Trekking rocks in south east

We are keeping up the trekking spirit after a light start in the south west and decided to head down to the south eastern corner in Venezuela, bordering to Brazil of all places. On the day of New years eve, we went to Brazil to try the reputive nice, strong, black coffee. We also had the chance to see Brazilian yellow football t-shirts hanging everywhere in the busy little town of La Linea.

And despite of frequent inquiery, no capriña was found on the site, which did upset me a little bit. Apparently, la Linea is too little to be on the travelmap on Facebook. So now you might understand how little it was.?

We met this British/Canadian/Aussi tour group in Santa Elena which is the town bordering to Brazil and also the town from where you trekk up to Roraima which is said to be the best trekk in South America along with the Inka trail and Patagonia in Argentine. This group was quite funny since it consisted of 8 travellers, ranging from 18 (!!) to 65 years old and the 26 year old Canadian chap and tour leader was having a little bit of problems with getting them all to enjoy the same activities. Well, I wouldn´t like to change job with him, yet he kept smiling and was unsuccessfully hitting on less intressted Swedes while showing off with his trained and slightly sun tanned arms. (wonder why he wasn't successful?)

New Years Eve can be summarized in a few crazy sentences. After midnight, me and Lina (Cinthia was sleeping) went to a salsa bar with some parts of this chaps's group (the older section of the group were sleeping at this time). The chap was busy keeping track of everyone; for instance, the very pissed 18-year old (means being drunk for those not understanding the British slang) had lost her purse but seemed to be too busy with her newly found Venezualian boy to look for it any further. (I later found out that her grandfather was her main sponsor for this trip and there were indefinite sources...) The British 30-year old blond girl was making out in the bar with the dready Southafrican, besides Dengue Fever contagious bloke. The Aussi had gone to bed after desperate and unsuccessful tries to hit on every girl he met. He stepped wrong when telling the feminists that they were wonderful people, hating men the way they do. Some people will just not understand feminism.. The Swedes, (Lina and Linda) were trying to keep up the moves of Salsa. Linda was in other words learning by watching and Lina got warm on the dance floor. I liked this watching but was afraid that someone would tap on my shoulder. I just don´t understand how you are supposed to look sexy and sensual and at the same time enjoy dancing when having a man on your side, drooling just by the look at you..? I will have to understand this culture better before I get into salsa. That is one for sure. Maybe some spanish knowledge would help?

The first day of the year means tiredness and a heavy head for everyone I assume? At least it did for me and all food shops were closed til 4 pm so I never got the chance to recover before then. The second day of the year meant Roraima. Roraima is a rocky mountain that has a tripple point on the top, a point which gather three country borders in one point; Brazil, Guyana and Venezuela. Our Indian guide was impressed by our group (3 Swedes, 1 Brit and 1 Austrian long legged guy) since we managed to climb Roraima in 2h and 15 minutes on our second day!

Apparently we were the best group of this year. Well, if one doesn´t get proud of oneself after such a judgement, one should stop trekking I guess... (Note that the trekking was done on Janury the 2nd and that January the 1st is a holiday)

From sunny and humid weather on the foot of Roraima, we encountered rains and cold breeze on the top. I was lucky to bring my gore tech jacket. I had nice days in Roraima and after 5 days without a decent shower or clean clothes, it felt good to be back in the little city of Santa Elena again. I tried my Skanian accent with the girls in one restaurant before leaving the city for Caracas and it sure gave them a good laugh. I might just be the excellent traveller companion when it comes to accents? Don´t know if my mates agree with me here.
Now back in Caracas again. Lina is at the time of writing, waving Cinthia off at the airport and I am tryig my best to cruize around on my own in the city, speaking bits and bits in Spanish... An older bloke in the cafe just asked me if I was French. Don´t understand what he got that from? As if I sound French when I speak Spanish? Hmpf..

Guess I should be leaving, catching up with Lina in a little while. Tomorrow we hit for Colombia. Should I look forward for Sweden? Well not just yet..-

Hasta Luego!
/Lin the blondy