Mazda

So. After the hard work of trekking up a mountain, I was ready for beaching, relaxing and some partying. Therefore, as soon as we arrived back to our hostel (The Dreamer, Santa Marta - thoroughly recommended!) and reunited with the lovely Sara Mansi, the 4 of us booked ourselves onto something called a "Chiva bus" for a night of, um, bussing?? A shower, a nap, a Cuba Libra and we were good to go. However, the first glimpse of this bus brought memories of LAST year's Easter trip and boat sinkage flooding back... a wee beaten up, wooden affair with the seats all taken out and, in their place, some poles and ropes for the "passengers" to dance around whilst parading through the town. It was hilarious. We were driven around (successfully) for 2 hours, thrown ... read more

Hello! Hoping everyone is well and continuing to enjoy the many engagements, "big" birthdays, baby having, wedding type malarky that seems to be cluttering up my Facebook of late! It's all go! So the next installment of the wild and wonderful adventures this side of the pond was Colombia baby. School was absolutely mad the last couple of weeks before end of term with reports and special weeks and "green" things happening - the usual. We were all in great need of a big break! Sara, Lucinda, Doug and I went to Colombia together with the first stop in Bogota. It was SO nice to get out of Venezuela where we could use our "real" money and meet other English speaking travellers and walk around without fear of muggings/kidnap/etc. Some kind and random person has commented ... read more

Hola! Thought it was about time for another wee installment...not that I've got much to report here actually! Life is good here, pretty much settled now and into routines and suchlike. School is still totally mental but we've just been on half term break which was LOVELY! A couple of weekends ago a big bunch of us went to the beach for the night and stayed in a lovely posada which is like a wee bed and breakfast on the beach! Delightful! There is literally nothing else out there - all just posada houses all the way along the beach, no shops for miles or anything...perfect actually! It was way hotter than in Caracas - we forget we're actually quite high above sea level here so it doesn't get too hot most of the time. So ... read more

Hello all... So I thought this was a more efficient way of keeping in touch and gives you a choice as to whether you want to hear my ramblings...or not...heehee. Firstly a big, huge hello and sorry to those of you who have emailed me and who I have very rudely not replied to yet! It's been a BUSY time since arriving here. I promise I'll get on top of it in the next few weeks. So. After a NIGHTMARE journey to get here (do NOT fly Air France! Organise, piss up and brewery spring to mind..) we - 7 of us travelling together - arrived in Caracas airport relatively unscathed to begin the nightmare that we expected immigration and customs to be. Everyone else seemed to get on fine. Obviously I got pulled up straight ... read more