Fund). I was never entirely sure what the purpose of the exercise was, but I don't think it was greatly appreciated by the other people on the tour and i'm quite certain the Alligator didn't appreciate it! The only thing more challenging that catching an Alligator is how to release it again once you've really annoyed it. It raises questions such as 'who is getting off its back last?','How do we get that bootlace off its jaws?' and 'Where do you run to in a swamp?' Suffice to say I was quite glad we weren't in a rubber dingy (I think you know what I mean Rick :-))

Alligator

As our guides seemed to be 'on a roll' with ambushing the local critters, we went in search of an Anaconda. Now these really do take some finding, there are lots of them around, but they are very good at not being seen (unless you happen to be lunch). After a few hours we did eventually find one lurking at the bottom of a pool and it wasn't long before our very own Venezuelan Steve Irwin had it by the tail and was dragging it out. It was certainly a decent size, i'd say 3 -4 meters. I did get a few photos here so I will try and add them to the site soon.

Pirana (Lunch)

Other highlights of the Los Llanos experience included a horse trek through the swamps (desperately hoping that my 'trusty steed' would manage to avoid standing on anything that really didn't want standing on - i.e. Alligators or Anaconda!) Piraña fishing, although my personal attempt was more along the lines of a conservation effort as I didn't succeed in catching any Piraña, but did manage to feed them large amounts of meat from a big hook. Fortunately, the team effort brought in 9 fish which later joined us for dinner.

I managed to offset the discomfort of three night sleeping in a hammock with a fine balance of local beer. All in all 4 great days and a great group to share the experience with.

Posted by Russ Jones at 10:01 PM | Permalink

After the excitement of 'wrestling' gators and anacondas I decided that a bit of time by the coast would be a good idea - a chance to relax a while and so together with Inge & Caroline (Belgium) and Roger (Switzerland) I headed north to Tucacas.

Tucacas is one of two coastal towns that face out to the Marine National Park of Morrocoy. Obviously my plan was to do a few days diving here before continuing onwards. As it turned out the diving was VERY disappointing. The first dive had visibility of less than 2 meters and once we had made our way around the island to where the visibility improved, there really wasn't that much to see anyway. Maybe i've been spoiled by my other dive destinations, but the opinion was also shared by a couple of friends - one who had around 5 dives and one who had not dived for 10 years. So as it was, 1 day diving here was plenty for me I will save it for another place (maybe Mochima).

At least the 3 days in Tucacas gave me chance to catch up on some of the domestic chores such as laundry - much to the relieve of my room mates i'm sure :-)

Posted by Russ Jones at 2:35 PM | Permalink

Like most of the other cities in Venezuela, Coro has taken the 'Milton Keynes' approach to town planning and is layed out in a simple grid that makes finding anywhere very easy. As its UNESCO World Heritage award would indicate, Coro has a large number of Colonial buildings and it has been one of the more pleasant cities i've experienced during my stay so far.

Yesterday we ventured up the peninsular for around an hour to visit one of the beaches. Pleasant enough, but not a great beach. I'm hoping things will improve on the beach front when I head further eastward (possibly at Mochima.)

Some friends who were staying at the same Posada (Hostel) as us had been out visiting the local sand dunes the day before and two young guys had robbed them of everything at gun point. Fortunately nobody was hurt, but I am reliably informed that having a gun stuck against the back of your head is something that is best avoided whilst in Venezuela! This was still in my mind as I walked to the ATM this morning.

Anyway, I leave Coro tonight on an overnight bus (18 hours journey time) heading for Pueta La Cruz and hopefully nicer beaches and better diving at Mochima.

Posted by Russ Jones at 4:51 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Well, its been a while since i've written anything, but all is still well. After I left Coro (over a week ago), I was heading to Mochima - however I didn't get there. So where have I been for over a week? In short the answer is that i've been sitting on a beach drinking copious amount of VERY CHEAP Rum (paying around 2 GBP per litre!). I am after all travelling along the Caribean coast where drinking lots of Rum is a way of life for many and i'm a great believer in trying to 'fit in' :-)

I arrived in Santa Fe some 20km from Mochima with the intention of spending a day or two before moving on, however, "best laid plans" and all that, I met a great bunch of new friends and a week just sailed on by.

Eventually managing to drag myself away from the beach of Santa Fe on a mission to reach the beach of Medina (quite a way west heading out on the penisula that leads to Trinidad.) I had hoped to make it all the way to the village of Rio Caribe last night and then take the next hop on to Medina this morning. However, as it was we arrived in Carupano (some 30mins short of Rio Caribe) at night fall and couldn't find any onward transport and after wandering the dodgy back streets of Carupano in the dark (carrying all my worldly goods - fortunately i'd forgotten to wear my "Please Rob Me" T-Shirt) we eventually found a hotel for the night (much relief.)

Today we made the next short hop from Carupano to Rio Caribe only to find that the pickups to Medina only run in the morning! So, its a night in Rio Caribe and tomorrow (all being well) should see us back on a beach in Medina.

Medina Beach

Posted by Russ Jones at 10:31 PM | Permalink

Just returned from a couple of days at Medina beach and what a fantastic beach it really is, just picture postcard stuff. So now i'm back in Rio Caribe for one day before we leave for San Juan De Las Galdonas. San Juan is a small fishing town and its there that we will sit out Sundays elections. The general advice seems to be to find a secure Posada (Guest House), stock up, stay inside and avoid the big cities. Things are expected to 'kick off'!

By accounts they have already started to post army and police to the towns ready for Sunday. Could be interesting!

Posted by Russ Jones at 10:06 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

Well as it turned out all was reasonably calm for the elections - can't vouch for Caracas, but it was certainly peaceful enough in San Juan. Myelf and Krista (Canadian) were the only tourists in town. Perhaps a little too quiet.

I'd planned to start heading South towards Ciudad Bolivar and Krista was heading East to Puerto Colombia. Puerto Colombia was the first place i'd wanted to visit, but because of the flight to Merida I never made it there - so instead of going south, I ditched my plans and set off for Puerto Colombia with Krista. Well worth the long trek west (again), a real chilled out little village with a great beach. This seems to have been the pattern for the last month!

I spent 5 days in Puerto Colombia, usual 'routine' - beach all day, a bit of Rum in the evening and then maybe a night swim (often interesting with a belly full of Rum and some scarey surf!). The only problem that surfaced at Puerto Colombia was with my right ear which was becoming increasingly painful.

After leaving Krista and Puerto Colombia, I spent 1 night in Maracay before making the long trek back to Cumana in the east to continue my trip were I left it. West - East - West - East, basically i've been zig-zagging backwards and forwards, but will start the journey south soon enough.

In Cumana I met up with Dayana (Venezuela) and Nataly (Venezuela) who i'd met earlier at Medina beach. By now my ear was causing a LOT of discomfort (and loss of hearing) so I decided to join Dayana on her day trip to Margarita Island (Christmas Shopping) and we agreed to visit the hospital whilst we were there. Turns out both ears are infected, the right one much worse than the left (its never a good sign when the doctor takes a look at something and says "Eewwwhhh!"). Diagnosed with Otitis and i've been prescribed 10 days of antibiotics after which i'll then need a check up to see how things have progressed. So it looks like i'll be in Cumana for some time to come, maybe even for Christmas.

Posted by Russ Jones at 7:10 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)

Well its been 5 days on Antibiotics now and the good news is that my ears are starting to get better, the pain has gone and I can almost hear things again. The down side is that I missed out on a couple of big drinking sessions/parties at the beach (a small price to pay). I will of course be celebrating the completion of my medication with a large crate of beer on Saturday night :-)

I'm currently in Cumana which has turned out to be a very good base to visit the surrounding area. Yesterday Mochima beach, the day before Araya Peninsular and possibly tomorrow the caves at Caripe (if we can get the car fixed - its an old Range Rover - good British Engineering should be no problem!).

For the last few days i've been staying with a friend that I met at Medina beach, Dayana, her two daughters (Ana and Whitnefer), Mother, Brother and the rest of the family. They very kindly invited me to stay with them for Christmas - so it looks like i'm in for a Venezuelan Christmas.

When I first arrived in Venezuela I expected to be here for 3 or 4 week, i've already been here 7 and i'm not out of the country yet! On arrival I wrote 31/11/06 as my departure date, I hope I don't have any trouble at the border trying to leave.

Posted by Russ Jones at 7:03 PM | Permalink

A few friends from Medina Beach. The morning after the night before. All smiles through one hell of a hangover! Apologies for the washed out picture (its not mine) but it was just too damn bright and too damn hot!

L to R: Chuck, Nataly, Russ, Krista, Gregory. Front: Dayana.

Posted by Russ Jones at 8:16 PM | Permalink

Well i´ve finally managed to track down a card reader for my camera, so AT LAST i´ve been able to transfer some pictures into the gallery.

VENEZUELA PHOTOS

Hope you enjoy. Merry Christmas Everyone.

Posted by Russ Jones at 6:06 PM | Permalink | Comments (7)

Rapidly approaching Christmas, the ears feel like they are now better (i'm hoping to get to the doctors this afternoon for a final check up) and i'm most definately ready for a beer or two! Its been good living with Dayana and her family. Its given me a chance to see a slightly different side of Venezuelan life that I would otherwise have missed.

I've decided that I will leave Cumana on the 27th December. This year i'll make sure that I stay in doors and out of any trouble for Boxing Day (keep an eye on the news for any natural disasters hitting Venezuela!). From Cumana ill be heading Southbound (finally) towards Brasil - taking in Angel Falls and The Grand Sabana on the way.

Posted by Russ Jones at 5:06 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Well after 2 weeks in Cumana I was more than ready to get moving again and the next hop was a bus journey 12 hours southbound to Ciudad Bolivar. Had great trouble trying to find somewhere to stay. Not too much to commend the city as by 6pm EVERYTHING is closed, there are no options to get food and the almost deserted streets become quite sinister. I found this out the hard way by venturing out at 8pm in the vain hope of finding some dinner!

Having left the guesthouse I made my way down the dark streets to where I believed there was a restaurant. Half way down one of the streets I became aware of 7 or 8 bodies that appeared to be settled into their respective doorways for the night. Worse was that they became aware of me! I heard several calls of "Gringo!" and carried on through 'the gauntlet' - half expecting to get jumped upon, I was very happy to reach the end of the street. At full speed I made my way to the restaurant only to find it closed (along with everything else). Not wanting to venture back up 'Muggers Alley' I took a large detour (not necessarily any safer) to get back to the guesthouse.

What Ciudad Bolivar does have going for it is that its a jumping off point for access the Canaima National Park and Angel Falls. Within 3 hours of arriving here i'd already booked my exit in the form of a 3 day trip to Canaima/Angel Falls.

Posted by Russ Jones at 4:18 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

I guess its one of the cannot miss sights of Venezuela so I booked myself a tour. If nothing else it got me out of Ciudad Bolivar! Canaima National Park is only accessible by flight (or maybe a VERY long boat journey). In my case, we drove for 3 hours to the small airfield at La Paragua and then caught a 20 minute flight to the park. A bit of a blunder on behalf of the tour operator as our group was of 6 people and the aircraft would only fit 4 (plus the pilot and some food supplies). This caused us a little delay in beginning the onward trip as the pilot had to make a return flight to collect the rest of our party.

The Plane

Once we were all in Canaima, the journey began, it was to be 3 days by motorised canoe with two nights spent at different camps. Canaima (the 'village') is set on a beautiful lagoon with accompaying palm trees and waterfalls.

A little cramped!

These falls were to be our first stop, with a chance to walk behind Hacha falls. Followed by three hours boat travel to the first camp. Unfortunately the delayed start meant that the last 30-40 minutes of the first leg were completed in the dark. What I hadn't been expecting was the degree of rapids we would have to deal with, in a rather unstable canoe, with low water (lots of protruding rocks) and in the dark! Still full credit to the boatman (who must have been navigating using 'the force'), we arrived at camp 1 safely after an exciting first leg.

Our Transport

After a night in a hammock we were up and off on day two with greater rapids to contend with. At least we had daylight on our side this time! Late morning brought us to camp 2 where we would spend our second night. The camp was only an hours walk from the Angel Falls. As we arrived at the camp we had our first sight of Angel Falls, which was unfortunately covered in clouds!!

I'm VERY pleased to report that the clouds were short lived and it wasn't too long before the blue skies broke through to give great views of Angel Falls. I took plenty of photos which i've already uploaded to the Venezuela Gallery. However here's a few for the blog:

Posted by Russ Jones at 4:23 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)