After a six hours on the bus we arrived in Caracas froze to the core. The air con on the bus was ridiculous and the only restbite was when we stopped for lunch which I used to heat up in the sun! We also had chance to taste our first Arepa, similar to a pita and filled with roast pork, cheese and salad, very filling. Once at the bus station we tried to haggle for a taxi but they all wanted double what the hotel told us to pay! They were saying that petrol was very expensive just a shame its [View Full Entry]

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We headed further north to Cumana, a city on the coast not really knowing why we headed there! We were just heading closer to Caracus and hoping to see some nice places on the way. One thing I was hoping to see was the Guacharo (oilbird) which is a nocturnal bird and every evening about 10-15,000 leave the cave similar to bats looking for food and can imagine this being a amazing sight. Unfortunately we checked around a few hostels and with it being off season nobody was going there and it would be too difficult for us to try and [View Full Entry]

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We had a day of manic sorting, more money exchanging and trying to get some flights and trips arranged for the next few weeks. We then headed further north to Ciudad Bolivar, the jumping off point for Angel Falls. After another 11 hour bus journey we arrived at our hotel at midnight. Not the best time to arrive in a strange city and it did feel a bit dodgy and it did get a bit worrying when the old guy on the door where we were staying wouldn’t let us in because it was too late! Fortunately with Michelle playing the [View Full Entry]

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So that was it for Brazil and we booked a 15 hour bus journey to Santa Elena, Venezuela which turned out to be 18! We left sweating our backs out in the bus station and then got on a freezing air con bus for 12 hours north to Boa Vista. I would like to say we just slept through the night but with the bus being freezing, stopping every three hours and all the pot holes it was very tiring and irritable journey. The best thing about the journey was natures own views from the bright stars shining above the Amazon [View Full Entry]

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Once again it was another flight! It doesn’t feel like were backpacking any more with all these flights. This was another cheapish one at £160 for a 5 hour flight. Problem was that we had to set off at 4am for our first flight to the capital Brasilia and we finally arrived in Manaus at 4pm after load of delays because of it pissing it down or electrical storms! As we were coming to land into Manaus we saw the meeting of the 2 rivers that form the mighty Amazon, it looked pretty strange, the brown waters of the Rio Solimoes [View Full Entry]

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We had to head back to Recife as this is where we were getting our onward flight to Manaus. We had planned to go along the coast to Belen and maybe fly/boat it to Manaus, as usual we spent too much time dawdling and was running out of time as we were due to meet my Mum and sister Dawn in Caracas on the 12th November. We stayed in Boa Viagem, the beachy area of the city, it has the dubious honour of being South Americas shark attack capital, Michelle wasn’t happy! Bull and Tiger sharks (the most aggressive ones) swim [View Full Entry]

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After yet more travel combinations, bus, metro, bus, mini bus, we’d arrived in a little beach town called Praia da Pipa. A few people had recommended this place to us so we were looking forward to it. We eventually found our little pousada which we had pre booked on the internet for 12 pound a night, which was cheap as it had a/c, t.v and breakfast included so were glad to get decent value for money for a change. The town is a strange place, the main street is lined with posh boutiques, with some very expensive items even for U.K [View Full Entry]

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We continued with the easy option and took another cheap flight, 2.5 hours north to Maceio for £30! It was another beach city which we shouldn’t have bothered with!. The beach was ok but nothing as nice as others we have seen in Brazil. Instead of being like a nice quaint fishing village, it was more like Benidorm! The beach was not the only thing we came for as the place is famous for its low tide reef pools which are about 500m away from the main shoreline and you can swim around coral and see lots of different fish. This [View Full Entry]

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After Rio we decided to head north to the city of Salvador and it worked out cheaper to fly and a hell of a lot quicker. By bus it was £58 and 25-28 hours, by plane it was £55 and 2 hours! We didn’t have to think long about that one! The flight was easy enough and had no problems and shortly after landing we got a bus in to the town centre. We stayed in the Pelourinho area of Salvador and were presently surprised, lots of old colonial buildings and cobbled streets with a church on virtually every corner, apparently [View Full Entry]

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We stayed an extra few nights in Rio for more football reason as Brazil were due to play Ecuador in a World Cup qualifier at the Maracanã. We had to stay as how often are we going to get the chance to see Brazil play at home and to see all their star players and it was the first time they have played back here in 2 years. Once again we went down to the stadium for the tickets but we left it too late and all the cheaper tickets were sold out and there was only expensive seats left. Fortunately [View Full Entry]

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