From the debpts to the highs and a new low too

After the days fiasco in the bank, I went back to the Pousada, I am in. They were running a tour that I wanted to go on, So I thought I will try my spare credit card to see if it will work. I was afraid it would not, as I had tried a few times to get money with it and was afraid it would be blocked. I tried to ring the bank but the number cuts out each time as I try to enter my pin no. The card worked though. Thank god! WHAT A RELIEF!

I was able to pay my pousada and book on the tour. This means I can try at the bank also. I reasoned that it would take a few days for the credit card to come and that I needed to test my spare credit card again to see how bad my situation was. It appeared quite dire earlier. However, as I could pay by credit card and go on the tour it meant that for 4 days my food would be sorted and all accommodation and I would be seeing part of Venezuela that has got some rave reviews. This would be a lot better than sitting around Merida spending the few dollars and bolivar I have, waiting for days for a card. Admittedly I had to pay 14% extra for the pleasure of using my card. crap!! But I had no choice.

21Apr
So I left first thing next morning. I took my fone thinking of texting later but the area we went to had no signal. I was a bit wary, as I was to be with 4 Polish and I thought they might just talk to between themselves.. However, my fears were totally quashed when I meant them next morning. One of the girls came up and introduced herself as Yolita. When she heard I was Irish, we had loads to talk about. She works for a company that has associations with Dell Computers and the Irish Dell office helped set up the office in Poland. So she has been to Cork and Limerick a lot and loves it. The others (Lydja, Isabella and Marios) were also lovely and spoke English excellently. Carlo was to be our guide. Gina, the French Canadian in the office agreed to accept my card for me if it came. We had a 7 hour drive to Los Llanos. Along the way, we stopped at a lake high up in the Andes and passed through some Andean villages. The drive was spectacular. And Carlo pointed out animals and birds as we drove. We went up the mountains, where it was actually quite cold then descended to the Sabana like hot dry plains of Los Llanos, encountering a waterfall a, cloud forest and then flat dry scrub lands. most amazing landscape. We saw some monkeys and stopped to photograph them. I was having such a good time and my worries of the previous day drifted away with each kilometre but of course things were going way too well. That was when I realised my camera had stopped working. Yes!! The camera I have waited over 5 weeks to have delivered doesn't work anymore. It worked earlier in the day but now no. A new camera 3 weeks old. I thought something was wrong the day I got it but it seemed to resolve itself, once I turn the camera off and then back on but not this time. Oh no not this time. Can you believe it. I dare not ask myself what else can go wrong.

As we neared the camp, we were to stay at, a driver coming from the opposite direction pointed at something. Which Carlo immediately identified as a giant Anteater. It was huge and just strolling across the plains, licking up ants with its gynormous tongue. As we came to a bridge, Carlo left us out at a river, each bank crowded with Caimans. Unreal! It was near sunset when we arrived at the river. it was feeding time. Birds, caiman and capibara were coming to drink and feed. The best thing was this was 1 minute from where we were to stay. Our view at dinner and breakfast was watching about 50 Caiman feasting on Pirahna etc. Caiman are like crocodiles but have a smaller mouth/nose and do not grow to be as big. Maybe a few metres. Capibara, these are like brown guinea pigs but are the size of a pig and not necessarily a small one. they can reach a size of 60KG. About my weight. But they are cute, even if they are the biggest rodent in the world. And they are vegetarians. We had a lovely dinner at the camp and then after a few hours chinwagging went to bed in our bungalow. Well actually bed was a hammock. The hut\bungalow was circular with a big pole in the centre and the 5 hammocks were connected to the central pole and then the other end was attached to the wall of the hut/bungalow. I love hammocks.There was not other furniture. Basic but we had a great sleep. Well until the dogs woke us at 5am chasing cows.