We got dropped off at the bus station in Morocoy where we hoped we could get a bus to Puerto Columbia. After extensive research this was one of the few places that had both a gorgeous beach and somewhere pleasant to stay near the beach. Asking the locals about the bus got 'not possible' answers. Eventually we figured out with the aid of a newspaper (that they were pointing to) that there had been a landslide in the mountains cutting off the place.

The locals suggested taking the only other road through the mountains to an adjacent coastal village called Cata Ocumare from where we could catch a boat.

A heap of a bus was located that was going there. The blog picture is of a relatively nice bus in Belize. I am a bit nervous about getting out an iPhone in these places so I do not have any pictures to show. As in most of Latin America it was an ex American school bus with the customary custom paint job that had been partly burnt off at the front from a possible earlier engine fire. It was an interesting bus inside positively oozing Venezuelan personallity - the more you looked the more you saw.

I chose a seat behind the rear doors that were jammed shut with a bucket. This gave me plenty of leg room without going through surgery to have them removed.

The music was cranked up and off we went. The first bend that we took at break neck speed revieled the problem with the seat - it was not fixed to the supports. It wasn't long before Morocoy was behind us and with the good local music I was enjoying the travelling experience.

The route took us through the mountainous Henry Pittier national park. Despite being only 100km from Caracas it is home to lots of wildlife including the elusive Jaguar.

Chances of seeing any wildlife were very remote what with the music and the drivers preferred technique of using the horn on the numerous blind hairpin bends - but it was fun.

At the borders of the park the music was turned off and we pulled off the road. The locals looked a bit edgy and so was I when only the men were beckoned out of the bus by the army. For some unknown reason only then were the women allowed off. The army then searched the bus and performed random search of the luggage, they were particuary keen to have a really good look at the bag Liz handed to me just before starting the search.

With the army happy we continued with the journey through the very nice national park to even more frequent horn blowing and the loud Latino music.

The destination was reached in a lot less time than the book suggested. We were dropped off at the village green (though it looked more like brown earth). There were no clues as to what direction to head for either a boat or somewhere to stay. We obviously looked a bit lost so a group of locals on a day trip from Caracas came over to help. We followed them as they were going in the same direction and they bought us both beers for the walk.

It was a longish walk, once I finished off mine another was bought. No one seemed to know where the place we wanted to stay was and the last boat had gone. They suggested staying at the place they were going to. It turned out to be twice the price we normally pay but we were interested in the way the evening was going so decided to stay there also. On the plus side it had a nice pool but sadly there was no water in the taps and it was almost impossible to get back into the room even with the key.

What followed was very sureal, Angel, Angelena, Fatimar and a name I just couldn't say invited us to the beach. We forgot the hotel issues and went down to join them. They made us feel at home by warning us first about the crime, all we had with us was a half empty bottle of cheap sun tan lotion (that we hoped would get nicked). Despite them watching all their stuff on the same table, looking away would result in them reinacting a guy snatching the lotion and running for it.

The beach was pretty busy with locals as it was the weekend. The local women wear what we last saw in Rio -fondly termed dental floss (very little). We all chipped in for a crate of beers and various local dishes from the beach vendors. We were faciated in them and they were facinated in us. Despite the language barrier they wanted to tell us about themselves and wanted to know why we were vegetarians and without children.

They were really sweet giving me and Liz bracelets to remember them by. They really wanted us to take lots of pictures of them to make sure we didn't forget them, a theme that continued throughout the day and evening when we were invited out to the restaurant. We found it a wonderful 'experience' though having been travelling for 16 hours and two days without being in a bed we were pretty knackered - we made for bed pronto.