Hello it's me again!

As promised by Nick, last week was a fun filled adventure but first he's asked me to tell you how cheap fuel is over here. It's about 0.07bolivars for 1 litre of 91 octane - that's less than 2p per litre. So there you go!!

Anyway ... last week after returning from Los Llanos on Tuesday we decided to stay in Merida until Sunday. Merida's a lovely place with a really nice atmosphere, lots of students and amazing scenery. Sort of like Sheffield if it was dragged to the equator and elevated by a couple of thousand metres!!!

The day immediately after getting back we were both pretty knackered, so after a morning of internetting and clothes washing we headed out to the hot springs at Tabay, a village about 45mins outside Merida. These springs have been turned into a sort of mini leisure complex with a shallow, tiled pool, natural sauna, changing rooms and seating area. While they were nice they were nothing spectacular and we actually forgot to take any photos!! We didn't stay there long anyway as quite a few people started to arrive and the loud music that is obligatory in any public space in Venezuela was starting to annoy us! So we headed back to Merida for a quiet night in to prepare ourselves for ....

CANYONING!!!!! This was brilliant fun. We were driven up a nearby mountain and dressed up in wetsuits with our trainers. We then followed the route of a river down the mountainside. This meant wading through waist deep water, scrambling over rocks, sliding down small waterfalls, jumping of steep waterfalls and abseiling down the high waterfalls!!! I think the highest waterfall we abseiled down was about 35metres.

Nick was the hero when he rescued one of the guides! We'd just jumped down a waterfall that had a very strong under tow at the bottom. The first guide pulled us all out after we'd jumped and started walking off. I followed him only to turn around and see Nick pulling the second guide out of the waterfall again! He'd slipped back in and was getting pulled under by the current! The trip lasted about 3 hours in total which was just right as by the end I was shivering with cold and my feet were numb - Nick was fine of course! It was great fun anyway and I definately recommend it but only do it in a hot country (preferably in hot water too!!)

Unfortunately as we were soaked to the skin the whole time we couldn't take any photos - the camera would have been soaking wet and smashed to pieces!! But trust me, it was great!!

That evening we sampled street food for the first time and I'm pleased to say it was delicious and we both survived! We had pinchos (a kebab with chicken, beef and salami), fried potatoes and a cachapa (a pancake made with sweetcorn and filled with cheese and ham) - delicious.

The next day we travelled further afield to sample La Musui hot springs. That meant an hour 45min bus ride followed by an hour 15mins walk up hill to approx. 3600m. We were accompanied on our journey by a dog who met us at the bottom of the mountain and guided us all the way to the springs in exchange for some of our lunch. These springs were much better than the ones in Tabay. A natural spring with a natural stone wall to dam the water and make a pool. We were the only people there and because we were at a high altitude the air was cooler making the hot springs even better.

Unfortunately we feel like we wasted the next day a bit but we were both so tired we just spent the day sitting in the square near our Posada, reading and talking. We both felt that we should have been taking advantage of the beautiful scenery and going for another walk but my legs wouldn`t let us!!

We did manage a walk the next day though (from Tabay into Mucuy National Park) before we got the night bus back to Caracas. A very pleasant walk to end to our time in Merida.

So, now we`re back at the Castro's house in Caracas ready to fly to Equador tomorrow! Country number 2 here we come!!