'Welcome to Latin America!'

Hello and welcome to the first entry into my blog since I arrived in South America. I am currently sitting in a 'hostel' (which more resembles an old colonial mansion) typing away to update you all on the first 10 days or so of my travels, which have cerainly been eventful.

Ups have included hiking and canoeing on a tour through the rainforest to see Angel Falls and chilling on a Caribbean beach in a little fishing village called Santa Fe. The tour to Angel Falls had everything you could ask for: Spectacular scenery, great weather, lots of people who could speak English for me to chat to, a football match with the locals and a hot Brizilian girl in her bikini the entire time.

However there have been negatives. I had heard a lot of negative things about South America (mainly from people who hadn't been) and one of the things I was watching out for was crime. Unfortunately when I was watching over my shoulder at cashpoints, apparently I should have been checking the machine for cameras. The result was that rather brutally my debit card was cloned on the second day. Oh well you live and you learn, the most annoying outcome of this is not the money but the fact that i don't have a debit card for a couple of weeks while I wait for it to be sent out. An English speaking local when discussing the matter merely said: 'Welcome to Latin America'. Cheers.

I have loved most places I have stayed but would advice anyone who was visiting Venezuela to avoid Caracas and Puerto La Cruz. Caracas being a hole, and Puerto La Cruz being a kind of neo-Benidorm for the Venezuelan middle classes (dirty and tacky). The guides have been helpful but they all also failed to tell me that 90% of Venezuelan banks will not pay out cash to foreign cards. Great. My advice if you do decide to come is this: Get out of Caracas as soon as you arrive and do´'t stay in Puerto La Cruz (although it is likely you will have to pass through it). Bring as many US dollars as you think you will need as it is difficult to get and you can get better exchange rates of unoffical exchanges which are completely safe(4 bolivares to the dollar as opposed to 2!).

Oh well, hopefully that is the end to the bumps, tonight I head South to Sanat Elena on the Brazilian border, then onto Brazil, where I am hoping to arrive in Rio in time for the Carnival.

Speak to you then.