Good news finally!!

20April
Got the dates wrong in the previous blog.
Breakfast was lovely. Fresh fruit, some great scrambled eggs with peppers and seasoning, Arepas, which are kind of like pitta bread but made from cornmeal and I can eat them. GREEEEEEAT. All the better as we were so close to nature and were able to watch the Caiman swimming in the river and chomping on the fish they caught. We could hear the bones break as they ate them. The capibara were roaming around the river as well taking their morning wash. Several birds came in to breakfast near the caiman and often stood about a foot away. Mind you these were the larger birds like herons or hawks.
Carlo drove us to our boat and we all loaded in. Two of the sons of the camp owner came with us to help Carlo. Sixteen year old Michael and Andy, all of 11 years. We saw the most amazing birds. It was beautiful to see the odd bird perched on some of the dead tee branches that had fallen in teh river watching for prey with their wings outstretched and beaks at the read. There were some great photogenic moments. At one point we neared the bank to get closer to some caiman sunbathing. There was an almighty splash and Michael and Andy were running through the bushes chasing caiman. They caught one and brought it over for a foto. The creatures felt odd to the touch. Later Michael spied a turtle and we circled around for about 10 minutes looking for it. Then Carlo disappeared in to the piranha infested water and reappeared with the turtle in his arms. He brought it aboard and the others took turns to have their fotos with it. I touched it but didn't want to hold it. I don't agree with the creature being handed around for fotos. One foto should be sufficient with Carlo holding it. It is distressing for the poor thing to be held for so long. Moving along the river, caiman were everywhere. Magnificent birds were a dime a dozen. Later we saw the humpback of a Pink dolphin and Michael circled the boat again. Apparently dolphins seduced by the engine and follow behind it. Carlo´s comment was that so are women and started to sing this popular Reggaeton song, I had first heard in Jeri about gasoline etc. What can you say to that...
We must have seen about 10 dolphins. One of them even jumped out of the water. They are called pink dolphins because, although they are grey when young, as they get older, they develop pink pigmentation on their skin from eating some types of fish. Carlo told us that when the dolphins are around, it is safe to swim in the water, as the piranhas and caiman keep well clear of the dolphins. The dolphin herd the piranhas into a section of the river and then use ultrasound to paralyse the fish for a few seconds before killling them. The dolphin use their noses to strike at the heart in the soft underbelly of the caiman and this kills them.

As we were heading home, we saw a family of giant otters playing in the water. They were so cute and we were very fortunate to see them. Lunch was ready when we arrived and was devoured. We had a few hours before the next item, so we snoozed or read or watched the wildlife around the river.

At 3.30, after coffee, we went in search of Anaconda, in the University farm close by. We girls rode on the roof of the van, which gave us a brilliant view of the landscape, as we drove through. It was just flat lands, the odd group or solitary tree, herds of Capybara, some deer and as this was farm land, many Brahma cows and waterbuffalo roaming around. Of course the birds added to the mix. It was just incredible. It felt like being on one of the safaris in the movies.

Anacondas are not poisonous snakes but constrict and swallow their prey and have rather sharp teeth. They can reach 9 metres and rumours of 12 meter anacondas exist. They like shallow lakes, with lots of capybaras, caiman etc. where they can hide in the mud and overlying vegetation and pounce on their prey at will. Carlo, Michael and Andy and another friend of Andy's, Antonio who must have been about 9, removed their footwear and waded into water. They used sticks to agitate the water and force any anacondas to move position. Well before long, a male of 2 metres was found. Micheal grabbed it by the tail and dragged it out of the water with Carlo helping. He then tried to grab its head before it bit him, using his baseball cap and the stick to distract the snake. Once successful we took turns holding its middle or having fotos of the snake around their necks. I didn't bother not because of fear but it had been held long enough. I thought that was it but 10 minutes later Michael found another. This time a female about 2.5 to 3 metres long. Carlo was too far away, so Isabella helped him get it out of the water. However, the poor creature was so distressed that it peed all over the place. Andy took the tail and then tried to get its head. He had never done this before. You could see he was nervous but he knew what to do and eventually was successful. He was so delighted and the others congratulated him. It was special for him. While Antonio and Andy held the tail and head respectively, I held it`s weight in the centre. I couldnt believe how strong or heavy she was. She kept trying to twist herself around our arms etc. Carlo showed us the little claws that they have and that during copulation, the mail holds the females claws. Also both the snakes had various scars where they had been scratched by caiman they had tried to kill. We all wanted to let her go, as they had all had their foto with the male. Right now it is the mating season and really we shouldn't be touching them at all or at least not for as long as we did but... It was cool to lift the snake. I thought they would feel differently. I guess now I can see their beauty but I still don't want to meet one when out walking. On the way out, we saw some cocks/rooseters fighting each other. Carlo said they were just training how to fight,l as their claws had been protected so they could not kill each other. Cock fighting seems to be popular here.

We rode back to camp on the roof and showered. We then met the new tour group that had arrived. There as Greg from France who was with Nina from Caracas, Venezuela. They had met 10 months ago over the internet and this was their first few weeks together. They seemed like a really lovely couple and were good fun. There were 2 guys from London who were also quite nice. They were a couple I think. Their guide, Tony Martin is actually mentioned by name in the Lonely planet. He was quite an interesting chap. as an introduction to Venezuela, I have been reading this book about Rudy Truffino, a Dutch man, who was one of the first guides to Angel falls. He also built Canaima and Ucaima, 2 camps near the falls. Canaima is now a town. He arrived in Caracas in the early 50s and personally knew the man who discovered Angel Falls. He was a true pioneer and man of adventure, without fear. He learned to speak Pemon the language of the Pemon indians. It is incredible reading. Tony mentioned that he was a guide in the Gran Sabana and Angel Falls back in the early 90s and as Rudy Truffino was still alive at that time, I asked Tony if he knew him. Well of course he did and knew many of his peers too. He had even seen the letter that Jimmy Angel wrote describing his plane crash and subsequent discovery of Angel Falls as a result. I was suitably impressed. We had a lovely evening all of us and called it a night at about 10.30.

21April
This morning we had horse riding. I love riding but these animals were very difficult to move. Also my horse kept tripping over his own feet or in the holes in the ground, as the ground was hard. at one stage the poor animals face was an inch form the ground. I didnt fall off but... it put me off trying to go too fast on the hard uneven surface. After some kicking and a few cracks of the rope, I got my horse to trot. It was the most any of us succeeded in doing. There was a point when I thought I could try for a faster pace but I was not sure which direction we were taking. I think I could have got him to go but alas. It was an ok morning but a bit dull. I thought my scar from my last riding experience might get opened up again but no. It has healed well and 2 weeks in the salt water in Margarita worked its wonders.

Later in the afternoon, we went fishing, for Piranhas. If they caught you they would rip the skin off your body in a few minutes. They are not so big about 6 inches but vicious teeth. Even when their head was cut off they could still bite for a few more minutes. I didn't catch any piranha. I was a bit disappointed. I had lots of nibbles but never quite got them on to the river bank. I did catch 2 other fish, 1 about a foot long but we threw them back, as they are full of bones and only the Piranha were wanted for tonights dinner. It was nice though to be by the river as the sun went down and watch the birds flying around. A caiman did bite Marios hook and we thought we were going to get that in but no it escaped. CArlo took us to a tree where the scarlet Ibis sleep and we watched hundreds of them come in. the scarlet Ibis start as white birds, then after 2 years become black and finally this vivid scarlet colour. These were my favourite. The colour is just so beautiful.
Dinner was great as 2 more french came. So now wer were 12 and Tony and his girlfriend and Carlo. The Piranha were tasty and Tony told us that the heads were the most powerful aphrodisiac. hmmm
That evening a local gent, named Titi came to the camp and sang and played traditional songs on his quatro (like a 4 string small guitar). It was brilliant. Tony and Carlo sang also and took the pee out of each other in verse. Rosa was one of the cooks and is not a small lady. Greg the French man is not a small guy but got Rosa to dance. Oh it was hilarious. Tony said he was like a sumo wrestler. but Greg was such a good laugh and had everyone in stitches. It was a really good night.

22AprilToday said goodbye to the others and Carlo drove us back to Merida after dropping the Polish gang off in Barinitas.The drive was uneventful but it gave me a chance to view the Andean villages from a different perspective as we took a different road for a while and I was in the passenger seat. We had a chat about his plans for his farm that he has bought near the camp we stayed at. At present. the camp accepts people from different tour groups sometimes this creates a bit of tension between the guides. Carlo gets on with Tony but some of the other guides don't as Tony can appear like he owns the place but he is older and has been there a long time. I found him quite good company and more social than Carlo. Albeit Carlo is a good guide too and fun to be with. The idea of Carlos farm would be that it it only exclusively caters to the Guamanchi agency he works for. Also it would be an ecological and biological centre and that universities could use it for courses etc. Pretty ambitious but I think Carlo can pull it off.

Carlo told me about his 6 year old daughter who now lives in Spain. I have found that a lot of men here have kids but are not with the mother. Sometimes the child or children are far away. It seems to be very acceptable to have a kid with someone and then move on but still be a parent to the kids. I know this happens at home too but most I know entered the relationship thinking this might be the one and then it doesn't work out not thinking this definitly isn't the one.
Tony I know moved cities to be with his 2 daughters and had been 13 years with their mother. But others seem to have kids and view relationships as very temporary. They seem to enter relationships, have kids without thinking that maybe they don't want to spend a long time with this person and so should try not to get pregnant. I know accidents happen but Carlo told me that Michael was now looking for a women to have kids with. He is 16.
My emergency card has not arrived

23April
Well today has been a very good day, despite the fact that the emergency card didn't come over the last few days. I rang mastercard and they said the card should arrive today. Also, my friend Sue rang the Cooperative bank for me. The spare visa card I have is from them, as is my debit card. I tried ringing them numerous times but the number kept cutting out each time I entered my pin no. So I was petrified to use it in case I lost the one means I have of paying for anything. One of the customer service ladies, a northern lass, gave Sue their personal work no to call. Oh my god what a relief. She was sooooooooo lovely. Give me English and Irish customer services any day. The US has been ok but...

My pin no had been blocked even though I had used the pin only 2 times but because the people here are not familiar with chip & pin nos, they put the transaction in as a signature transaction getting me to sign for it. This probably caused the blocking. Apparently I can unblock myself through cash machines. Hmmm this has to be tried to be believed but now I know that I can press the # key when I try to ring the bank in future. Even my mobile phone wont work. I tried calling the banks from my fone but to no avail. I have 3 numbers for my voicemail but I cant access them via my fone or any other landline.
I found out my debit card hadn't worked because they had sent me a new one even though the date on the card is the end of April.

I mean so many little things all working against me. Too many coincidences. The gods must be seeking revenge for something. Still trying to figure out what. I work on my karma all the time and try to be nice to people but shit still happens. I must have been really bad in my previous lifetime, hmm maybe I was a really nasty, sexist man or a lawyer or a dodgy estate agent or car salesperson... ha ha... oops only joking...

So I ran off to the bank that I know works. Low and behold, it worked. I got cash. Oh the sheer joy of having a card that works in an ATM. Whey hey.... Life is good again.
I rang my Irish bank acc too and got a lovely lady called Ber there. Apparently there are 5 or 6 transactions in Caracas and Maturin that were done on 29Mar, mostly for approx 300 Euros each . I was in Puerto La Cruz. I was never in either of those 2 cities, so it is lucky that the card was blocked because of restaurant owners stupidity. When I had rung the bank a few weeks ago, these hadn't appeared. This amounts to over 1000 Euros. I had asked my balance when this thing started and was gobsmacked how little I had left but now I know why. So now I have to fill in loads of forms and check each of my accounts thoroughly, when I can access them that is, to identify the errant transactions. What a palaver. Bad Karma on those that did this.

My Life lessons!!! Ask customer services how to bypass the computer greetings, before travelling long-term. I had taken all the external UK and Irish nos and still there were problems. Oh and tell them you are going away. Not that that helps too much.
And NEVER NEVER NEVER use more than one card in the same machine and try to use ones inside banks not on external walls.

I have had to ask a lot of people for help these last few weeks. I don't like asking people as you know. but I would rather ask one or 2 things of people and spread it around rather than asking a lot of one person. So thanks alphabetically to Dad, Irene, Maudie, Patricia, Ruth, Sue and advance thanks to Robert (as he will be bringing about 5 credit and debit cards over and a new camera. Hopefully....). I still cant believe how much went wrong when I had 5 different cards to work with and not one stolen from my possession. I mean how??????????? In 5 minutes so much went wrong, when I was normally sooooooooooooooo careful. aaaaaaaarrrrrrrrgggggggghhhhh. What a nightmarish 3 weeks. and then my cameras... I mean what IS going on??????? But as long as I can get money the rest will work itself out. I still have some disposable cameras left. As Moira put it, I need better Mojo... or maybe I need to find it.

I guess because I didn't get to dance to the Austin Powers theme tune in Margarita, like we do in Vass, my mojo found something else to do...

Hey Austin baby!!! Find my Mojo...

This evening, when I arrived in my room, I sat on my tshirt. I heard a noise and remembered I had left my camera under my teshirt with the lens extended to use up the battery. I tried to see what more damage had been caused but lo and behold, my camera started working and I was able to take fotos. Unbelievable. My mojo must be back....
24April
Today. I wandered around Merida. My card had still not come. as I was walking around I saw this man with a bird in a small cage and underneath a drawer with lottery tickets. The idea being that the bird would pick the ticket for you. I have seen everything now.
I went in search of a ice-cream parlour that is in the guinness book of records for making the most flavours of ice-cream approx 800.

I was tempted to try tuna, hot dog or even shrimp but settled for avocado, mushrooms in wine, black bean and cinnamon. Ok the last one was because I figured I had to have something I knew liked. The mushroom was surprisingly nice when I had expected the avocado to be nicer. didn't really like the black bean either.
Merida is a nice town very laid back and gentle. I like it.