3. Uphill, downhill and bureaucratic struggle.

Merry greetings to one and all!

Sorry for the gap in communication, would you believe me if I said there hasn´t been time?
I think I last left you on the way to Santa Elena to climb Roraima, a tepuis on the Gran Sbana Plain..as seen on TV´s Ray Mears Extreme Survival - I am sure I have told you about it before!

One step at a time..
Well Roraima was my big ambition of Venezuela and it also turned out to be the biggest struggle. Number 1, should have known better than to go ´blind´, the group turned out to be 3 Germans and me. 2, I know I don´t like camping, why even pretend this was different. 3, when they say there´s plenty of opportunity to wash, they mean if you like to shower in the rain.

Day One. Get picked up by jeep and off to Eric´s house to get all the kit. The company had 3 guides with us and 6 more Indian porters would help carry stuff from the starting point. 2 people hadn´t made the bus on time so it was just me, 28 yr old Benjamin and late 30,s German couple and we were going to be joined on top by two Americans in a helicopter at the top who were only walking down. Set off with determination, which was soon melted by the blazing sun and the steep hills on the baked mud path. My right leg also started to swell up from the strange bites I’d got the day before and by night fall I couldn’t bend it. Not too bad though as they had brought rum and red wine to ease the sores of the day.

Day two. Had to share a tent with Ben which was fine, but remember I hate camping, couldn´t sleep on the hard ground and there were cockroaches under my bag in the morning. My leg had stopped hurting and Alex and Marcus cooked us a fantastic egg and dumpling breakfast and we set off for base camp...up hills and over rocks which made walking a test of concentration, had this massive fear of twisting may ankle or something. Got a swim in the river along the way though and the night was lit by fireflies in the shadow of that great hulk of a mountain.

Day three. The ascent. First up was the steep clay face which we had to climb up, remember this is with a big backpack aswell! Got off to a good start but think I overexerted myself and was soon throwing up along the path...oh, and did I say about the stomach cramps ? Lunch break was when the "I´m a celebrity get me out of here" feeling really hit...are you ok asks Alex? NO I´m not I wailed...remember this Dad (I hate walking up hills still)? It was really difficult...had any of you guys been there for moral support though it would have been a different story but Germans are made of stone and were too busy trying to win the imaginary race to the top, so the Guainían guides had the weepy Brit to cheer up!! Finally, after walking a diagonal path up a seemingly impassable mountain, I made it....10 minutes later it starts bloody raining! (oh, and I fell over and grazed my leg, the same one that was also bruised from insect bites) Camped in a cave that night very prehistoric!

Day four. On top of Roraima...it had been raining all night an flooded a lot of the plateau so we were bouncing between the rocks. It really is like a lost world though and you could easily expect a veloceraptor to come winging overhead! Lost the Germans today and went off with Alex frog hunting...the frogs are tiny and black with a yellow pattern on their bellies and have no natural predators so have no need to jump, they have spindly legs and crawl around. Similar species are found in Africa, which was once attached to the continental plate of S.America. The Americans arrived in their coptor today, Maria 74 and Joe 79, both single and on their Saga holiday...denture-venturers, spending their children’s inheritance! They were really nice and a welcome break from the current company!

Day 5. The descent. Oh my God, who said going down was easy? It was raining heavy today and dressed in kagool and over trousers we began the ridiculously steep climb down, the rocks were now slippy and the waterfall drenched us even more, the clay was the hardest but all the time Maria’s tiny legs kept the pace at the front! Lunch at base camp and back on the trail, legs were starting to hurt now, everything was wet and feet all crinkly from the water and painful to walk on...moan..moan.. the river which we swum in on arrival was now sporting a strong current and we had to wade across holding onto a rope...Maria and Joe got a blow up boat on a wire! Good thinking of the guides to leave a bottle of red at the last camp...oh, and no one else wants any, don´t mind if I do! Managed to get 6 free beers too, it´s great being a girl!

Day 6. Crippled...literally, my legs had totally seized up, it was agony walking and even though I set off first I got overtaken by everyone, even Maria! Was annoyed but Marcus cheered me up by eating Termites! He poked a hole in their mound, pulled off their head, ripped out their ferocious jaws and popped them in his mouth...yuk, increases your sexual prowess apparently! Alex told me that Indians gain strength and energy from the sting of black ants and picked up a large one and stung himself up the arm with it! A last drag of the heels and we were back at the beginning...hurrah, more vino and cerveza..got emotional again but I´d made it!! Now all I needed was a hot shower..4 days without washing is really gross!

Bad legs and bad luck..
The next day was now better infact I didn´t recover full abilty until after four days, sitting on the loo and tackling stairs was ridiculously difficult! Heard a few scare stories from other travellers about cards being cloned and bank accounts wiped out so rang Nationwide and lo and behold, over a grand had been taken out whilst I was off on the trek. There were many other people in the same situation and I spent 3 days trying to get a police report with Jun and Arnoldo from Japan and France, so at least we had allies in each other against the bureaucratic struggle. It took 3 hours to get our reports and 3 days for them to fax it to San Felix, have it retyped and stamped (with our names now spelt wrong) faxed back and stamped again...ridiculous!

In the jungle, the mighty jungle...
28 hours and two buses later I finally arrived in Puerto Ayacucho in Amazonas. This town used to be pretty important as a port before the roads were built and is also a crossing point into Colombia. Well, there wasn´t much road there now, more pothole than road really!

Could not find any other tourists for a tour on the first day, only a Canadian who had already been, second day Martin appeared, German, but seemed ok. Visited the Parque Tobogan which is a natural water slide on the smooth rock, great fun for me, should have guessed then that Martin was boring (despite having a big bag of waccy baccy!). Next day took tour with Martin and Carlos our Indian guide on a small metal boat to some small rivers off the Orinoco. I had this romantic notion of the Indians all living in perfect harmony with nature..however at the port, they’re there loading fridges onto little canoes dressed in Yankee shirts! Carlos´ niece and friend hitched a lift in our boat as they were going back to see their family and I was shocked to see her just throw her crisp packet in the river. tut, tut.

The villages we saw were pretty basic and consisted of one family in each, some had electricity, others had solar panels, all had mangey dogs and inbred looking people living in mud huts drinking Pepsi. I think you have to go really deep into the jungle to see the real painted warriors. Left the metal boat with Carlos´ family and took the canoe in the twilight to our camping spot with Jose, his 6 year old brother. Slung hammocks over a very insecure looking frame and some plastic tarpaulin with holes in was the roof - thank god it didn’t rain! Scraped potatoes in the river and sat round the campfire with our bottle of rum. Second day, we moored at a beautiful lake overlooked by two giant tepuis and took a tough walk up a hill through the rainforest to get a good photographic view. Then a swim in the lake and a play in the rapids with the rich family from Caracas on the steamer style boat. This place had ready-made shacks to sling your hammock up in and the Indians sat round waiting for us to finish eating so they could polish off the leftovers..a bit disconcerting.
All was fine until we got back to the tour office where we had left our main stuff and found out the locks on my bag had been tampered with and had to be cut off. Someone had rifled through my bag and Martins stuff but taken nothing..very strange but still pissed off and pleased to leave another hive of criminal activity behind!

Mountain pass.
Anyway, arrived in Merida this morning, a pleasant University town on a plateau in the Sierra Nevada, the start of the Andes. It is pretty warm now, at least 20 but was freezing on the bus at 6am this morning but my first glimpse of the mountains lit with pink dawn light and men off to work on their horses in pretty little villages was stunning. I’ll be here a while - until after New Year and plan to do some paragliding and trips to mountain villages via the cable car (longest in the world)!

Apparently it’s nearly Christmas but the festive spirit hasn’t really grabbed me yet!

Ho, Ho, Ho, enjoy Chrimbo everyone....love to you all, raise a mulled wine for me won’t you??

Zoe the red-nosed wanderer xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

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