Medellin, Colombia

We are spending the Easter weekend in Medellin, a city in the Andes. When we first arrived the city was absolutely mental but today, Easter Sunday it was much calmer and we headed out with the truck and a guide for a bit of a tour.

We visited a view point over the city which has been squished between the mountains and is sprawling up the sides. We also visited a couple of squares, one of which was filled with Botero sculptures and the other designed for star gazing purposes. A pretty random element of the tour was a bare foot trail which is suppose to help you relax as you walk over different surfaces barefoot and finish off with a bit of self reflexology! The best part of the day was getting the metro cable car. This cable car allows commuters from the neighbourhoods on the side of the hills to get to the city centre. 20 years ago the neighbourhoods were very dangerous as many of Pablo Escobar's drug crew lived there. They were given the opportunity to change their way of life and get jobs in the city. Many people took the chance and the cable car was built to enable them to get to work. The journey provided us great city views and good nosey into peoples back yards.

Cartagena, Colombia

We had 2 full days to enjoy the city of Cartagena on the Caribbean coast. The city was founded in 1533 and since then has been the major port in the export of gold, silver and emeralds from Colombia back to Spain and the import of slaves from Africa. With so much money in the city it was invaded by pirates so many times that it was decided to defend Cartagena by building a couple of big forts and surrounding the city with walls. The city is a World Heritage site so it remains very pretty to walk around with the coloured buildings with balconies. Most of the buildings are actually restaurants or boutique hotels. If you poke your nose thorough the entrance to the hotels you can see how they have refurbed the inside so they are multi-stored with court yards and the outside still looks like the originally 2 story building. We had a morning tour around the city with an excellent guide who explained all the history and this gave us an afternoon to explore ourselves without getting too lost.

The following day myself, Tony, Francois, Pete and Kirsten booked a trip to dive off the Rosario islands off the Cartagena coast. The boat ride to and from the islands was great fun due to the choppy nature of the sea and the diving was fantastic. Me and Kirsten havn't dived for while so we where nervous that we would have to do a refresher course which involves all the skills but we didn't have to and we comfortably dived to have look at a ship wreck and also a huge wall of coral. The highlights where definitely the moray eel and the big lion fish.

Since Cartagena we have headed south and bush camped at the side of a road last night in a friendly families garden which was more like a rubble pit. They where very kind and let us camp for free (of course we gave them a donation) which was very welcome as we where on a mountain pass after dark and we hadn't found any other accommodation. Since the border all the locals and police have been very friendly, giving us waves and cheers as we have passed. We are currently in Medellin over the Easter weekend. It's very busy proper Colombian city so ill be back to let you know how I get on!

Beach time, Colombia

We had a very long day getting to Colombia. We spent the night in a massive Venezualan city called Maracaibo, just 100km from the border and left at the very early hour of 5.30am in order to give us plenty of crossing time in case of a lunch time closure. It was a very eventful day- many road blocks, queues, a departure tax to pay which was twice the amount we had been currently told, dodgy fixers, a $30 visa fee which didn't go anywhere (probably pocketed), a few more queues, some very angry locals, a few packet of crisps for lunch, more sitting around and then 6 hours later we were into Colombia with half an hour extra time to our day!

Our first real stop in Colombia was a beach campsite near Santa Marta. It was lovely. For 2 days we all relaxed with lots of swimming (or rather braving the huge waves), eating, reading books or in my case lots of sleeping.

Merida, Venezuela

Merida is a mountain town and is known as the adventure capital of Venezuala due to fact that you can do most adventure activities going. Due to the fact that we have had a great rate on the local currency it has made the activities about US$50 a go which is the cheapest we will find on the trip so a lot of the group have decided to do something here. Myself, Lisa, Geoff, Francois, Anthony and Duncan booked to go mountain biking which was great fun despite the fact it wasn't quite the off road experience I thought I'd booked. We got off to a very slow start, leaving 2 hours late (another case of Venezualan time and lack of organisation) but we had a good hour going downhill on a very windy tarmaced road. After lunch we headed to a different road which was a mix of tarmac, concrete, gravel with lots of potholes leading to the tiny village of San Jose which was also great fun and I've taken pride in the fact that I didn't have to push my bike up the hills. Lisa, Duncan and Francois were paragliding and we were due to drop them off and the rest of us head back to Merida. It didn't quite happen like that though and we ended up waiting for them to do the gliding and we all came back together. I don't think any of us minded as we had a great view of the sunset. All in all a great, but long and tiring day!

Today Myself, Tony, Geoff, Lisa, Francois, Vanessa, Lesley and Terry went canyoning. For those who don't know, canyoning involves getting kitted out with a wet suit, helmet and harness and making your way down a canyon. I have also wanted to give this activity a go and it was fantastic. We waded through the river, slid down small and much larger rapids, jumped off a ledge into a plunge pool with not a lot of space either side, and we also abseiled down a 6m, a 20m and a 30m waterfall. It was actually amazing and completely worth the bruises and scrapes. I hope that the funds will stretch to another go further along the route. We now have another 3 nights in Venezuela as we make our way towards Colombia for more fun and games.

Los Llanos, Venezuela

From the coast we spent a very long day travelling south to lovely lodge on a river. I haven't a clue where it was but it took up a good 12 hours to get there. We spent a night at the lodge and then we said goodbye to the truck and changed into land cruisers for the journey in to the Los Llanos region. Pete had told us that it was going to be hot, dry and packed full of wildlife. If I'm honest I was feeling that there wasn't a whole lot of point in the trip as we had also seen a heap of wildlife in Argentina and Brazil and it seemed a hell of a long way to go just to see the same birds.

It was a long way to go as well. We had a long, hot journey with 8 of us crammed in the back of the jeeps that had inward facing seats so there was no room for legs. We were 3 hours late by the time we got there and after the uncomfortable journey, crazy drivers and no food a lot of the group, me included declared that what we saw better have been worth the journey! We had an hour or so out and about looking at the birds in the pools at either side of the road. The pools are man made and were created when soil was dug out in order to build up the sides of the road. The ditches are then filled with water in the wet season and in the dry season all the wildlife surrounds it. There were lots of birds but the highlight was definitely being able to sit on the roof rack of the jeeps giving a great view.

Our full day of activites started with a great boat trip which everyone enjoyed. Everywhere you looked there were birds flying overhead or iguanas basking on the river banks. We also saw the usual capybaras and caymen but also howler monkeys and dolphins. In the afternoon I did an hour's horse riding and we all went out in the jeeps again to try and find anacondas. Anacondas are the biggest snake in the world and everyone was keen to catch a glimpse. They like water and land so our guides chose the prodding vegetation growing on the pools with a huge stick to find them. We saw 2 huge ones in a bush, apparently mating and then another one about 4m long on top of the pools. They were cool to see but to top the day off be saw a giant anteater on the way home!

Los Llanos has been great and we have seen lots, but for me the highlight was sadly the friendly puppies and ducklings roaming the farm as they were so cute. We are currently in Merida which we arrived after another 10 hours in the jeeps on a very eventfull journey (the bonnet blew up onto the windscreen whilst driving and the back door threatened to fall off). We went on a windy road passing over the Sierra Nevada at 3600m and unbelievably we have felt cold. Despite the fact that it was 18 degrees most of use had to dig out the fleeces.

Porto Colombia, Venezuela

We stopped at a little beach town with not a lot in it on the Carribean coast of Venezuela. I spent the first day lounging on the main beach and the second day we hopped on a boat over very choppy seas to a beach down the coast which was very quiet. A nice relaxing time was had by all.

Angel Falls, Venezuela

Leaving Manaus into pouring rain we headed north through Indian reservations towards the border with Venezuala. We were trying to make the border in super quick time with just one overnight stop in Boa Vista as the Venezuelan president Chavez has finally died and we didn't know if the border would be open the day we wanted to cross, as it was the same day as his funeral. We as passengers had an easy crossing as there wasn't even a form to fill in. The truck however took hours longer as Pete had to drive it to get insurance which isn't available to pre-order. The insurance man was away for lunch so we all had to wait but we were in the shade though!

Venezuela so far has been very beautiful and low cost due to the fact that we havn't been getting our money at the official bank rate. The amazing thing is the price of diesel- US$0.50 for 213 litres!! There's plenty of jungle here, huge plateaus, lots of sun but dry heat which has been lovely. We had a great bushcamp in the highlands and then a dip in some waterfalls the next day which is a great way to plod along as we made our way to Ciudad Bolivar which is a city on the edge of the Orinoco River. Angel Falls in Canaima national park is the reason we have stopped here. The falls are the tallest in the world at 979m high and are also very remote. To get to the tiny town of Canaima we flew in a 18 seater plane from Ciudad Bolivar which took about 35 minutes. We stayed overnight in the town which allowed us to hop on a boat to explore the lagoon and its waterfalls that afternoon. The boat trip was excellent as we walked behind a huge waterfall and also jumped of a ledge into the plunge pool of another.

The following morning we headed out into 5 and 6 seater Cessna planes for a 30 minute round trip to see the falls. It's dry season so we weren't expecting much water to be flowing over the falls but it was actually pretty cool as the water was a straight line which went to mist towards the bottom. We didn't get very close to the falls but it was amazing to see. Even if the falls weren't there, then the flight itself would have been great due to the scenery and the overall feeling of how remote the area is.

We have driven north west today on very slow roads and it's been eventful. crazy drivers, crazy roads, a bit of the truck broke again and to top it off one of the spare tyres fell off as we were crossing a junction! The good luck (more like bad luck) aloe that we were given this morning has been ditched already! Tomorrow to the beach.

Manaus, Brazil

Our base for Manaus was to be the HI Hostel which is really nice and the cook your own eggs, cheese and ham toasties, lots of fruit and an actual mug of coffee (mugs don't seem to exist here) for breakfast was fantastic after boat food. We had a group meal out at an Italian restaurant that night to celebrate Jeanne's birthday. The next morning the group split into two with all bar 7, including me staying in Manaus whilst the others went to an eco lodge in the jungle for 2 nights. I decided against the jungle as staying in a lodge 200km from Manaus with WIFI and a swimming pool wasn't really what I wanted to do and the jungle around Manaus is primary forest that people access all the time so in my head it's not really jungle jungle.

I have really enjoyed the time in Manaus despite the fact that it's rained pretty much all day, everyday. It's a relatively busy port city filled with scruffy buildings with pretty looking neglected ones interspersed between them. It's definitely not the touristy city with colourful parrots flying overhead that I thought it would be. Our first day we decided to head to Bosque da Cienca which is a kind of zoo but according to the guide book there are as many animals out of cages as there are in and it was our greatest chance of seeing a sloth just roaming around. It would have been great if we had made it there! It was all going so well, I had the bus number and the location of the bus stop but a friendly street vendor asked us where we were going and told us we could get on the bus coming which was not the bus number I'd scribbled on the paper! So myself, Sue, Vanessa, Anthony and Keith jumped on for a roller coaster ride around the residential streets of Manaus. It was definitely an interesting journey as we had no idea where to get off and the bus was bombing along the pot holed road as some speed that meant that it was very difficult to stand. I'd never felt so travel sick ever before. After nearly an hour on the bus we definitely were nowhere near the zoo and we got off the bus having been told a different number bus to get on. Keith found a man with decent English at the bus stop and he said that we should get on the same bus as him and he would tell us where to get off. We did but we still couldn't find the zoo!! It wasn't looking hopeful and the sky was black so we got a taxi back to town having seen not even a pigeon! The day wasn't a complete waste though as I managed to get a few more vest tops to replace some that were unwearable. To anyone out there who is headed off on their travels take note that a 7 year old vest from Primark will probably not survive!

Our second day was not great weather wise as there was so much rain for most of the day. The streets of Manaus can cope with the deluge as they have a large camber so the water just flows down the sides as 2 huge rivers. We went to the Opera house (Teatro Amazonas) for a tour. From the outside the building is pink and white with green and yellow dome dominating the cultural area of the city where the court house, many museums and a church are. Building started in 1882 when the governor of the Amazonas state, Eduardo Ribeiro pushed architectural and structural change in the city during the rubber boom. Ribeiro also sorted out the water and sewer system, public education, paving and street light creating Manaus into the “Paris of the Tropics”. The opera house was beautiful inside, with lots of fancy lights and the roof of the concert hall was painted to look like the underside of the Eiffel Tower. It was great as the orchestra was actually rehearsing at the time so we got to listen to a bit. The ballroom upstairs was lovely and the paintings were of the jungle except one which was a scene from a play which is like the Brazilian Romeo and Juliet. All the wood of the floors is from Brazil but pretty much everything else was brought over from Europe.

Myself and Vanessa finally made it to the Bosque da Cienca (Forest of Science) which wasn't a zoo at all. It was a scientific research and education centre. It was small, but a nice walk through some tropical forest. We didn't see sloths or any tropical birds but there were some large tanks with Amazonian manatees which had been rescued from the wild and we also saw some alligators, turtles (we managed to tickle their feet) and also a capyvara. The capyvara was just in the pathway eating fruit. It was the size of a small dog, a gingery brown colour with a pointy nose and long stick legs. It was very cute but a bit odd.

Manaus has been lots of fun despite the fact the city wasn't exactly how I thought it would be. When we leave here tomorrow we are headed north in to the hills and over to Venezuala which I'm really looking forward to. Brazil has been great but 50 days is enough and I'm sick of the rain. It will be Venezuela's dry season though so hopefully we won't see as much wet weather. The one thing I hope continues though is the fried snacks at the service stations!

Cruising down the Maderia river, Brazil

We spent 1 night in a hotel in the port town of Porto Velho. This was our chance to pack a smaller bag and buy a hammock and mossie net for the 900km boat trip down the Maderia river and then up the Amazon river. Pete explained the differences between the hammocks and what made a good one. With everyone having bought a hammock (somehow I actually got my pricing confused and ended up paying more that what the shop was asking) we headed to the port to find our boat. The boat was a triple decker wooden thing with the cargo (so many onions, potatoes, tomatoes, limes, but also wardrobes and a fridge freezer) on the lower deck, us and many others in our hammocks on the middle deck and then the bar on the top deck. Our tickets said that we were to sail 6pm Tuesday. That wasn't the case as we found out that we were to sail 9am Wednesday. No problem as we would sleep on the boat and watch the port life which was mainly 2 type of dolphins, grey and pink swimming in the not so pleasant water.

The truck was going on a special barge which is pushed by a tug. The thing was huge and sat very low in the water with all its deliveries. To be honest it didn't look the most stable of things to be parking the truck on. After much manoevering of the barge in the smallest of spaces it was time to load Ithaca. Sadly there was no nice boat ramp in place and Pete drove onto the barge on the narrowest planks of wood which made a horrendous sound as they cracked under neath 18 tonne of truck.

9am Wednesday came and went and we still haven't moved. It didn't really bother me as I was very much enjoying all the sleeping and book reading in the hammock, however a change of scenery would have been welcome. We were then told that it would leave at 3pm, which then came and went and a new departure time of 6pm was announced. By 6pm most of us were watching the barge getting nudged into position in order to leave. We were hoping to be able to wave Pete off with Ithaca but sadly not as the last we saw of him he was off the barge and standing on the bank! We finally departed at 8pm Wednesday, 26 hours after we should have.

It was great to get moving as the river is very smooth and provided us with great viewing of rain and lightning storms. Life on the river was also suprisingly cool and mossie free due to the nice breeze and I hate to say it, but one day it was actually cold! I went to bed the 1st night a little worried about the food on board after we were given noodle soup and found out that we needed to provide our own bowls etc which we didn't have. The soup was horrible so it was crackers for tea instead. What we thought was breakfast was a 6.30 wake up to a whistle blowing and “cafe” being shouted. After no tea the night before I was starving and was not impressed but thankfully Tony brought me a cheese toastie that was discovered on sale at the bar. A great surprise to have woken up from a nap to and a much needed morale boost. Things were looking up from there on as we got 2 meals a day in a tin tray. The meat, rice and spaghetti were edible but I didn't think much of the potato salad and bean additions. It beat crackers though!

After our 1 night docked we spent 3 night cruising and I really enjoyed myself. The hammock was very comfy, maybe a little too comfy as I spent 35 hours solid asleep one day other that waking for food, shower and the toilet. We docked at 4.30am Saturday morning in the city of Manaus which was 12 hours earlier than expected so we spent a few more hours on the boat so that it could get light before we got taxi's to the hostel which I'm in now.