19 - 21 March Merida

11 hours in the back of the Land Rover this time but luckily a cooler trip as we careered around the mountains. We had three cars to spread across this time rather than two but we didn't want to lose anyone from ours so we ended up still with 8 in the back. Ha. A few more riddles from Francois and then we tried to do the 'guess the song' round from Never Mind The Buzzcocks. Francois came close to being ejected from the car by an incensed Dane who didn't appreciate his repeated renditions of a high pitched Pixies track. Ha.

Convoyyyyy


Francois passing the time by giving me a foot massage. Nice.


When the car behind has it's bonnet flip up when doing 80kmph, just stop and tie it on


Lisa enjoyed eating this. I'm still stunned.









We stayed in a lovely posada in town and people mountain biked, went canyoning or paragliding as well as hitting the town. We also made full use of the hammocked-up roof garden. I want paragliding in the desert and loved it. It was a bargain too at just over £30, a third of what it would cost at home.

View from my balcony


The drive up was pretty racy


Getting strapped in


And off I go


Not a tour we took

16 - 18 March Los Llanos

A long, hot truck day to get to a beautiful lodge in the middle of nowhere.

Dusky courtyard pic


Just an overnight there, before we left our crew for a couple of days and got into land rovers to go to Los Llanos, the Venezuelan grasslands. With 8 of us in the back (sideways bench seating) and two up front in the passenger seat, it was all a bit cosy. So we entertained ourselves with riddles we had to solve (courtesy of Francois), charades, charades within the truck behind us and other games. That took....45 mins. Ha. 7 hours later, we arrived.

Clockwise from centre, Duncan, Jeanne, Moi, Heather, Anthony, Mikkel, Lisa, Vanessa and Angela



Our dorm


Vampire bats outside our room


After a late lunch, we set out anaconda hunting. We weren't to see any that day but realised how much wildlife we would see, with the drying water pools attracting all the animals and birds to smaller spots. We would easily see 10-15 different species of birds at one pool, dodging cayman. I hopped onto the roof of the Landy for the return journey. Fab.





Terry and Angela on the back of the Landy. No haaaaands


Next day, we took to the water and saw tonnes, including pink dolphin (not easy to photograph though) then after lunch, more anaconda hunting. This involves walking around in the pools, jabbing with a stick. Mikkel, Terry and Duncan all decided to join in. More successful this time, we found a pair mating (or as Al, our guide said, engaging in a sacred ritual!) then another on its own.

Tony and Lisa getting a pic of an iguana in the tree


Vanessa with a new cute friend at the ranch





Bit more Piranha fishing


Feeding the birds



Capybara



Anaconda






Overlanders looking at an anaconda


We watched a beautiful sunset then I got a roof seat (by seat, I mean, cling onto the roof rack) with Mikkel for the drive home, with a warm breeze. Not bad at all. A short pause on the way home when one of the guides spotted a giant anteater in the distance so a few went to herd it towards it and it lumbered along right by us. Brilliant. Then it was back to enjoying the stars from the roof of the Landy for the rest of the drive home. A fantastic day.


Anteater. Awwww.



Baby cayman on the way home


Oh, we learned why traffic often comes at you and why people overtake, whenever they want to go faster then you, regardless of road space or visibility. Al told us that people don't sit their own driving test and instead pay someone else to. Brilliant. Saying that, they all pip their horn as they are about to overtake or if they see traffic about to join the main road, which all seems pretty safety conscious to me.

12 - 15 March Puerto Colombia

We faced a long truck day because Pete wanted to get us to the bottom of a mountain drive that was going to be pretty intense and he wanted an early start for that one to try to miss traffic.

Our first view of the Caribbean


Looking for a hotel from 6pm and not finding a suitable one for a few hours made it a 14 hour truck day. Pete thought everything went wrong that day. The front suspension bracket that has intermittently broken/been repaired/broken again....well, it broke. What amused me though was reversing the truck into an electricity pylon at one rejected hotel, then cos the security guard didn't look too alarmed, driving off. Then, getting stopped by locals further down the road, who kindly informed us one of our spare tyres (on the back of the truck) had just come off and bounced across a crossroads. Eek! Those things are huge but luckily no damage to anyone/thing. All part of being on the road and it tickled me. Poor Pete, ha ha. Ended up in a lovely hotel in a gated community (bit posh for us oiks etc).

Tight corners


So, off to Puerto Colombia, a town on the coast of the Caribbean. We only covered 54 km but it was all winding, sheer drop, often single lane roads with sharp switch backs which needed a three point turn sometimes to get round, along with crazy overtaking locals and buses speeding towards you, seemingly taking on the sheer drops on two wheels! Amazing views and a cracking bit of driving by Pete.

Vanessa peeking over the edge


Ah! Ok, breath in folks!


We split across 3 posadas and quickly worked out the one to hang out at. V and I didn't try the hammock that was hung over the bed (small room). Getting off onto soft ground (a bed) is apparently not easy. A tiny but pretty town, with much still shut as the country was in official mourning for Chavez, the President who died a day or two before we entered the country.

Anthony having a swim


Bit tight getting the truck in here too



Sandy stuff



Francois and Heather at back. Front, Geoff, Lisa, Vanessa and Tony


Some spent their time at the beach, some mooched town (a few times), explored further afield or relaxed at the posada. We ate at a restaurant one night, recommended by others in the group and had a fabulous tuna steak dish for equivalent of £5. We couldn't get a Cuba Libre though and were told there was no alcohol (official mourning again). We found out later, the booze had been saved for the others in our group who had come the night before, and who arrived as we left! Cheek! Ha.

Photo taken in a supermarket!


A bevy of South America's pneumatic mannequins


Pete's "much better than I expected" face


Our final night fell on Vanessa's birthday so a BBQ party it was. Highlights of the night were Duncan and Anthony's Gangnam Style. (I have video chaps!) and Mikkel (our Euro-Steve Irwin) walking in with a birthday present for Vanessa.......a tortoise with tinsel tied on with a shoelace! Priceless! Only later did we hear of the shock Anthony experienced when he found a tortoise in the shower of his room earlier that day, knawing on a cucumber, Mikkel's hiding place for him.

Top that!



There's a tortoise in ma kitchen, what am I gonna do? There's a tortoise in ma kitchen....etc


If your car is falling apart, chain it up and padlock it

9 - 11 March Ciudad Bolivar and Angel Falls

Another campsite with lots of animals, including a few dogs (another Rottweiler!), a monkey and other friends. This would be our hop off point for Angel Falls, the tallest waterfall in the world. We were also introduced to the drink of the country, rum. This travelling's a hard job. I discovered that Cuba Libre here is made with a fair amount of lemon juice rather than a quick squeeze of lime.






We took a 19 seater plane to get to the town by the Falls, which is the smallest plane I have ever been on. 3 of the group went in a smaller plane which took 1hour15 mins to our 30 min flight. We settled into our lodgings, a 60 second drive away from the airport, and met the entertaining and quite nibbly macaw that lived there.
Yes Duncan, they must have known you would sit there - nice headrest by the way





Most went for a dip in the sea a couple of minutes walk away, whilst Mikkel and I took a wander through the forest to reach the top of the first of several waterfalls nearby.




We jumped onto a passing pick-up truck for a more relaxing trip back to town and after lunch, we all went off on a boat to see the waterfalls.
Hitching a lift back


Our first stop was to see the waterfall that appears in one of the scenes in Last of the Mohicans. Walking behind it was absolutely amazing.
Ok, let's go


From the beach





Inside the waterfall


Side view of the waterfall


Me inside the waterfall. It was wetter than this looks


Some clown with a brolly inside the waterfall


From inside the waterfall


We then went to another spot and after clambering over rocks, some of us went for a dip as others showed off their diving/jumping/bombing skills from the top of the rocks.
Terry led the way


After a quick shower, Kirsten and I decided to take a gentle walk around town. 12 minutes later, we'd seen town and bumping into a few of the others, went in search of a bar before dinner. We plumbed for a rather posh beach side lodge hotel and watched bush tv (a bush fire which was perilously close to our chosen spot).

Monday morning saw us return to the airport to go to see Angel Falls. 7 of us including the pilot on our plane, I wasn't sure if we'd all be seeing my breakfast again. But no, I loved it. I've never been in such a small plane and whilst it's not for me, I now 'get' why people learn to fly.




The fact our pilot had a pronounced twitch and giggled a lot for no reason (we suspected tourettes) made it even more fun. The falls didn't have a huge amount of water running over them (it is dry season) but nearly a km high, they can't fail to be impressive. The scenery around them though was even better. In the middle of nowhere, barely accessible and surrounded by spooky looking rocky mountains, touching the clouds and dense jungle below, a definite highlight of the trip.
Spooky scenery near Angel Falls



Angel Falls



Angel falls


Jeanne's squeals of fear made me chuckle


Just after a bit of turbulence. Eek.


Leaving the lodgings proved a little tricky when the nibbly macaw decided to trap me in the ladies loo and run at me every time I tried to exit. Much to everyone else's amusement, I wasn't going to take that little fellow on whilst I was in flip flops! Once freed by Terry, a 36degree (everyone melted) flight took us back to Ciudad Bolivar for a night there then off the beach for a few days.