For once a bus actually took less than what it should have and we arrived in Santa Elena de Uairen on the border with Brazil at a silly time in the morning on Friday. This didn't help my mood as my chair on the bus was broken and so I pretty much got no sleep at all.

We got taxis with Tom, a guy who we had met in Caracas and then again in Ciudad Bolivar, to a hostel but had to wait outside for around an hour until it actually opened because it was so early. At 630am we were let in and we got a 5 bed room to ourselves because the price was so cheap, and all crashed out straight away we were so tired, despite having something else slightly on my mind!

When we woke up I walked around in a bit of a daze for an hour or so before I was finally able to call Katie to find out about the result. D-Day had come around fast over the last few days and when the moment actually arrived I felt sick to the pit of my stomach, so I can't imagine how poor Hutch felt!

Thankfully, what I knew all along was confirmed and with Hutch outside RBG and me sat in a small reception in a hostel on the Venezuelan-Brazilian border we had a surreal and tearful chat about everything we were gonna do now that we knew she had passed! After asking around at different tour operators we had been successful in organising our own tailor made couple of days into the Gran Sabana region where we now were, and which is famous for all it's tepuis.

On Saturday, after literally getting cash back from Mystic Tours because more people had been recruited to come in our jeep, we set off on a bumpy ride west into the national park and after an hours hike we reached the 'abyss' - where the top of the tepuis and the Gran Sabana ends and the steep cliff gives way to the Amazon jungle and Brazil. It was a brilliant view out across the rainforest, and we could even make out small pockets of rain over the different shades of green. On our way back we stopped for a swim and jumped in a couple of waterfalls and then headed back to Santa Elena through the thunderstorm that had finally caught up with us.

Sunday was a slightly different kind of day in the car where we just drove along the main highway stopping off at various points to see gorgeous views of the Sabana and yet more waterfalls, whilst trying in vain to avoid being bitten by evil puri puri flies - miniscule flies for which there is no repellent and which draw little spots of blood as they bite!

Venezuela really has been like no other country that I have travelled in. The money situation means that if you came here unplanned you would get screwed. Without any Spanish too, you really would struggle to get through a country in which tourism is still growing. Having said all that though, the natural beauty of the place is unquestionable and we have been able to make it through and with a bit of luck had a superb 10 days or so.

We woke up casually on Monday thinking we knew what we were going to do to cross the border to Brazil. However a last minute change of heart to try and save some money prompted a race against time that to be honest was doomed to failure from the moment the taxi taking us to the border started to practically smoke and break down, struggling to get above 40mph!

A kilometer walk through 'no mans land' between passport controls (only after the lights in Venezuela customs had gone out) didn't then help and by the time we reached the Brazilian side we were just too late for our only bus south to Boa Vista. Rather than have to trek back into Venezuela we were able to jump in a minivan for not too much more than the bus and our man sped like a bullet through the remote green savannah either side of us and got us in to Boa Vista bus station in no time at all!

What was clear already, after only a few hours in Brazil, is how different the Portuguese is to the Spanish that we have been speaking over the last 2 months (I don't care what anyone says, right now we basically know nada and are useless!!).

Out little adventure continued when we were told that all the buses on to Manaus were fully booked and that there wasn't a single seat left that night, with the next one not available until 8pm the following day! Why? Because yet again we have come through a country when its a frickin extended national holiday!! It was a nightmare scenario which meant we would have to spend a night in a place that isn't even in the guidebook, and that we would be travelling on Claires birthday.

With a bit of creative thinking, we hung around the bus station for a couple of hours to see if anyone didnt turn up for the 8pm and 9pm departures. At 930pm we hit gold and there was 4 spaces so we should have been all set, but a couple of other a******* travellers somehow got in front of us and took 2 of the free seats. It wasn't ideal but still better than all 4 of us being stuck in the middle if nowhere, and so Staff and Claire took the 2 remaining seats and gave the other couple a well deserved ear bashing! That left Riggers and I to take a flyer on a cheap hotel in the centre and then walk through the deserted streets trying to find somewhere to eat!!

After one hell of a day on Monday the two of us had a well deserved lie in on Tuesday morning and then ventured out into the unknown again to try and put the day to good use. Literally everywhere seemed shut for the holiday and so we had to resort to buying some sort of lunch from a petrol station, before spending 3 exciting hours in an Internet cafe which we were lucky to find along the same road!

The final event in this bizarre town came at tea when, despite there only being 2 tables to serve, the waiter messed up our order and we ended up eating another gringo couples food right in front of them. We were a little confused when separate orders of chicken lasagne and canneloni came as one big plate to share and had steak, chips and rice - but we ate it anyway!!

And so, after a strange old 48 hours or so, we finally set off on the bus to Manaus and the heart of the Amazon, but only after we got humiliated at a police control point at 4am by being dragged off the bus just for being gringos and having to empty our whole bag, as well as them cutting open one of my souvenir salt dice from Bolivia to check that I wasn't smuggling drugs inside it!