Day 1: Arrived 8am at the Turcol office, Santa Martha, waited awhile for the other members of the group, 2 French guys coming from Taganga. Louis and Vincent from Paris, good friends from way back. Apparently there is only 3 of us. Since they were late I was able to buy a sunscreen quickly. Drove through paved roads for 1 1/2 hours going east, got to a checkpoint manned by young military personnel. From then on rough roads uphill towards the town of El Mamey, the driver is a mad maniac, the ceiling of the truck is quite low and lost [View Full Entry]

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2 days to chill in Santa Martha before the Ciudad Perdida trip which I booked with Turcol at their office near the waterfront. I noticed a lot of old buildings in the old town where I am staying, the waterfront is nice but it is sticky and hot here. i did not like the hostel i stayed in the 1st night so moved to Turismar for 15,000, same price I have a cable tv! The rooms though were nothing to write home about, and very stuffy, no windows. Met up with Junko once again, she just came from Tayrona and raved [View Full Entry]

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So difficult to get a taxi on Sunday night here in Sta Elena, been waiting for 30 minutes with some backpackers from Hotel Michelle also going to the terminal on their way to Puerto La Cruz.Finally a private car took pity on us and took us to the bus terminal for 10 Bolivares for the 3 of us. Confusion about the bus that I actually need to take, Francisco said he booked me with Expreso Occidental but there was no one at the counter when I arrived at the bus terminal so a man took me to Los LLanos bus, he [View Full Entry]

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Pre trek: The day before the actual hike we left Sta. Elena de Uairen for a town called San Francisco de Yuruani where we waited for the big group from Caracas, 23 people! them and 3 of us(me, Junko from Japan and Emanuel from Ciudad Bolivar). It was a very long wait, quite annoying and Roger the guide is nowhere to be found, just the porters were with us, then after an hour or so the group arrived and we had a meal at a restaurant, Francisco Alvarez, the tour company/person we booked with said dinner is included for tonight but [View Full Entry]

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FROM GEORGETOWN TO STA. ELENA: -Inraserv bus from Georgetown required us to check in at 5pm, did not leave until 8:00pm. 3 gringos in the bus with me. -Several checkpòints along the way, police stations do a roll call checking off the passenger lists quickly. -Uncomfortable bumpy ride, consolation no rain no breakdowns, road seems safe due to checkpoints -Arrived early morning to a ferry crossing, took awhile, on other side sign says Iwokrama, we are in the savannahs, one gringo got off here, the other 2 in Annai. -Beautiful scenery grassy plains with occasional hills and low trees -Bu [View Full Entry]

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DAY 1: I forgot to setback my watch when I crossed from Suriname and hence woke up an hour earlier than I should, I sat in the front desk area of the hotel reading all the local papers trying to kill time. I get to encounter English words we don't normally use in the USA. Frank arrived to pick me up at 6am Guyana time, Ashley(from Delaware) and Emily and Tad(West Virginia) were already in the 4WD truck, they will be my trekking buddies for the next 5 days, the girls are Peace Corps Response volunteers and Tad is here to [View Full Entry]

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Woke up at 3:45am to get ready for the long border crossing into Guyana. Wen to shower and around 4am I heard a knocking on the oor, the shuttle van is here said the reception dude, I panicked and rushed putting all my stuff in the backpack, I was told pick up time is at 4:30am, half hour early, unusual for South America, anyway made them wait for 5 minutes and when I got to the van 2 girls were already there, but for the next hour and a half we will be going around town picking up passengers, mostly Guyanese [View Full Entry]

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Arne and I got picked up at Albergo Alberga in Parbo by a guy called Robbie, a taxi collectif operator, Arne met him when they crossed to Albina from FG and his asking price for transport is cheaper than others, at 40 SRD compared to 60 SRD average. He was half hour early and he drove us to the Central market where all collectifs wait for fare, we waited there for almost an hour him doing his best to fill up the van 7 people max but failed, meanwhile his fellow drivers were yelling at him for some reasons we can't [View Full Entry]

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The road leading to Brownsberg Nature park was just hellish, unpaved dirt road with dibs left and right, being at the back of the van did not help and arriving at the Nature park i felt a bit dizzy and nauseous i have to walk it off, pacing back and forth until i regain my composure, was it worth the trip? let's backtrack a bit. Andrew and Diana owner and operator of Rainbow tours picked me up from Zus and Zo GH in Parbo and we drove straight to Bergendal, honestly I haven't a clue what this place is all about, [View Full Entry]

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Dropped my backpack at Zus and Zo and headed to the Blue Frog office a couple minutes walking, a number of people are already there and from what I gathered from our guide Arol, they are all Dutch! But everyone can understand English, though Arol has to explain things to me in English as I cant speak Dutch. We drove about 15 minutes to a dock where we took a Javanese style big boat to do a bit of dolphin spotting in the Surinam river. We spotted a number of them in pockets but very difficult to take photos of as [View Full Entry]

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