Latin America 2004 - 2005

Where am I - Still in Venezuela?

Isla Margarita was a gas - 16 days of Sun, Salsa and well...ah hem, Rum, but more of that later, things to do.

I spent 2 hard days, slogging across the hot, dry plains of Venezuela from Puerto de la Cruz to get here. Being stopped every couple of hours and having all my stuff pulled apart by fascists, (sort it out Chavez), was a bit of a pain. I have learnt, also, to make the best of these situations. My aims are;

I arrived in the "City of Eternal Spring" more infamously known as the home of Pablo Escobar and the Medellin drugs cartel at a strange time. The city has far more about it than the latter, and a sensationalist and egotistical article in the National Geographic was causing ructions amongst these hard-working, ingenious and friendly people.

Love him or loath him, one thing's for sure, he's dead and buried...

En route from Merida to Cucuta at the Colombian border and thence to Bogota, seven bridges had washed away or collapsed as a result of the same flooding that had so devastated Caracas whist I was lying low on Margarita.

Two of the crossings required getting wet, and on the last one I nearly lost it all, as I became stuck and the fast moving water, rising to my thighs, threatened to stall the engine and topple me. It certainly entertained the locals, though.

In 2 days, the 31st of March, I leave South America after journeying across her for 6 months. I have seen wonderful places, but it is the people who I have met along the way that I will remember. They have changed my life forever.

My journey has not finished, however, and after a voyage by sailboat lasting six days via the San Blas Islands, I will continue rapidly through Cental America where I will begin my voluntary work, in Guatemala.

The excerpts here are but a fraction of my written journals, and I hope to continue adding to this blog from time to time to time.