Elliot Larner

Venezuela Border Crossing from Macau (Colombia) to Venezuela, a 4 hour bus journey to Macauibo it was starting to look like the end of Colombia, as stated in my guidebook it was a shabby bus station with everyone wanting to take you somewhere or sell you something, so I paid for my ticket to Marricibo from the Colombian border town and not a bus as I expected but a old chevelet car this is the normal kind of transport for crossing the border and onwards to further towns. So we arrived at the border and I received my Colombia exit stamp and then I had to obtain my Venezuelan entry stamp well the immigration officer could not find my exit tamp and nor could I, so I had to run back to the Colombian side to ... read more

My Opion of Venezuela I am very happy that I visited Venezuela as for me it was the most interesting experience of my South America trip but their seams to be a sense of unstableness within the country, On my first encounter to Venezuela I quickly noticed the difference in the infrastructure between the two neighbouring countries second being Colombia and only divided by a human line, the two border offices one with computers one with out, the conditions of the roads leading to and from the border and then the courtesy or lack of by the military / police, In Colombia they smile and say Buenos dais and are happy to lead you in the correct direction but in Venezuela for example they are sitting on park benches texting on there phones. On my arrival ... read more

Visiting Men’s Prison of Quito in Ecuador While visiting friends in a hostel in the mariscal area which is the new town in Quito I read on the information board that it was possible to visit a woman’s and men’s prisons and it was pretty straightforward, so on a Saturday in September I went alone and gave the taxi driver the address, he seamed surprised and asked if I was visiting a friend I joked my dad, As we pulled up to the prison I wondered it it was such a good idea the area looked run down, so I went to the reception area and ask the guard in Spanish to see somebody that spoke English after about 10 minutes looking through different paperwork he eventually found a guy from Holland for me, so I ... read more

Cotopaxi Summit Avenue of volcanoes 5823 metres High (2 days) I stayed at the Secret Garden hostel in the Cotopaxi national park 2 hours south of Quito, Cotopaxi Mountain is 5823 metres high, it is even a few metres higher than Kilimanjaro, So our climb started on a Tuesday afternoon in August with my friend from England Richard a journalist working in Asia, We was driven by 4by4 to 4500 metres to where we would stay in the refuge for one night, The first day all we would do is walk from the car park to our accommodation 600metres in heavy windy conditions with all our equipment good practice for the next day, Then unpack have lunch and prepare for the night climb to the summit which would involve our guide teaching us different techniques when ... read more

Working for the Secret Garden Hostel in Quito Ecuador So 2 days on the bus from lima in Peru a short stop in Guayaqui and I had arrived in Quito capital of Ecuador to start my job at the Secret Garden Hostel in which I had applied for 3 months prior in Brazil, In return for me working 40 hours a week I would get accommodation, food, unlimited drink and Spanish lessons the job was simple, checking people in and out, serving drinks and helping guests with information and related problems. After about a week the current team of volunteers left and a new group arrived and with that team ended up staying together for the next 6 weeks, I had a great time working and meeting so many funny and interesting people, the work was ... read more

Sao Paulo (4 weeks) I stayed with my friend Eliana and her boyfriend at their house in Sao Paulo for a month I slept in there living room and it didn’t feel like I was a backpacker, I got to learn about life in a Brazilian house learnt about Brazilian behaviour, how close families are and of the religion, I was fortunate to meet all of Eliana´s family and was treated so kindly I was always welcomed into their houses and they always insisted on cooking for me which refused at first but was always happy to say yes second time around. I was always being told of the dangerous side of Sao Paulo but I didn’t experience any difficulties, One day I went to visit the museum of Santos football team in which Pele used ... read more

Montevideo, Punto Del Este (1 week) I stayed with my friend Vicky that I met whilst in New Zealand I had a few days at her family house in Montevideo (The Capital of Uruguay) My first night after I was shown where my room would be “it was bigger than my room at home Great I’m going to like it here” The Saturday night we went to a sweat 15th Birthday party for her cousin it was very all way over the top more like a wedding it was held in a big fancy hotel so many table and waiting staff hired for the all night show, the food amazingly didn’t stop coming and unlimited drinks whatever you wanted that was what I was told, I to my surprise was dressed in a suit before I ... read more