My travelling adventures...

Howdy folks! I am in Venezuela - yay!  Got to lima about midnight last night - was going to try and save some $$ by avoiding the airport tax and sleeping in the airport - but looking at the chairs and the lack of shower i decided to get a good nights rest and go to nearby hostel - which was supposed to only be 5mins drive but the taxi driver couldnt find it so 1/2hr later I finally got there (lots of things were going thru my mind while we were driving round the glum looking neighbourhood).  The hostel had given up on me.
Anyway have now arrived in Caracas and found my way from international to domestic termainl to see if i could get a flight from Caracas to C. Bolivar (so can get to angel falls).  I thought people were being super firendly - but no, just trying to sell me tours and get me to change money on the black market :)  One guy stayed with me while i bought my plane ticket, helped me check my bag in, answered ALL my questions about the palce (you can imagine! :) ) and then I wouldnt change money with him - he wasnt v. impressed.
Could only get a flight to a nearby airport... and rang Walter of the tour company for angel falls (hope he´s good - LP says he is!) - so he is picking me up from the airport in Puerto Ordaz and taking me to C. Bolivar... (thought late at night etc might be best to have prearranged transfer) and then i am going to Angel Falls the next day - YAY!  (is a 3-4day tour)  So looking forward to it!  Then might see if i can get to Los Roques for some diving for a few days before heading to Costa Rica to begin my central america tour.  Exciting stuff! 
So enjoy yourselves and will chat to you later!

Saw the most gorgeous sunset from the plane on the way back from Cuenca - amazing...
In Quito the cab driver dropped me out the front of the shop where I had stocked up on chocolate supplies for the Galapagos - seems like ages ago that I was there - if it wasnt for the pictures Id swear it was a dream - altho it was only the other night that it stopped feeling like i was on a boat when i laid down and closed my eyes...
Am about to head to my 2nd last country in South America - very sad - going so quickly! 
Anyway some more photos for you (by the way I still expect people to be enthralled when i bring out my photo albums when i get back!) :)

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Before I forget I wanted to let you know about my splashing jump in the galapagos... For some reason i thought it would be a good idea to jump off the top of the boat... So Carlos the bartender led the way with a nice front-end normal dive... I got up there and so didnt want to do it - the water seemed like such a long way away! - plus i was worried i was going to land on a cruising turtle or something!  But do something everyday that scares you, so off i jumped, and somehow managed to do a butt-flop (accompanied by a nice little squeal)! no idea how i  managed it.  The other 2 that jumped off managed to jump a lot more gracefully than I - and no bruises as a result!  It is amazing how hard water is! :)

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I am back from the Galapagos Islands (sniff sniff).  
When we (16 of us) first arrived at the dock we were taking loads of photos of these crabs on the distant rocks and the marine iguanas - little did we realise how amazingly close, and how much we were going to see, in the following days. 
Pretty much the daily routine was get up for breakfast at 7, do a little hike, snorkel, rest, lunch, rest, little hike (hike being 1-2km in the heat - was very hot, was an effort), then snorkel, shower, drinks at the bar, dinner, bar, then bed...  Little bell would be rung every time a meal was served or we had to catch a dinghy for the landings to an island...  I became known as the dessert critic as I was not impressed when we consistently got fruit for dessert - esp melon!!!The bar was pretty good as the bartender was very generous with his servings.  I had a little cabin on the main deck all to myself which was pretty cool - prime location.
The guides told us a bit about the corruption going on at Galapagos... Only meant to be 120,000 visitors per year but 168000 went last year... There was meant to be a limit on teh size of cruise ships but after one large cruise ship with over 100 passengers hassled enough the government eventually gave them a permit to cruise the park...
Was crystal clear turquiose waters - absolutely stunning with volcanic islands dotted about the place... very nice and relaxing as well as being an unbelievable experience....  Had brilliant people on the boat as well - a lot of canadians, range of ages, all got on really well... 
Again so much wonderful stuff so will just do the highlights...

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