We had breakfast and prepared to travel back to Merida. Alan's dog knew that he was going and started to shake. The crossing was a lot calmer and we were rewarded with a sighting of some river dolphins. We took an alternative route back through the Andes to Merida, stopping at a river to observe the vultures. Liz was not feeling well and sat in the van. One good thing about Venezuela is the coffee. We went to a coffee museum to have some fantastic coffee and...

We were due to set off back today, Alan however gutted at the poor lightening offered the option of staying another day. Today was more promising blue sky started to appear an important factor for getting the temperature on the lake up. Alan lives and breaves electric storms, his house is the best place for these storms and when he isn't taking tourists out is going out himself to observe and photograph. He has an impressive collection of lightening photos that ...

It was a very cold night; surprising as we are at sea level 7 degrees off the equator on a lake with very warm water. The temperature and lack of wind was blamed for the below par lightening show last night. This camp marked the furthest point for the other tour but being with Alan we were going further into the lake and the epicenter for the lightening. Alan decided that the morning was the least likely time to bump into any pirates though he said he had never...

Time to spill the beans on where we are going - Catatumbo on Lake Maracaibo. This will probally not mean much to most people and it didn't to me either until recently. If you type Catatumbo into google you will probally see references to lightening, remote stilted villages and wildlife. In fact further digging indicates that this area has the most intensive lightening in the world, up to 20,000 bolts of lightening per night during the wet season. It is a phenomin...

I got up early and lay in the hammock with coffee from Belize to watch the sun rise above the mountains and reflect on the Venezuelan experience. Some statistics suggest that Venezuela has the highest crime and Caracas the highest murder rate in the world. What makes Venezuela particulary scary for most travellers is the police corruption, you seem to be just as likely to be a victim at the hands of the police than the people. The fear of crime has affected our...