Hi folks, I'm back! I left you the last time safely ensconced in the Iberia business lounge in Madrid airport where I had to wait about 10 hours for my flight as all earlier flights had been delayed or cancelled due to the French strike (bloody typical!). I was so close to home and civilization (well, England!) and after that nightmare of a 48-hour period trying to get out of Venezuela, was gasping for a proper cuppa tea! Not going to happen that easily as whoeve...

Good fortune never lasts forever…. Well, the stopover in Quito didn't exactly go according to plan. I have quite possibly had the worst 48 hours ever where everything that possibly could go wrong, has! Having travelled at least once a week every week for 2 years while in Singapore, I thought I was a fairly seasoned traveller but nothing could have prepared me for what was about to happen! After some very sweet goodbyes in Los Roques on Sunday morning, I board...

After spending another night in a hotel near the airport in Caracas, I set off on Thursday morning for my last few nights in Venezuela - in Los Roques. I was slightly apprehensive that I indeed had everything booked as, after much research and emailing, I had secured an excellent deal. As it's so small, all of the posadas run on a full-board basis and I had managed to find a place that a) hadn't charged me extra for being alone (the others wanted to charge me 30%...

After 4 hours of much-needed sleep I was headed to the airport again for a flight to Merida, ready for my wildlife adventure. As you know, I hadn't had much luck to date with the old wildlife - saw nothing in any of the jungles I'd been to or the Pantanal in Brazil. Of course, the Galapagos made up for it all but that's not the point! So, I had high hopes for this little excursion. I was due to spend the day and night in the town of Merida which I was looking for...

So, Venezuela - a land renowned mainly for its president, Hugo Chavez, but for all the wrong reasons. He keeps himself well in the news, mainly due to his aid and support for left-wing candidates and regimes in other countries while crime and poverty in his own country get worse and worse. Venezuela is also famous for its beauty queens as it has more Miss Universes than any other country (4) and 5 Miss Worlds plus countless other obscure titles (btw, what IS the ...