After a few days of mucking around in the wilderness, it was time for a spot of sun, surf and sand. So we headed to the small fishing village of Puerto Colombia, in Harry Potter National Park. (It's not really called that. It's actually called Henri Pittier National Park, after the founder of the Venezuelan National Park scheme). One half of the park is mountains and cloudforest, and the other half is miles of unspoilt beaches and coastline. 7% of the world's species of birds are found here! On the way to the park, we were boarded by the National Guard, who wanted to see our passports. Our tour leader, Dave "The Hat", had a standard procedure for this. 1. Even if you speak Spanish, the passengers should act as if they speak none. They will ... read more

... and other observations, facts and snippets. 1. There are hotels which specialise in renting rooms by the hour. They are known as "Love Hotels" 2. It is impossible to order a large coffee. Coffee is served expresso style everywhere, in little shot-glass shaped cups 3. If you are vegatarian, it isn´t enough to say that you don´t eat "carne" (meat). Chicken is in a different lingustic class, and therefore doesn´t count as meat! 4. There appears to be only one beer company over here: Polar. I´ve drunk plain Polar, Polar Pilsnen, Polar Ice, Polarcita, and Polar Light. They all taste the same to me!!! I have heard rumours of another company, with the imaginative name of Regional, but have yet to find anywhere selling it 5. Venezuelan women have won more international beauty pagents than ... read more

I was apprehensive about visiting Venezuela. I had spoken to three travellers who all said the same thing: "Colombia isn´t too bad these days. It´s Venezuela you need to worry about". Our original plan was to enter Venezuela overland, crossing the Colombian border. Unfortunately the foreign office advice for Colombia had recently changed, and they were advising against travelling within 50 miles of the Venezuelan border, due to increased guerilla activity. The Colombian Army and the Venezuelan National Guard had been mobilised along each side of the border. So, our schedule was changed, and our contingency plan was to take two flights to reach Caracas (the capital of Venezuela) , and then an overnight bus to Merida, our original destination. Meanwhile one of our tour leaders, "Dave The Hat", would drive the empty truck across and ... read more

We initially had some excitement planned for our next day in Colombia; visiting a bulletproof vest factory, and testing one out. Yes, that´s right, the brave amongst us could try on a vest and be shot at. Unfortunately they were going to charge too much for the "ruined vests", so we didn´t do it in the end. So, we drove four hours north of Bogota to the beautiful village of Villa De Leyva. Founded in 1533, it remains untouched by modern architecture, retaining all the original buildings. If it wasn´t for the occasional car lurching along it´s cobbled streets, you´d think you´d been transported back to the sixteenth century. We were staying at a more modern place however, a gorgeous lodge in the hills about 30 minutes walk from the village. On my first walk into ... read more

My last stop in Ecudaor before heading off into Colombia was the market town of Otavalo. A bustling and colourful affair, Otavalo´s Saturday market is one of Ecuador´s finest. Great for people watching. My favourite sight was a women walking around with twenty fluffy duckings waddling behind her, ready for sale! The indoor meat market was also interesting. It seems that NO part of any animal goes to waste. I saw sheets of stomach lining and coils of intestine being sliced into managable chunks. There were boxes of chicken heads and chicken feet, and great vats of animal bits being rendered down into blocks of fat to sell. But the prize specimen had to be a bucket of beef pieces with part of a cow´s lip on top, complete with hairs, gums and a couple of ... read more