Venezuala the land of oil, big cars, beauty queens and cheap plastic surgery

Ok one of my NY resolutions was to get back into blogging so here i am, all fresh to go with lots to tell...Currently am in the pretty colonial town of Corro in Venezuala! My fav town so far..Tomorrow i'm off to colombia as i have heard very good reports that the scenery is spectacular and people really friendly (those that don't want to kidnap you, ok bad joke) . While i've enjoyed Venezuala the people are sometimes 'hard work' in that they are not overly friendly or helpful.

In Greece
From Delhi it was a flight back into the 'normal' western world. Greece, where i managed to score my dream job in 4 days after some ´dock walking´. I was skippering yachts for a charter company in Greece and was getting paid quite well to basically sail to fantastic islands (there is almost a 1000 all up in Greece alone), swim, eat and entertain! My clients were from France, Spain, US and Canada (this charter was moir and 7 girls, tough job i know!) The yachts i sailed were really well appointed and ranged from 40ft to 50ft. Every trip was on a different yacht. I got to meet some great people and did some visiting after the season in france and spain. The season in Greece ended in October and i spent a couple of months (and way too much money) travelling through Italy, Spain, France and Portugal. I really loved Rome and Barcelona. Rome for the impressive ruins and Barcelona for the funky scene. Lisbon was also a great laid back city. As impressed as i was with all the history and culture i was missing the outdoors, guess u can take a aussie out of australia but u can´t take the australia out of the aussie! So it was then off to answer the calling of the jungles and mountains in Venezuala where i´ve been since the start of December.

Venezuala
Petrol here is about 20cents a litre! However new cars and spare parts are heavily taxed so what u get is a lot of really old big cars that are falling apart...Once on a bus trip there seemed to be a constant string of broken down cars or bits of cars on the roads including a fuel tank that fell off a old truck in front of us! Anyway during my time here i have:

• Survived 2 days in crazy Caracas which is like a India meets America. Hung out in a great fishing village called Puerto colombia surrounded by the jungle of Henri Pitter national park.


• Went on tour in the catacombs which is a huge lake where villages are built on stilts and the area is famous for its nightly lightening shows. The tributaries are full of monkeys, birds and the hugest butterflies u have ever seen. Our guide was a renowned butterfly expert and teller of really bad jokes.
  
• Survived election madness. Elections were held a couple of weeks ago and political fever gripped the country at some times fanatical levels. There was utter chaos in the streets with convoys of cars, trucks and utes complete with pa systems in the tray blasting out salsa music crusing the streets. Not to mention the constant explosions of firecrackers being set off by kids. The chavez government got back in which was a relief as no one was quite sure what would happen if it didn´t.
  
• Spent 6 hard days doing a solo hike in from the mountains of Andes to the low lands. The trek when through this great semi-abandoned village called El Carrizel, complete with church, school and a village square. It was 2 days walk from the nearest road surrounded by the jungle. Also meet some great permacutlure people that were looking for native bees that are being threatened by the introduction of african killer bees. Hung out yet again in great student town and adventure capital called Merida.
  
  
• Finally just did a great hike up MT Roramia which was the inspiration for Arthur Conyan Doyle´s novel, ´the lost world´. It took 4 days and involved walking through a lot of hot open country (thank god for mp3) then scrambling through the jungle to the top. I went with a interesting American couple (Elane is teaching english and Ethan is doing his masters in oceanography) and our compulsory guide, Ray. Unfortunately Ethan developed a fever on the way to the base camp so didn´t make it to the top. I ended up spending two days camped on the top. I wasn´t alone as there were heaps of groups up there (some 4000 people climb up every year)!
  
  


• Hitchhiked from Santa Elena, 15ks from the Brazilian border to El Pauj, which is a little community 70ks down a dirt track famous for honey and diamond and gold mining. Travelled with a Argentinian guy, Pablo who is a splitting image of Che Guavera. Had some interesting rides on the back of battered old landcruisers and found that venezualians drink almost as much beer as aussies but only when their driving!
  
  
  
• From El Pauji we walked to the Albasimo, where the grann sabana ends and the amazon begins. It was spectacular.


• Finally for new years got ''adopted'' at the bus station by a local family and spent it with them and their huge extended family in their village called La Cruz in the mountains. It was lots of fun and total spanish immersion as no one in the village spoke any english! Its funny over here as the celebrations don't really start until after 12 and then the salsa and dancing starts...

Ok that's a biggie but have caught up now. Stay tuned for colombia coming soon!
Damon ..