Puerto La Cruz, Venezuela - Weds 8th June 2005

VENEZUELA - Beautiful, noisy and stupidly hot. End of chapter. The coastal scenery is sensational, there is salsa and meringue music blaring from literally every window and the daily temperature is almost 40 degrees. Beer here is a national obsession. It´s wonderful! It is served EVERYWHERE, ice ICE cold and in 200ml bottles to stop it getting warm before you finish it. People drink it openly; on buses, driving cars, on the street - it´s mad. Obviously I am struggling to fit into this beer-swilling culture but as each day passes, and I get in more and more practice, I find it slowly coming to me... If there´s one thing scarier than an 80MPH mountain-hugging chicken bus , it´s the thought that your driver may well have just knocked back his tenth cerveza of the day...

Had a shaky start here, arriving in Caracas after two back to back flights. Caracas was WELL dodgy; we only spent a couple of hours there but it was enough. Took a 9.5 hour overnight bus to Ciudad Bolivar (quite possibly the hottest, dullest place on Earth - think Chorley but with less activity...) and then a short flight in a five seater plane to Canaima, right over the jungle, which was awesome. Canaima is the jumping-off point for Angel Falls, you can only get there by air and it´s absolutely beautiful - nothing more than a few buildings scattered around a lagoon into which flow four amazing waterfalls. The water is clean and clear but a transparant red/brown colour because of the minerals in the rocks. Went for a swim in the lagoon with an American couple we met which was great... until all four of us got into difficulty. The lagoon bed suddenly dropped off and we were caught in a strong undercurrent caused by the falls. Soon we were all screaming for help, even I was struggling and I´m a strong swimmer. Bob was panicking and I couldn´t reach him; I was convinced he was going to drown. It was absolutely terrifying. We eventually made it to shore with nothing more serious than bruised egos...

Angel Falls was fantastic. We went up river for six hours in a dugout canoe with a motor, navigating rapids, and had to jump out loads of times to pull the boat up through the rocks. Then hiked through the jungle in the rain to the foot of the falls. There was loads of cloud so the views were brief, but sitting there in torrential rain looking up at the falls covered in fog was just superb. Camped overnight in outdoor hammocks and the guide took us out spider-spotting by torchlight, which I think is particularly impressive for me (although true to form I WAS wrapped up to the eyeballs in a sarong and wearing a mosquito headnet, shrieking everytime a bit of nature touched me...). Got ill AGAIN - one piece of dodgy chicken and was yet again bed-ridden for two days. Have also been to Cuevo Del Guacharo, a huge cave, which was amazing. I went back there alone at twilight and sat and watched the 20,000 birds that live in the cave all pouring out of the mouth to feed. It was incredible. We´re on the North coast now, just busing our way from beach town to beach town - the weather is hot (although it rains like a bitch every hour, on the hour), the beer is cold and living is cheap. In short, life is good! Off to Guatemala on Friday so we´re indudging a bit and staying in a resort town tonight - air-con English language cinema with a McDonalds right next door. I could cry with happiness. I shall be spending my birthday (Sunday) in Antigua. Have no idea what the place is like but according to Lonely Planet there´s a club there that plays lots of cheesy Euro-trash. I´m lovin´it already...!

Stay cool guys!

Juan xx