The journey to Venezuela was touching though; after nearly two hours of sleep at Noble Square, I found myself drinking champagne in the airplane, watching a tear-jerking French movie and smiling to the steward from Air France, who served up vegan delights throughout my 8 hours long journey (well not for the entire trip). Arriving in Caracas was even more touching if you don´t mind that your luggage is lost in Paris or that people don´t speak French to you. The best part was with no doubt the two good looking Suecas (female Swedes) that greeted me in the arrival hall with a nice sign saying “Välkommen Linda (=Welcome Linda)”. I was so happy, even cried a few tears when giving my dear Lina a warm and long lasting hug after three months without her.
Caracas is not an excellent hang out for vegans looking for adventures, so we decided to head down to Mérida where the mountains are said to be beautiful and where the newly found friend Jésus was.
He was sure a useful and caring friend, showing us the town, giving us a bed for free for the night and driving us to nice places. He even forced me to climb in trees and Lina and Cinthia had to convince. they did well. I did climb the tree! Scared as a rat (are they scared?)
Jésus even knew a mountain guide who took us along in his tourist group for a 3 days trekk in 
the Andes for free. And before leaving for these beautiful mountains, he showed us a nice restaurant (you can see us walking in the streets here) and after eating, he drove us all the way to the start of the trekk!We had a great time in the mountains with wild horses, altitude sickness (from 4700 meters height), lack of ground gear (the others, not me, but if one has, one has to share... I was told) and shivering nights (of course, when sharing ground gear!). I was probably the one with the best gear for the event out of all of us, but I was never allowed to sleep in the middle!! This meant that my face was all wet when waking up in the morning. hmmpf. Not from sweat but from the tent cloth that was stuck to my cheeks, all soaked in morning dew.
The views and the nature was just stunning. The girls too, I know... Our guide called himself a "Naturista" which apparently means that you try to live from the nature as much as possible. He is the guy in the yellow gear on the picture here below. Did you know that a Naturista even takes baths naked? (which I unfortunately don´t have any pictures from...) Sorry to make you dissapointed. You will have to imagine by yourself.
Back in the city of Mérida, we enjoyed Christmas with some Swedish food traditions such as mustard herring from eggplants, rice porridge with cinnamon, meatballs of minced soya or glögg (the Swedish spice wine) I have burnt my nose a little bit but don´t mind too much since it will guarantee a suntan once back in Malmö again. Harder and stronger than the one from India.I also want to tell you something about Venezuela that you might not know if you havent been visiting Lina s blog or it you dont happen to have a great GK (General Knowledge):
a. 10 litres of petrol costs 3.50 Swedish crowns over here
b. The car queues are enormous; count on 2 hours for entering a city. Minimum!
c. Buenas Dias is godday in Spanish...
d. Apparently, one of the most common birthday gift for your 18-year anniversary is to enlarge your breasts. Plastic surgerey is also very cheap here. It is therefore not unusual that the whole family (the female side of the family) decides to enlarge the breast in one shot. The give you discount!
Before ending this session I will have to tell you that we have two new quotations for this trip:
1) The Italian woman at the airoport in France outbursting "Éstà locco, complemente locco" when the security check let you queue for more than 2 hours despite of the fact that your flight departure for Caracas has taken place 30 minutes before. And yes, me and the Italian woman got on the plane. The other travellers, not arriving from Copenhagen, had to wait in the plane... Éstà locco..
2) Linda speaking with different Swedish dialects in the taxi from Mérida town to the bus terminal. You should have been there. It was a blast as an Indian friend of mine would have described it and this is not my own words but my travel companions.
Well, I should probably hit the road again. for new adventures. Talk to you later
Bésos y abrazoz
/Lin the non Spanish speaking Swede in Chavez land
2) Linda speaking with different Swedish dialects in the taxi from Mérida town to the bus terminal. You should have been there. It was a blast as an Indian friend of mine would have described it and this is not my own words but my travel companions.
Well, I should probably hit the road again. for new adventures. Talk to you later
Bésos y abrazoz
/Lin the non Spanish speaking Swede in Chavez land
ps We just got back from a visit to the beach. Now, a book and 24 hours later, I feel a bit burned..ds
