We were very sad to leave Trinidad but have spent the past three days in ultimate girly bliss, bringing 'Sex and the City' to the beach. When we arrived in Tobago we immediately felt we were living the life of luxury as we were shown to the room we would be staying in for FREE, courtesy of Aunty Mary's position on the Board of Directors... The room can sleep six people comfotably, has two bathrooms and a dressing room. We got very excited.
The next day we got up early and headed to the beach. Store Bay is literally on our doorstep and waking up to be able to see the sea from our window is incredible. After spending the morning sunbathing and swimming, we headed to Kariwak for lunch - an amazing shrimp salad with the most incredible peanut punch. It was actually a mouthful of nutty heaven. Tuesday was spent in a simialr in Pigeon Point. This beach is a short walk away from the hotel and is the largest stretch of beach on the island. Unbelievably, we managed to find a Rituals cafe ON the beach. Rituals is a coffee chain that had a branch close to Mary's office which we would frequent of an afternoon. The sand is pure white and the sea is a beautiful mix of blues and turquoises and we spent the day alternating between beach and sea.
Today we decided to head into Scarborough, the capital of Tobago. After a quick trip to Rituals to get our morning fix, we caught the bus from outside the airport. Scarborough is a small town which gave us an idea of old-time Port of Spain. Our first stop was to visit the botanical gardens, a hilly area in the middle of the city complete with an orchard of mango trees. After taking a short rest under a tree and eating chennets we set of for Fort King George up a very big hill. We arrived there, very sweaty from our climb in the sun, and were rewarded with incredible views of the city and the sea, complete with palm trees and beaches, and a refreshing breeze. We spent a short time wandering around the fort before visting the museum located in the old Officer's Quarters. I got very excited by a collection of AmerIndian pottery dating from the pre-Columbian period.
We are just about to head to the beach for an afternoon swim and are very sad at the prospect of leaving tomorrow. Each time we have left somewhere so far it has just felt like we are starting another holiday! It feels very strange to be returning home after over two months away... See you all soon, love Alice and Hannah.
Wednesday, 26 August 2009
Saturday, 22 August 2009
We've been busy making the most of our last week in Trinidad, starting off with a return trip to Michael and Jacinta's land for our first spot of WWOOFing... We spent the morning there, digging up a bush of sorrel plants, preparing new holes in the ground with lime, ash and manure, and then replanting the sorrel in the shade of the pawpaw trees. It was tough work, particularly as the midday sun came up, but very satisfying - and we definitely deserved the spring rolls that Michael bought us for lunch! As ever, it was lovely being on the land, working peacefully, visited by exotic birds and eating mangoes and bananas off the trees. Afterwards, Michael and Jacinta drove us up Mount St. Benedict, where there is a turn-of-the-century monastery. We had a delicious afternoon tea, enjoying the cool mountain breeze and the glimmering views of the valley laid out below us, again feeling very peaceful and apart from the everyday bustle.
As usual we've also been busy in Port of Spain, which is very much all hustle and bustle. But we managed to find a break from that, too, in Ellerslie Plaza when Alice and I decided to take advantage of the super cheap beauty treatments here and have a proper girly day! So we treated ourselves to haircuts and waxes, and then, feeling very glamorous, a spot of shopping and ice cream in the Haagen Daaz parlour.
We finally made a trip to the famous Maracas beach - more a national institution than a place to swim - and Alice got to taste the much raved about shark and bake! The beach was, as ever, perfect: warm water with terrific and terrifying waves, pale sand scattered with palm trees, and sheltered by magnificent green mountains. We both enjoyed piling our shark and bake (fish in fried bread) with every sauce available (ketchup, garlic, tamarind, chadon beni, pepper..) and then devouring them in the sand. We had so much fun in the sea afterwards, jumping over and under waves and getting tumbled like little kids by the huge ones. When we got home, we had a really nice, big family gathering with my cousins and uncles
Yesterday we made it out to Asa Wright Nature Centre, a beautiful place hidden in the rainforested hills, which is one of the top places for birdwatching in the world. We learnt that Trinidad and Tobago has the highest density of biodiversity in bird species on the planet; this was illustrated to us by the huge variety of birds we saw just sitting on the veranda drinking tea - at least twenty species or more. The most exciting were the different varieties of colourful, iridescent humming birds which hovered right before us sipping sugar water, so that we were able to see their furiously beating, tiny wings in a blur, and even their thread-like tongues darting out of long beaks. Unfortunately it was raining torrentially, so many of the birds in the forest were hiding when we went on the trail, but we still got to see the rainforest, complete with rain! Also, I finally got to taste a termite (something I'd wanted to do in Venezuela, so I can tick it off my list) - it both smelt and tasted overpoweringly of carrots! And when we got home from Asa Wright, we went to our last party and ate our last Trinidadian roti!
Today we are making one last trip out to see Caroni Mangrove Swamp. Then tonight we fly out to Tobago, for a gloriously girly week of cocktails on beaches! Which will be fantastic, although we will be very sad to leave Trinidad and our family (Alice has been adopted) here.
Love to all, Hannah and Alice
As usual we've also been busy in Port of Spain, which is very much all hustle and bustle. But we managed to find a break from that, too, in Ellerslie Plaza when Alice and I decided to take advantage of the super cheap beauty treatments here and have a proper girly day! So we treated ourselves to haircuts and waxes, and then, feeling very glamorous, a spot of shopping and ice cream in the Haagen Daaz parlour.
We finally made a trip to the famous Maracas beach - more a national institution than a place to swim - and Alice got to taste the much raved about shark and bake! The beach was, as ever, perfect: warm water with terrific and terrifying waves, pale sand scattered with palm trees, and sheltered by magnificent green mountains. We both enjoyed piling our shark and bake (fish in fried bread) with every sauce available (ketchup, garlic, tamarind, chadon beni, pepper..) and then devouring them in the sand. We had so much fun in the sea afterwards, jumping over and under waves and getting tumbled like little kids by the huge ones. When we got home, we had a really nice, big family gathering with my cousins and uncles
Yesterday we made it out to Asa Wright Nature Centre, a beautiful place hidden in the rainforested hills, which is one of the top places for birdwatching in the world. We learnt that Trinidad and Tobago has the highest density of biodiversity in bird species on the planet; this was illustrated to us by the huge variety of birds we saw just sitting on the veranda drinking tea - at least twenty species or more. The most exciting were the different varieties of colourful, iridescent humming birds which hovered right before us sipping sugar water, so that we were able to see their furiously beating, tiny wings in a blur, and even their thread-like tongues darting out of long beaks. Unfortunately it was raining torrentially, so many of the birds in the forest were hiding when we went on the trail, but we still got to see the rainforest, complete with rain! Also, I finally got to taste a termite (something I'd wanted to do in Venezuela, so I can tick it off my list) - it both smelt and tasted overpoweringly of carrots! And when we got home from Asa Wright, we went to our last party and ate our last Trinidadian roti!
Today we are making one last trip out to see Caroni Mangrove Swamp. Then tonight we fly out to Tobago, for a gloriously girly week of cocktails on beaches! Which will be fantastic, although we will be very sad to leave Trinidad and our family (Alice has been adopted) here.
Love to all, Hannah and Alice
Tuesday, 18 August 2009
The past week has been very busy with lots of early starts. We have come in each morning with Mary to help out and then in after lunch have gone off exploring Port of Spain (and shopping some more). On Wednesday evening we went along to a book launch that Hannah's cousin Alicia had invited us to last weekend. The launch was for Trinidadian artist Che Lovelace's book, the first of a series. It was a fun evening and we enjoyed meeting Alicia's friends and admiring the paintings, which were all colourful, vibrant portrayals of Caribbean life. We also had a chance to speak to Che himself, who is very friendly and has literally done everything from surfing to filmmaking.
The next day we went again to an event we were invited to by Alicia, this time one that she helped organise - a rum and chocolate themed 'show and tell'. It was very interesting, with a short talk given on permaculture by Johnny Stollmeyer. Permaculture is the idea of creating a system of agriculture that mimics the relationships found in the natural environment and, as the name suggets, can be continuous. The talk was enlightening, and followed by Duane Dove, a Trinidadian who now lives in Sweden and the owner of a cocoa estate in Tobago and the first chocolate company made solely of Tobagonian cocoa. He even got on a Gary Rhodes program. After the talks we sampled his chocolate and chatted to various people for a while before heading home.
During this weekend the early mornings continued. On Saturday we travelled to what was described to me as the 'deep south' of the island, to Port Fortin and the Pitch Lake, which is quite literally a lake of pitch, the largest natural one in the world. From a distance it looks a bit like an overgrown carpark. Despite leaving fairly early, we didn't get there until past 1pm due to a horrific accident. Once we had arrived at the Pitch Lake we were taken down onto it by a tour guide, who rattled off facts whilst gazing into the distance, as if he was looking at an autocue. When Sir Walter Raleigh came across the lake in 1595, he got very excited and used it to baulk his ship. It is estimated that the lake is 75 metres deep and is thought to have formed at an intersection of two faults which forced a deep deposit of oil to the surface. It is a bizarre landscape, with ferns and grass growing in patches across it. During the rainy season, parts of the pitch sink to form crevices and the water gathers in pools. These pools have bubbles of frequently rising to the surface, made up of methane and nitrogen from below the surface. These same gas bubbles are responsible for forcing fossilised logs and branches, the occasional human skeleton, and even the remains of a mammoth. These human skeletons are believed to have come from a burial ritual that the AmerIndians performed in which the body of the deceased was place on top of the pitch and gradually sunk below the surface. Although much of the surface is solid and can be walked over, there are occasional softer patches where, if you stand for too long, you begin to feel yourself sinking slightly into it and leave a footprint.
The next morning we got up to go to a very early Mass before heading to the north-east of the island, to Toco. One of Mary and Peter's friends from Caribs RFC, Graham, had rented a house here for his family to stay in for a week or two and had invited loads of people for a bbq. The drive to Toco was very picturesque, along a windy road surrounded on either side by forest and, when we got closer to the house, beautiful, deserted beaches. Before we stopped at Graham's we continued along the road a little further to see the lighthouse on Galera Point. The lighthouse was built in 1897 and an inscription on the wall marks Queen Victoria's 50th year of reign. After we had spent a short time walking around the lighthouse and admiring the view of the Atlanic Ocean, we returned Graham's house where, within ten minutes, I received the comment: "Jesus, look how white you are!" as if after 20 years it would be a surprise to me. The house was place right by the edge of a hill that ran down to the beach, a beach that is shared only by two rented houses. The whole area was beyond idyllic. From the sea you could see the coast fringed with palm trees on either side, with no other sign of life other than the steps that led up to the house. The water in the sea was unbelievably warm, and because it was facing the Atlantic Ocean the waves were a lot rougher. We had a lot of fun being pushed around and diving into them. We also met a couple from Doncaster who moved to Trinidad almost a year ago, and whose voices we had heard at the rugby club last Saturday and got quite excited by the northern accent. I also got pink in spite of copious amounts of suncream.
We have already had a busy week, but will write a seperate blog at a later date.
Love to you all, Alice and Hannah.
The next day we went again to an event we were invited to by Alicia, this time one that she helped organise - a rum and chocolate themed 'show and tell'. It was very interesting, with a short talk given on permaculture by Johnny Stollmeyer. Permaculture is the idea of creating a system of agriculture that mimics the relationships found in the natural environment and, as the name suggets, can be continuous. The talk was enlightening, and followed by Duane Dove, a Trinidadian who now lives in Sweden and the owner of a cocoa estate in Tobago and the first chocolate company made solely of Tobagonian cocoa. He even got on a Gary Rhodes program. After the talks we sampled his chocolate and chatted to various people for a while before heading home.
During this weekend the early mornings continued. On Saturday we travelled to what was described to me as the 'deep south' of the island, to Port Fortin and the Pitch Lake, which is quite literally a lake of pitch, the largest natural one in the world. From a distance it looks a bit like an overgrown carpark. Despite leaving fairly early, we didn't get there until past 1pm due to a horrific accident. Once we had arrived at the Pitch Lake we were taken down onto it by a tour guide, who rattled off facts whilst gazing into the distance, as if he was looking at an autocue. When Sir Walter Raleigh came across the lake in 1595, he got very excited and used it to baulk his ship. It is estimated that the lake is 75 metres deep and is thought to have formed at an intersection of two faults which forced a deep deposit of oil to the surface. It is a bizarre landscape, with ferns and grass growing in patches across it. During the rainy season, parts of the pitch sink to form crevices and the water gathers in pools. These pools have bubbles of frequently rising to the surface, made up of methane and nitrogen from below the surface. These same gas bubbles are responsible for forcing fossilised logs and branches, the occasional human skeleton, and even the remains of a mammoth. These human skeletons are believed to have come from a burial ritual that the AmerIndians performed in which the body of the deceased was place on top of the pitch and gradually sunk below the surface. Although much of the surface is solid and can be walked over, there are occasional softer patches where, if you stand for too long, you begin to feel yourself sinking slightly into it and leave a footprint.
The next morning we got up to go to a very early Mass before heading to the north-east of the island, to Toco. One of Mary and Peter's friends from Caribs RFC, Graham, had rented a house here for his family to stay in for a week or two and had invited loads of people for a bbq. The drive to Toco was very picturesque, along a windy road surrounded on either side by forest and, when we got closer to the house, beautiful, deserted beaches. Before we stopped at Graham's we continued along the road a little further to see the lighthouse on Galera Point. The lighthouse was built in 1897 and an inscription on the wall marks Queen Victoria's 50th year of reign. After we had spent a short time walking around the lighthouse and admiring the view of the Atlanic Ocean, we returned Graham's house where, within ten minutes, I received the comment: "Jesus, look how white you are!" as if after 20 years it would be a surprise to me. The house was place right by the edge of a hill that ran down to the beach, a beach that is shared only by two rented houses. The whole area was beyond idyllic. From the sea you could see the coast fringed with palm trees on either side, with no other sign of life other than the steps that led up to the house. The water in the sea was unbelievably warm, and because it was facing the Atlantic Ocean the waves were a lot rougher. We had a lot of fun being pushed around and diving into them. We also met a couple from Doncaster who moved to Trinidad almost a year ago, and whose voices we had heard at the rugby club last Saturday and got quite excited by the northern accent. I also got pink in spite of copious amounts of suncream.
We have already had a busy week, but will write a seperate blog at a later date.
Love to you all, Alice and Hannah.
Monday, 10 August 2009
Today at the Halfway House it was Daniel's third birthday, so we celebrated with a little party of cupcakes and treats, and all the children got very hyper, and consequently very grouchy thanks to the E numbers... But as usual, it was a really fun day - we have been enjoying working there so much. It's so satisfying, getting to know the children's personalities (even the babies'!) and them getting to know us. Some of the newer arrivals, like the very precious Sade (who is about two, and seems to have the most perfectly self-sufficient interior life..), are really coming out of their shells too, which is lovely. Our last day there keeps being delayed! I think we are getting quite attached to the kids.
We've been doing a lot of sightseeing and shopping in Port of Spain both after work and on our days off. Last week we went to Emperor Valley Zoo, which brought back lots of childhood memories for me, and saw lots of indigenous animals. The highlight is always the birds - vibrant scarlet ibises (the national bird), adorable rows of screech owls, brightly coloured toucans, and huge, technicolour macaws that look even more unreal 'in person' than they do on postcards. After that, we wandered over into the fabulous botanical gardens for a late afternoon stroll, and then walked around the Queen's Park Savannah (the huuuuuge grasy park in the middle of the city, where all kinds of sports are played). As we walked back to the office, we took the chance to see the Magnificent Seven - a whimsically random collection of old houses, our favourites being the 'gingerbread' ones, with their faded paint and delicate white lattice woodwork.
We've also gone downtown Port of Spain a couple of times - our first visit took in a lot of the colonial architecture, like the Tim Burton-esque Lapeyrouse Cemetery, full of spindly family mausoleums, and then beautiful Woodford Square and the grand British-built Red House, the main seat of the government. This was even more exciting for me, since I am just reading V.S. Naipaul's memories of working there as a boy! And there has been a lot of shopping, taking advantage of all the great fruit stalls and rasta crafts, plus one pound pirate dvds! (We know own the 6th 'Harry Potter' already, despite having also seen it twice in the cinema on this holiday alone....) And when we are at Mary's for the day, we have just been enjoying patronising our 'local' coffee shop (we have one already).
On Saturday, we went with Aunty and Uncle down the islands again, for a big group event on Gaspar Grande. For the boat trip over, the rain was torrential - we have also been enjoying some really dramatic rain this week, loving the deafening sound of water on the roof and the breeze through the house; unlike in England, it is always followed by brilliant sunshine. Luckily we had some of that sun on Gaspar Grande, so the afternoon was spent sunbathing and swimming in the lovely, warm sea, going out far enough to admire pelicans up close. Alice is proud to report that she actually has (faint) tan marks! That night we went for a little party at Caribs Rugby Club, where we had some great food (of course..) and met lots of lovely and hilarious people! And on the Sunday we went down to the south of Trinidad to visit some more of my family - the Farmers - and had (surprise surprise) even MORE nice food and conversation.
Lots of love, Hannah and Alice
We've been doing a lot of sightseeing and shopping in Port of Spain both after work and on our days off. Last week we went to Emperor Valley Zoo, which brought back lots of childhood memories for me, and saw lots of indigenous animals. The highlight is always the birds - vibrant scarlet ibises (the national bird), adorable rows of screech owls, brightly coloured toucans, and huge, technicolour macaws that look even more unreal 'in person' than they do on postcards. After that, we wandered over into the fabulous botanical gardens for a late afternoon stroll, and then walked around the Queen's Park Savannah (the huuuuuge grasy park in the middle of the city, where all kinds of sports are played). As we walked back to the office, we took the chance to see the Magnificent Seven - a whimsically random collection of old houses, our favourites being the 'gingerbread' ones, with their faded paint and delicate white lattice woodwork.
We've also gone downtown Port of Spain a couple of times - our first visit took in a lot of the colonial architecture, like the Tim Burton-esque Lapeyrouse Cemetery, full of spindly family mausoleums, and then beautiful Woodford Square and the grand British-built Red House, the main seat of the government. This was even more exciting for me, since I am just reading V.S. Naipaul's memories of working there as a boy! And there has been a lot of shopping, taking advantage of all the great fruit stalls and rasta crafts, plus one pound pirate dvds! (We know own the 6th 'Harry Potter' already, despite having also seen it twice in the cinema on this holiday alone....) And when we are at Mary's for the day, we have just been enjoying patronising our 'local' coffee shop (we have one already).
On Saturday, we went with Aunty and Uncle down the islands again, for a big group event on Gaspar Grande. For the boat trip over, the rain was torrential - we have also been enjoying some really dramatic rain this week, loving the deafening sound of water on the roof and the breeze through the house; unlike in England, it is always followed by brilliant sunshine. Luckily we had some of that sun on Gaspar Grande, so the afternoon was spent sunbathing and swimming in the lovely, warm sea, going out far enough to admire pelicans up close. Alice is proud to report that she actually has (faint) tan marks! That night we went for a little party at Caribs Rugby Club, where we had some great food (of course..) and met lots of lovely and hilarious people! And on the Sunday we went down to the south of Trinidad to visit some more of my family - the Farmers - and had (surprise surprise) even MORE nice food and conversation.
Lots of love, Hannah and Alice
Sunday, 2 August 2009
This weekend we have been very busy with various trips around Trinidad. Yesterday we went down the islands to Monos Island where a friend of Mary and Peter's from the rugby club had rented a house and was having a BBQ to celebrate Emancipation Day. After arriving at the dock in Chaguaramas we got on a small water taxi to go across, travelling round the northern coast of Trinidad through a string of islands known as the 'Dragon's Mouth'. Although we have seen plenty of mountains covered in forest, seeing them from the sea gave us a whole new view of them. When we arrived about 20 minutes later in a little cove, we could immediately tell which house we would be spending the day from the number of people, loud music and smoke billowing from the BBQ. The food, as ever, was amazing - loads of salads, macaroni pie, crackers and dips, meat, banana bread and fudge. After we had eaten to our hearts' content, we danced to the soca and calypso music before swimming in the sea. Once we came home, we ate pizza and collapsed in front of CSI:Miami.
Today we drove to Chaguanas as we wanted to see some of the Indo-Trinidadian culture present on the island. We visited the Temple in the Sea, first begun in 1947 by a devout hindu who had moved to Trinidad from India. This current temple was completed in 1995, as the original was washed away. The temple itself is placed on a strip in the sea. The walkway that leads up to it is fairly narrow, with bushes bearing red hibiscus and white flowers on either side. Along the edge of the walkway in the sea there are several small statues left as offerings and a large number of colourful prayer flags. The temple itself is quite small and white, with blue painted details on the dais. Inside it is simply decorated - a carpeted floor and five statues of the gods.
After we had visited the temple we drove a short distance to the Indian Caribbean Museum, a small but interesting museum (that also happens to be much better organised than the National Museum...) detailing the imigration of the Indian population and the contribution to Trinidadian society that they provided. Here they had a small display of clothes, showing visitors what would be typically worn to a Hindu wedding, something that proved to be correct about half an hour later. We had visited another, very pink, temple in the same area, overshadowed by a 85 foot statue of Hanuman, the monkey god. While we were here, a wedding was taking place and we saw the arrival of the groom, accompanied by music and prayers. After spending a while watching the wedding before it entered the temple, we drove into the city to see the Lion House, built in 1927, where V.S. Naipul once lived.
This week we are continuing to work at the halfway house and for Mary. Love Alice and Hannah.
Today we drove to Chaguanas as we wanted to see some of the Indo-Trinidadian culture present on the island. We visited the Temple in the Sea, first begun in 1947 by a devout hindu who had moved to Trinidad from India. This current temple was completed in 1995, as the original was washed away. The temple itself is placed on a strip in the sea. The walkway that leads up to it is fairly narrow, with bushes bearing red hibiscus and white flowers on either side. Along the edge of the walkway in the sea there are several small statues left as offerings and a large number of colourful prayer flags. The temple itself is quite small and white, with blue painted details on the dais. Inside it is simply decorated - a carpeted floor and five statues of the gods.
After we had visited the temple we drove a short distance to the Indian Caribbean Museum, a small but interesting museum (that also happens to be much better organised than the National Museum...) detailing the imigration of the Indian population and the contribution to Trinidadian society that they provided. Here they had a small display of clothes, showing visitors what would be typically worn to a Hindu wedding, something that proved to be correct about half an hour later. We had visited another, very pink, temple in the same area, overshadowed by a 85 foot statue of Hanuman, the monkey god. While we were here, a wedding was taking place and we saw the arrival of the groom, accompanied by music and prayers. After spending a while watching the wedding before it entered the temple, we drove into the city to see the Lion House, built in 1927, where V.S. Naipul once lived.
This week we are continuing to work at the halfway house and for Mary. Love Alice and Hannah.
Thursday, 30 July 2009
We're sorry about the gap in blog posts! We have now been back in Trinidad for a week, recovering from a bout of dysentry (?!?!?!?) and chilling out with friends and family. We have also started our volunteer work at Our Lady of the Wayside Halfway House for babies and children, run by Living Water Community. The Halfway House looks after a small number of young children and very young babies who have either been abandoned or are unable to be with their parent, and the aim of the centre is to give them the love that might otherwise be missing from their lives. Although our work there can be tiring, it is also really enjoyable - particularly as much of it involves feeding, bathing and generally cuddling tiny babies! We are also helping them to organise ther library, putting our combined passion for organisation to good use...
When we aren't at Living Water, we also help out in my aunty Mary's office, which means lots of great roti lunches! We've definitely been having a lot of great meals here, including a delicious sushi dinner followed by cocktails with lots of my cousins. Today at work, the delightful Mr Beharry came in to talk to me about his memories of wartime Trinidad, in relation to my study of V.S. Naipaul. He was an incredibly lovely and entertaining Indo-Trinidadian gentleman, and it was so interesting to hear his memories of colonial Trinidad, where his parents' generation spoke only Hindi, had no electricity, and there was only one newspaper for the whole of Trinidad.
Last weekend we also had a great day at my godparents' house, where we had (of course) a yummy lunch before going out onto their organic farming estate. The estate is a beautiful piece of forest where you could basically survive on the huge variety of fruits and vegetables harvested there - we ate huge mangoes straight from the tree, and enjoyed the strage, white flesh of cocoa pods. Everything from coffee to cassava is grown there, and we were enticed to go back later this month for some 'WOOFing' (working on organic farms)...
So we have been having a great time in Trinidad so far, and we have much more lined up for this weekend, so we will try not to leave it so late before the next blog!
Love Hannah and Alice
When we aren't at Living Water, we also help out in my aunty Mary's office, which means lots of great roti lunches! We've definitely been having a lot of great meals here, including a delicious sushi dinner followed by cocktails with lots of my cousins. Today at work, the delightful Mr Beharry came in to talk to me about his memories of wartime Trinidad, in relation to my study of V.S. Naipaul. He was an incredibly lovely and entertaining Indo-Trinidadian gentleman, and it was so interesting to hear his memories of colonial Trinidad, where his parents' generation spoke only Hindi, had no electricity, and there was only one newspaper for the whole of Trinidad.
Last weekend we also had a great day at my godparents' house, where we had (of course) a yummy lunch before going out onto their organic farming estate. The estate is a beautiful piece of forest where you could basically survive on the huge variety of fruits and vegetables harvested there - we ate huge mangoes straight from the tree, and enjoyed the strage, white flesh of cocoa pods. Everything from coffee to cassava is grown there, and we were enticed to go back later this month for some 'WOOFing' (working on organic farms)...
So we have been having a great time in Trinidad so far, and we have much more lined up for this weekend, so we will try not to leave it so late before the next blog!
Love Hannah and Alice
Sunday, 19 July 2009
We arrived in Coro yesterday morning at 6.30 in the morning, and were greeted with a blast of hot air in the bus station - a welcome change from the icy temperature that the night buses seem to be so fond of. Coro is a small, hot city in the northwest of the country, the first capital of Venezuela and one in which the colonial roots are still very visible in the architecture. We took a taxi 'La Casa de los Pajaros' or ´the House of the Birds', a small and unique posada that is owned by an architect and is a beautiful building made up of two airy courtyards filled with plants and rooms placed around, brightly coloured wall paintings and a kitchen with a tree growing out of the floor. It also had a tortoise.
After we had showered and changed, and feeling very much like brand new human beings, we set off exploring the city intending to spend the day in a 'museum spaz'. Sadly, this did not occur as easily as we had hoped as two of the museums were undergoing refurbishment. Next to the disappointingly bare Museum of Ceramics, we found the House of Windows - an old colonial mansion that housed a collection of items preserved from a Sevillian family who moved from Spain in the nineteenth century. Our favourite room contained a tall, four poster bed that had steps to climb onto it and was surrounded by a dark red material. We did not like it as much once the bat, the latest incarnation of the house's previous owner we decided, flew at our heads... After our narrow escape from the bat, we continued our exploration of the town admiring the old mansions with their light, airy courtyards before returning to our posada to eat and discovering some incredible, trashy thriller novel on the shared bookcase, which we MUST finish before we leave tomorrow evening...
This morning, we woke up early with the prospect of a day trip around Falcon state. Our guide, who we still don´t know the name of despite spending nearly 11 hours with, drove us north to the Peninsula Paraguana into a unexpected desert area lasting about 30 kms and consisting of endless sanddunes. After spending some time wandering around on the sand and feeling slightly as though we were in Dubai rather than Venezuela, we returned to the car and continued our journey north. Our next stop was the shrine of Anima de Guasare, a small building with an inside festooned with photos of cars, families, children, houses and graduation ceremonies. Apparently, in 1912 during a period of famine and drought a family died on this spot on their journey from Punto Fijo to Coro. Now, many people visit this site to ask a favour of the spirits of the family, promising to leave a gift of a candle or a photograph of their request should this favour be granted.
Once we had left the crowded building, we drove a short way until we reached a nature reserve called Montecano that contains several species of plants found nowhere else in the world. We walked for about an hour along a trail that led us through trees strung with a plant called barba de palo, a kind of funghi or algae that creates a symbiotic relationship with the plant that it grows on. These trees gave the whole area the feeling that we were walking through the setting of a fairy tale, or an elven glade in 'Lord of the Rings'. We left the reserve and set of to Pueblo Nuevo for lunch, our guide delighting us when he not only found out the name and singer of our favourite reggaeton song, but also bought us the pirate copy of a whole CD!
From lunch, we got back in the car - not nearly as bad as the jeep from Los Llanos, especially as there were only two of us, the seats faced forwards and there was aircon... We drove for about forty-five minutes until we reached the coast and a lighthouse at the northern point of Venezuela. From here, we took the same road back a little until we stopped at the strange, pinky purple lake we had passed on the way up. The salt lake, pink from the amount of sodium in the water, is home to many flamingoes, who come here to eat the large number of shrimps that get trapped here every morning by the retreating tide. The lake is incredible - the pink water contrasted with the bright blue sky and all around the edge there were large, white salt crystals in chunks. We spent a long time attempting to take pictures of flamingoes through a pair of binoculars, but to no avail. Afterwards, we set off to the beach for a short swim before heading back to the posada.
Tomorrow, we will spend the day in Coro before getting the night bus to Caracas for our final day in Venezuela. We are both excited to see Nelson again.
Love Alice and Hannah.
After we had showered and changed, and feeling very much like brand new human beings, we set off exploring the city intending to spend the day in a 'museum spaz'. Sadly, this did not occur as easily as we had hoped as two of the museums were undergoing refurbishment. Next to the disappointingly bare Museum of Ceramics, we found the House of Windows - an old colonial mansion that housed a collection of items preserved from a Sevillian family who moved from Spain in the nineteenth century. Our favourite room contained a tall, four poster bed that had steps to climb onto it and was surrounded by a dark red material. We did not like it as much once the bat, the latest incarnation of the house's previous owner we decided, flew at our heads... After our narrow escape from the bat, we continued our exploration of the town admiring the old mansions with their light, airy courtyards before returning to our posada to eat and discovering some incredible, trashy thriller novel on the shared bookcase, which we MUST finish before we leave tomorrow evening...
This morning, we woke up early with the prospect of a day trip around Falcon state. Our guide, who we still don´t know the name of despite spending nearly 11 hours with, drove us north to the Peninsula Paraguana into a unexpected desert area lasting about 30 kms and consisting of endless sanddunes. After spending some time wandering around on the sand and feeling slightly as though we were in Dubai rather than Venezuela, we returned to the car and continued our journey north. Our next stop was the shrine of Anima de Guasare, a small building with an inside festooned with photos of cars, families, children, houses and graduation ceremonies. Apparently, in 1912 during a period of famine and drought a family died on this spot on their journey from Punto Fijo to Coro. Now, many people visit this site to ask a favour of the spirits of the family, promising to leave a gift of a candle or a photograph of their request should this favour be granted.
Once we had left the crowded building, we drove a short way until we reached a nature reserve called Montecano that contains several species of plants found nowhere else in the world. We walked for about an hour along a trail that led us through trees strung with a plant called barba de palo, a kind of funghi or algae that creates a symbiotic relationship with the plant that it grows on. These trees gave the whole area the feeling that we were walking through the setting of a fairy tale, or an elven glade in 'Lord of the Rings'. We left the reserve and set of to Pueblo Nuevo for lunch, our guide delighting us when he not only found out the name and singer of our favourite reggaeton song, but also bought us the pirate copy of a whole CD!
From lunch, we got back in the car - not nearly as bad as the jeep from Los Llanos, especially as there were only two of us, the seats faced forwards and there was aircon... We drove for about forty-five minutes until we reached the coast and a lighthouse at the northern point of Venezuela. From here, we took the same road back a little until we stopped at the strange, pinky purple lake we had passed on the way up. The salt lake, pink from the amount of sodium in the water, is home to many flamingoes, who come here to eat the large number of shrimps that get trapped here every morning by the retreating tide. The lake is incredible - the pink water contrasted with the bright blue sky and all around the edge there were large, white salt crystals in chunks. We spent a long time attempting to take pictures of flamingoes through a pair of binoculars, but to no avail. Afterwards, we set off to the beach for a short swim before heading back to the posada.
Tomorrow, we will spend the day in Coro before getting the night bus to Caracas for our final day in Venezuela. We are both excited to see Nelson again.
Love Alice and Hannah.
Friday, 17 July 2009
WE have just got bak from our four day safari in Los Llanos. We started the trip with a horrible winding journey in a kind of jeep through the mountains, on which I actually threw up... Luckily it got better as we stopped at a condor station to see some condors - huge, majestic vultures that are emblematic of the Andes - which are being reintroduced in Venezuela as they were at one point extinct. We also went for a walk through the mountains, where it was actually freezing cold and very misty and atmospheric! We ate lunch in a little wooden restaurant high in the hills, where we enjoyed delicious trout, a speciality of Merida.
After a lot more driving we eventually arrived at our first posada in Barinitas, a town near Los Llanos. Here we got to do white water rafting which was so fun!! ALice even got to go in a little canoe to get the action up close! We got very, very, very wet and screeched a lot as we tumbled through the rapids. Once we had dried off and calmed down, we had a delicious meal of Llanos beef.
The next day we set off in the bloody jeep again and headed for the plains, entering Apure state. It started to get a lot hotter and a lot flatter, with vast, green plains and an endless horizon, dotted everywhere with beautiful, white, angular cows, the main livestock raised by the Llaneros. Finally we arrived at our camp, a very rustic place in the middle of nowhere, shaded by two enormous mango trees where the mangoes fell like grenades with terrifying thumps in the night! On our first afternoon there we were taken by our jokes giude, Howard, on a boat trip through the marshy river, where we saw snakes, beautiful birds, caimans and huge, pink river dolphins blowing air. It also rained torrentially, and my hands and arms went numb for hours! After the usual delicious dinner, we went to sleep in our big dorm, where the ludicrously touchy feely Spanish couple had somehow managed to stick two beds together, making us rather anxious about any non-mango-related bumps in the night..
The next day we went on our first safari out into the plains, where the guides managed to catch an anaconda for us to touch! The anacondas are huge, muscular constrictors, and we could see an awkward lump in the middle of this one where it had just swallowed its lunch! We also saw herds of adorable capybara, enormous guinea pig-like rodents with big fat bums which I fell in love with! Howard told us that if a llanero girl has a nice arse, they call it a 'capybara butt'...
In the afternoon we went horseriding, and I was given the most mental horse who just wanted to gallop the whole way, so that was lots of fun (I really want to start riding again now). We trekked through the marshy land in burning sun, and saw a cute anteater sleeping in a palm tree. Again, we saw hundreds of species of incredible birds, including neon scarlett ibises, brightly coloured falcons, the world's oldest breed of bird, and the world's biggest stork.
That night a joropo band (a kind of Venezuelan blue grass with a harp, cuatro and maracas) came to play at the camp, and all the guides got drunk and the women went round dancing withevery available man. Afterwards, with our questionably compos mentis guide, we went on a night safari. Alice and I rode on planks on the top of the jeep, watching caiman eyes glowing in the water. This crazy guy waded into the pitch black water with bare feet and only my crappy torch as a light, and snatched up a baby caiman, which Alice and I held with glee! We also saw another anteater, and another crazy guy got out of the jeep and chased it until the anteater reared up with its arms splayed and did a kind of lairy defenive dance, in the style of, 'come and have a go if you think you're hard enough'. So funny, and completely unexpected!
The next morning we got up with heavy hearts at the prospect of another day in the godforsaken jeep... Luckily we were rewarded when we returned to Merida with a lovely meal out with our friends from the posada and the trip, followed by cocktails in a rammed, improvisatory bar that seemed to basically be someone's living room. We are having one last day in Merida before (hopefully) heading to Coro tonight.
Love Hannah and Alice
After a lot more driving we eventually arrived at our first posada in Barinitas, a town near Los Llanos. Here we got to do white water rafting which was so fun!! ALice even got to go in a little canoe to get the action up close! We got very, very, very wet and screeched a lot as we tumbled through the rapids. Once we had dried off and calmed down, we had a delicious meal of Llanos beef.
The next day we set off in the bloody jeep again and headed for the plains, entering Apure state. It started to get a lot hotter and a lot flatter, with vast, green plains and an endless horizon, dotted everywhere with beautiful, white, angular cows, the main livestock raised by the Llaneros. Finally we arrived at our camp, a very rustic place in the middle of nowhere, shaded by two enormous mango trees where the mangoes fell like grenades with terrifying thumps in the night! On our first afternoon there we were taken by our jokes giude, Howard, on a boat trip through the marshy river, where we saw snakes, beautiful birds, caimans and huge, pink river dolphins blowing air. It also rained torrentially, and my hands and arms went numb for hours! After the usual delicious dinner, we went to sleep in our big dorm, where the ludicrously touchy feely Spanish couple had somehow managed to stick two beds together, making us rather anxious about any non-mango-related bumps in the night..
The next day we went on our first safari out into the plains, where the guides managed to catch an anaconda for us to touch! The anacondas are huge, muscular constrictors, and we could see an awkward lump in the middle of this one where it had just swallowed its lunch! We also saw herds of adorable capybara, enormous guinea pig-like rodents with big fat bums which I fell in love with! Howard told us that if a llanero girl has a nice arse, they call it a 'capybara butt'...
In the afternoon we went horseriding, and I was given the most mental horse who just wanted to gallop the whole way, so that was lots of fun (I really want to start riding again now). We trekked through the marshy land in burning sun, and saw a cute anteater sleeping in a palm tree. Again, we saw hundreds of species of incredible birds, including neon scarlett ibises, brightly coloured falcons, the world's oldest breed of bird, and the world's biggest stork.
That night a joropo band (a kind of Venezuelan blue grass with a harp, cuatro and maracas) came to play at the camp, and all the guides got drunk and the women went round dancing withevery available man. Afterwards, with our questionably compos mentis guide, we went on a night safari. Alice and I rode on planks on the top of the jeep, watching caiman eyes glowing in the water. This crazy guy waded into the pitch black water with bare feet and only my crappy torch as a light, and snatched up a baby caiman, which Alice and I held with glee! We also saw another anteater, and another crazy guy got out of the jeep and chased it until the anteater reared up with its arms splayed and did a kind of lairy defenive dance, in the style of, 'come and have a go if you think you're hard enough'. So funny, and completely unexpected!
The next morning we got up with heavy hearts at the prospect of another day in the godforsaken jeep... Luckily we were rewarded when we returned to Merida with a lovely meal out with our friends from the posada and the trip, followed by cocktails in a rammed, improvisatory bar that seemed to basically be someone's living room. We are having one last day in Merida before (hopefully) heading to Coro tonight.
Love Hannah and Alice
Monday, 13 July 2009
After our last blog, we set out on what we had planned to be a quiet, chilled out meal. How very wrong we were... We ended up in a small cafe with an insane waiter who was determined to use us to practise his English insisting, with many leaps, bounds and smiles that we let him take a photo of us before asking seriously "do you LIKE it??" and the question "Do you love me?!". After we returned, slightly hysterical from our experience, we chilled in the posada with Chris and the group of English boys we had termed the 'GBG' or 'Guide Book Guys' in Caracas due to their helpless, bewildered and disenchanted manner as they wandered blankly around Parque Central.
The next morning, we woke up early to go horse riding in the Andes. After a slightly traumatic journey involving a taxi driver who had as little idea of where we were trying to go and an exhausting uphill walk, we arrived at a beautiful, isolated farm. Jackie, the owner of the farm is originally French and passionate about his job. We set off, me slightly terrified of my first time on a horse, along the narrow, winding mountain trails. The scenery was breathtaking with lush, green mountains interspersed with the clouds that drifted between them. We stopped for lunch once we were out of the valley - homemade cheese, bread and salad, before setting back along the same route. When we arrived back at the farm, Hannah spent a while bonding with the cat whilst we chatted with the Spanairds who had accompanied us before beginning our return journey. When we had finally returned to Merida, we ate dinner at a restaurant in the south of the city which was probably the classiest place we`ve been so far! We had the best salmon we've ever tasted, and literally buckets of pina colada whilst a jazz band played in the corner. We followed this up with more cocktails in a slightly less classy place called Bananas...
Yesterday we visited Heladeria Coromoto, in the Guinness Book of Records for having the most flavours of ice cream - including meat, beer and shrimp! And now we are just about to leave for a four day safari into Los Llanos, the plains of Venezuela...
Love Alice and Hannah
The next morning, we woke up early to go horse riding in the Andes. After a slightly traumatic journey involving a taxi driver who had as little idea of where we were trying to go and an exhausting uphill walk, we arrived at a beautiful, isolated farm. Jackie, the owner of the farm is originally French and passionate about his job. We set off, me slightly terrified of my first time on a horse, along the narrow, winding mountain trails. The scenery was breathtaking with lush, green mountains interspersed with the clouds that drifted between them. We stopped for lunch once we were out of the valley - homemade cheese, bread and salad, before setting back along the same route. When we arrived back at the farm, Hannah spent a while bonding with the cat whilst we chatted with the Spanairds who had accompanied us before beginning our return journey. When we had finally returned to Merida, we ate dinner at a restaurant in the south of the city which was probably the classiest place we`ve been so far! We had the best salmon we've ever tasted, and literally buckets of pina colada whilst a jazz band played in the corner. We followed this up with more cocktails in a slightly less classy place called Bananas...
Yesterday we visited Heladeria Coromoto, in the Guinness Book of Records for having the most flavours of ice cream - including meat, beer and shrimp! And now we are just about to leave for a four day safari into Los Llanos, the plains of Venezuela...
Love Alice and Hannah
Friday, 10 July 2009
We are really loving Merida! It's so nice to stop somewhere properly, and the posada we have found is such a nice, relxed, ramshackle little place in the centre of town which also organises loads of activities and tours. We spent our first few days here strolling around the town, nestled in the Andean mountains. We've visited a few art galleries and museums (Alice particularly loving the collection of ancient pottery!) and have been enjoying the cornucopia of cheap restaurants, cafes and ice cream parlours. We've even managed to find possibly the ONLY vegetarian place in the entire country, a welcome change from the 'meat party' as one poor Swedish veggie put it... The weather here is also very different, still bright and sunny in the day but cold at night - we even have to sleep with blankets! Yesterday we went to a zoological park and saw lots of animals native to Venezuela, like hilariously playful monkeys, squeaky little ring tailed coatis, and beautiful jaguars that we got up close to.
Anyway, the real highlight came today when Alice and I went PARAGLIDING! It's something we've both been long curious about, and Merida is one of the best places in the world for the sport so we thought we'd give it a try. As the jeep wound further and further up the mountains, however, we started to wonder what we'd gotten ourselves into! But once we were strapped in and had taken our little run off the cliff (!) it was just amazing. Yiu get to sit back in this little cosy seat whilst the guy behind you does all the steering, so it's really quite comfortable and actually not at all scary! Flying above the birds and seeing your shadow far below on the mountain side is so weird! I was particularly lucky in that we must have cauight some very strong thermal and flew ridiculously high over the valley, with the peaks of surrounding mountains at eye level and the rivers and roads shining threads beneath. It also feels very peaceful, and through the wind you can feel the heat of the sun on you, and maybe imagine what it's like to be a bird! It really was such an incredible experience, especially in such a beautiful area.
So hopefully tomorrow we will be trekking on horseback... Lots of love, Hannah and Alice
Anyway, the real highlight came today when Alice and I went PARAGLIDING! It's something we've both been long curious about, and Merida is one of the best places in the world for the sport so we thought we'd give it a try. As the jeep wound further and further up the mountains, however, we started to wonder what we'd gotten ourselves into! But once we were strapped in and had taken our little run off the cliff (!) it was just amazing. Yiu get to sit back in this little cosy seat whilst the guy behind you does all the steering, so it's really quite comfortable and actually not at all scary! Flying above the birds and seeing your shadow far below on the mountain side is so weird! I was particularly lucky in that we must have cauight some very strong thermal and flew ridiculously high over the valley, with the peaks of surrounding mountains at eye level and the rivers and roads shining threads beneath. It also feels very peaceful, and through the wind you can feel the heat of the sun on you, and maybe imagine what it's like to be a bird! It really was such an incredible experience, especially in such a beautiful area.
So hopefully tomorrow we will be trekking on horseback... Lots of love, Hannah and Alice
Tuesday, 7 July 2009
Our epic journey is over! We spent a day in Ciudad Bolivar, a pretty town located on the banks of the Orinoco. We had a very quiet day wandering around the city, made even quieter by the fact that Chavez had arrived to give a speech and the majority of the roads had been sectioned off by the Venezuelan police. The silence, coupled with the heat, made the entire place feel like a ghost town. After lunch we lay on a rock in the city park, surrounded by lizards and decided what to do with our lives - the outcome has made us both exceptionally happy.
That evening we began our epic journey that was to last slightly over 20 hours. The journey was relatively uneventful with the only highlight (for me, lowlight for Hannah) being the exceptionally pervy driver who spent a good 5 minutes standing on the stairs, staring at her and licking his lips in a manner reminiscent of a lizard from the park. His noticeable admiration for her made us leave 30 minutes later than we should have...
After we changed buses, the landscape began to change drastically, resembling a Devon moor (although much more dramatic). We are currently in Merida, a town located in the Andes. The city is a student town surrounded by impressive mountainous scenery. We found another nice posada in the centre of the town, close to the Plaza Bolivar, a crucial element for any Venezuelan street plan. Today we visited the Cathedral and the archaelogical museum located inside the University of the Andes. I had a slight spaz over the pottery collection and then proceeded to list all the many common problems found in museums. We also had many scatological conversations. The next few days will be fairly chilled until we decide to partake in some of the many outdoor sports that are on offer here including paragliding and horseriding.
Love Alice and Hannah
That evening we began our epic journey that was to last slightly over 20 hours. The journey was relatively uneventful with the only highlight (for me, lowlight for Hannah) being the exceptionally pervy driver who spent a good 5 minutes standing on the stairs, staring at her and licking his lips in a manner reminiscent of a lizard from the park. His noticeable admiration for her made us leave 30 minutes later than we should have...
After we changed buses, the landscape began to change drastically, resembling a Devon moor (although much more dramatic). We are currently in Merida, a town located in the Andes. The city is a student town surrounded by impressive mountainous scenery. We found another nice posada in the centre of the town, close to the Plaza Bolivar, a crucial element for any Venezuelan street plan. Today we visited the Cathedral and the archaelogical museum located inside the University of the Andes. I had a slight spaz over the pottery collection and then proceeded to list all the many common problems found in museums. We also had many scatological conversations. The next few days will be fairly chilled until we decide to partake in some of the many outdoor sports that are on offer here including paragliding and horseriding.
Love Alice and Hannah
Saturday, 4 July 2009
We have just had the most incredible few days! Our trip into the rainforest started with a flight in a tiny six seater plane, where Alice got to live out her Indiana Jones fantasies by sitting in front with the pilot. Flying over this largely uninhabited landscape, we could already see the surreal tepuis - enormous, flat-topped rocky mountains - which would be our backdrop for the next three days. We arrived at our camp in Canaima, a little village where the Pemon, an indigenous tribe, live and met our guide, Toni (the strong and silent type...) and lovely fellow tourists who would be keeping us company. After lunch (the chefs were great, by the way!) we were taken in a canoe across the huge Laguna, where the water is pink from all the tanins and the sand is white, to a series of wide waterfalls. We were able to walk behind the waterfalls and get completely drenched - a very awe-inspiring experience! The noise of all the water roaring over you, with foam thundering down, really like a stampede of white horses - it definitely whet our appetite for Angel Falls the next day...
To reach Angel Falls, or Salto Angel, we left very early the next morning and journeyed down the Rio Churun in a motorised canoe for about three hours. Later that night we would compare the experience of speeing down this wide expanse of water deeper and deeper into the jungle to Conrad's 'Heart of Darkness'. Once the boat had moored at a rocky island, we waded through the water to start our trek up through the rainforest. Apparently we climbed about 300m upwards, although we couldn't tell whilst we were in the gloom of the forest, but we came out at an amazing viewpoint on the side of a mountain where we could finally see Angel Falls! We were really lucky in that the clouds actually cleared for us so that we could see all 980m of the waterfall! It really is impressive, cascading narrowly down a sheer rock face and creating a cauldron of mist and spray at the bottom. I kept saying how much the Victorians would have loved it if only it had been discovered before the 1930s! It was textbook sublime - completely overwhelming and very much worth the journey! We also went to paddle in once of the smaller waterfalls just below it.
That night we stayed in a very rustic camp a few minutes from the Falls where the generator cut out at about 7 so we had to use candles. We played games with our new Venezuelan, Pemon and Danish friends, each improving our own language skills! We fell asleep, exhausted and satisfied, in hammocks, listening to the sounds of the rainsforest and the very distant but omnipresent roaring of the Falls.
Today we have taken the boat and then the plane back to Ciudad Bolivar, stopping for Alice to swim and soothe her ridiculous sunburn and blisters in the 'Pool of Happiness'. Ciudad Bolivar is a gorgeous town right on the Rio Orinoco. We have found a really lovely Posada here and will stay a night whilst we plan our epic journey on to Merida...
Lots of love, Hannah and Alice
To reach Angel Falls, or Salto Angel, we left very early the next morning and journeyed down the Rio Churun in a motorised canoe for about three hours. Later that night we would compare the experience of speeing down this wide expanse of water deeper and deeper into the jungle to Conrad's 'Heart of Darkness'. Once the boat had moored at a rocky island, we waded through the water to start our trek up through the rainforest. Apparently we climbed about 300m upwards, although we couldn't tell whilst we were in the gloom of the forest, but we came out at an amazing viewpoint on the side of a mountain where we could finally see Angel Falls! We were really lucky in that the clouds actually cleared for us so that we could see all 980m of the waterfall! It really is impressive, cascading narrowly down a sheer rock face and creating a cauldron of mist and spray at the bottom. I kept saying how much the Victorians would have loved it if only it had been discovered before the 1930s! It was textbook sublime - completely overwhelming and very much worth the journey! We also went to paddle in once of the smaller waterfalls just below it.
That night we stayed in a very rustic camp a few minutes from the Falls where the generator cut out at about 7 so we had to use candles. We played games with our new Venezuelan, Pemon and Danish friends, each improving our own language skills! We fell asleep, exhausted and satisfied, in hammocks, listening to the sounds of the rainsforest and the very distant but omnipresent roaring of the Falls.
Today we have taken the boat and then the plane back to Ciudad Bolivar, stopping for Alice to swim and soothe her ridiculous sunburn and blisters in the 'Pool of Happiness'. Ciudad Bolivar is a gorgeous town right on the Rio Orinoco. We have found a really lovely Posada here and will stay a night whilst we plan our epic journey on to Merida...
Lots of love, Hannah and Alice
Wednesday, 1 July 2009
Yesterday we had a packed day filled with exploration. We started the day by taking the cable car up to the El Avila mountain that stands over Caracas. Although slightly cloudy, we got a spectacular view of the city on one side and the Caribbean sea on the other. In spite of a slight panic as we ascended and a long discussion about at which point we´d be most likely to survive if we fell on the way back down, we were every excited to be so high up and to see an aerial view of the tropical vegetation. We ate our squashed sandwiches at the peak close to the currently closed Humbolt Hotel, accompanied by the most amazing churro ever.
After we returned to the main city, we decided to reattempt a visit to the Museum of Contemporary Art that had eluded us the day before. Once we had finally reached the museum, Hannah literally had a nervous breakdown with the joy of finally entering and the love she felt for it, deciding to write a book entitled `Parque Central changed my life`. This decision was promptly followed by continuous comments along the lines of: "I LOVE these places" and "Do you know what? I REALLY like this" and "I think England should have more of these". The guidebook describes the entire place as "apocalyptic". A further spaz occurred over the Oscar Neimeyer exhibition.
After she had regained control of herself and limited her expressions of love for these complexes to an hourly basis, we visited the local supermarket to buy food for dinner accompanied by more Harry Potter.
Today we have visited the Museo de Bellas Artes, back close to Parque Central with Nelson`s niece Allie, and we are currently marvelling at South America`s largest shopping mall. It´s pretty big.
This will be the last blog for a few days as we are getting the night bus to Ciudad Bolivar from where we will visit Angel Falls and Canaima for three days before moving on to Merida. Love Alice and Hannah.
After we returned to the main city, we decided to reattempt a visit to the Museum of Contemporary Art that had eluded us the day before. Once we had finally reached the museum, Hannah literally had a nervous breakdown with the joy of finally entering and the love she felt for it, deciding to write a book entitled `Parque Central changed my life`. This decision was promptly followed by continuous comments along the lines of: "I LOVE these places" and "Do you know what? I REALLY like this" and "I think England should have more of these". The guidebook describes the entire place as "apocalyptic". A further spaz occurred over the Oscar Neimeyer exhibition.
After she had regained control of herself and limited her expressions of love for these complexes to an hourly basis, we visited the local supermarket to buy food for dinner accompanied by more Harry Potter.
Today we have visited the Museo de Bellas Artes, back close to Parque Central with Nelson`s niece Allie, and we are currently marvelling at South America`s largest shopping mall. It´s pretty big.
This will be the last blog for a few days as we are getting the night bus to Ciudad Bolivar from where we will visit Angel Falls and Canaima for three days before moving on to Merida. Love Alice and Hannah.
Monday, 29 June 2009
Well, contrary to popular opinion, we are safe and happy in Caracas. We have probably never been more nervous about visiting anywhere, but as soon as we met the lovely Nelson, who we are staying with, we knew we would be ok! The apartment he has provided is far more luxurious than we expected for the price, and he welcomed us by taking us for a night time drive around the city with his niece and girlfriend. It was great to get some idea of the layout of ths huge city, and he took us to get traditional cachapas, a corn pancake stuffed with a Venezuelan cheese called queso de mano, delicious... He also drove us up out of the city to where there are million dollar mansions, and a brilliant view of Caracas glittering amongst the hlls. It is also so interesting to hear Nelson´s refreshingly non-polemical views on Chavez (he explained that the reason we had unexpectedly entered a new time zone is because live on air, Chavez decided on the spur of the moment to change Venezuela´s time zone by half an hour so it would be sunny when he got up...)
This morning we got up eager to explore, and set ourselves up with a breakfast of arepas - a slightly different kind of stuffed pancake! Then we got the very efficient Metro to Capitolio, the old centre of the city, where we sat in the Plaza Bolivar surrounded by religious visonaries and socialist demonstrations amongst the fountains and tall trees. We also went into the Catedral, a fascinating sort of caricature of a Spanish church, with everything made slightly more melodamatic. Alice also endured McFlurrygate.
Then we walked towards Parque Central - I am really enjoying all the srt of conrete, brutalist architecture interspersed with tropical plants, which I´m sure many people hate but I love. Lots of places seem to have a suitably socialist Barbican-style setup, with galleries, museums, theatres, shops, restauants and homes all in the same building. We have also enjoyed finding litte parks and plazas, sudden moments of calm in an incredibly busy and exciting city.
We also managed to get a Venezuelan sim card! So if you want to phone or text us, the new number is (0412) 9358453
We will write again soon - we have two more nights in Caracas before we head off to Ciudad Bolivar and Angel Falls. But, just to reassure you, we have not found Caracas frightening in the least so far! Love Hannah and Alice
This morning we got up eager to explore, and set ourselves up with a breakfast of arepas - a slightly different kind of stuffed pancake! Then we got the very efficient Metro to Capitolio, the old centre of the city, where we sat in the Plaza Bolivar surrounded by religious visonaries and socialist demonstrations amongst the fountains and tall trees. We also went into the Catedral, a fascinating sort of caricature of a Spanish church, with everything made slightly more melodamatic. Alice also endured McFlurrygate.
Then we walked towards Parque Central - I am really enjoying all the srt of conrete, brutalist architecture interspersed with tropical plants, which I´m sure many people hate but I love. Lots of places seem to have a suitably socialist Barbican-style setup, with galleries, museums, theatres, shops, restauants and homes all in the same building. We have also enjoyed finding litte parks and plazas, sudden moments of calm in an incredibly busy and exciting city.
We also managed to get a Venezuelan sim card! So if you want to phone or text us, the new number is (0412) 9358453
We will write again soon - we have two more nights in Caracas before we head off to Ciudad Bolivar and Angel Falls. But, just to reassure you, we have not found Caracas frightening in the least so far! Love Hannah and Alice
Sunday, 28 June 2009
So we left you as we were just about to leave for a lime with Mary and Peter and some of their friends. The house we went to was INCREDIBLE. It was at the very top of a high hill - Chancellor's Hill, overlooking Port of Spain and sheltered by a huge tree. The house was spacious and immaculately decorated, with the majority of the party taking place in the raised garden with a view over the whole of the city lights. There were two permenant sheltered areas with comfy sofas and chairs on either side of the garden and swimming pool, lit up with decorative lanterns and coloured lights hidden in the bushes. Inside the house, in the cool dining room, was an AMAZING buffet laid out consisting of samosas, cheese and spinach pastries, smoked salmon, olives, ham, mango chow, soft rolls, fish cakes and a cheeseboard (always the way to our hearts...). After spending several hours at the house, Hannah and I alternating between the buffet and the sofas under the gazebo, we drove home with no mosquito bites in sight and went to bed immediately with a very early morning looming.
The next morning we were woken by my irritating phone alarm at 5.45. We were going to set a hash with Mary and Peter - a cross country run lasting between 45 minutes and 1 hour 20 minutes followed by copious amounts of beer. We had previously refused to actually run it, on account of my recovering ankle, but were going to walk the route laying out the directions (as well as many 'false trails'). We left at 7am, drove a short distance to meet Mary's friends who had bought us doubles - roti skins stuffed with curried chickpeas, best breakfast EVER - before continuing the drive to the start site. We set off walking, me coated in suncream, and before long had encountered our first goat of the day. We walked for several hours through forest seeing spectacular massive bamboos resembling gothic arches with the shapes they created as well as twisting vines, banana trees and branches covered in spikes tipped with poison. We came out in farmland (filled with over excitable and hungry goats and over protective dogs) and eventually reached the top of a hill that was entirely different from all other landscape we had seen that day. The site of the mud volcano was flat and virtually barren, with patches of dry grass and the occasional purple flower. In spite of the rain that had occurred briefly earlier in the day, the ground was still fairly cracked and in the centre of this plain was three shoulder high mounds that burped cool mud from time to time. After spending a short time taking photos we set off down the hill to wait in someone's house for the rest of the people setting the hash before walking a short distance back to the base.
When we reached the base we sat in the large, water filled 'copper' for a short time (originally used for boiling sugar but now seemingly reincarnated as a paddling pool for adults) before changing and eating a quick lunch of pasta and salad. Hannah and I promptly fell asleep in the hammock and chairs in the shade after single handedly devouring half a pack of chocolate digestives. We were woken by a deafening rendition of Queen blasting from a car that had just arrived, its occupants joining the rest of what had now become a crowd waiting to begin the hash. Shortly after they set off, leaving Hannah and I behind to entertain ourselves by reading Harry Potter aloud in silly voices. Just over an hour later, people began to return, curry was served in polystyrene boxes and we spent a few relaxing hours lying in the grass watching the sun set and the stars come out. After being informed that I wouldn't get a tan by sitting in the moonlight, we helped to pack up the area and headed for home.
Today we have had a relaxed day consisting of Mass and omlettes for breakfast, whilst slowly preparing for our flight to Caracas at 5.30 today. We will write soon, love Alice and Hannah.
The next morning we were woken by my irritating phone alarm at 5.45. We were going to set a hash with Mary and Peter - a cross country run lasting between 45 minutes and 1 hour 20 minutes followed by copious amounts of beer. We had previously refused to actually run it, on account of my recovering ankle, but were going to walk the route laying out the directions (as well as many 'false trails'). We left at 7am, drove a short distance to meet Mary's friends who had bought us doubles - roti skins stuffed with curried chickpeas, best breakfast EVER - before continuing the drive to the start site. We set off walking, me coated in suncream, and before long had encountered our first goat of the day. We walked for several hours through forest seeing spectacular massive bamboos resembling gothic arches with the shapes they created as well as twisting vines, banana trees and branches covered in spikes tipped with poison. We came out in farmland (filled with over excitable and hungry goats and over protective dogs) and eventually reached the top of a hill that was entirely different from all other landscape we had seen that day. The site of the mud volcano was flat and virtually barren, with patches of dry grass and the occasional purple flower. In spite of the rain that had occurred briefly earlier in the day, the ground was still fairly cracked and in the centre of this plain was three shoulder high mounds that burped cool mud from time to time. After spending a short time taking photos we set off down the hill to wait in someone's house for the rest of the people setting the hash before walking a short distance back to the base.
When we reached the base we sat in the large, water filled 'copper' for a short time (originally used for boiling sugar but now seemingly reincarnated as a paddling pool for adults) before changing and eating a quick lunch of pasta and salad. Hannah and I promptly fell asleep in the hammock and chairs in the shade after single handedly devouring half a pack of chocolate digestives. We were woken by a deafening rendition of Queen blasting from a car that had just arrived, its occupants joining the rest of what had now become a crowd waiting to begin the hash. Shortly after they set off, leaving Hannah and I behind to entertain ourselves by reading Harry Potter aloud in silly voices. Just over an hour later, people began to return, curry was served in polystyrene boxes and we spent a few relaxing hours lying in the grass watching the sun set and the stars come out. After being informed that I wouldn't get a tan by sitting in the moonlight, we helped to pack up the area and headed for home.
Today we have had a relaxed day consisting of Mass and omlettes for breakfast, whilst slowly preparing for our flight to Caracas at 5.30 today. We will write soon, love Alice and Hannah.
Friday, 26 June 2009
We are both feeling happily tired from sun and sea this evening. After our breakfast of mangoes from the tree in the garden, Kenneth (my youngest cousin, who took the day off school to see us) showed us a series of waterfalls in the hills just behind the house. After climbing up a steep track, under cathedral-esque arches of bamboo that creaked in the mountain breeze, we reached a cool pool, and managed to persuade the always game Alice to subject herself to the waterfall! Walking back down, we passed a tree of gigantine proportions, dwarfing most of the Cambridge architecture I am so used to being impressed by, each branch a home to its own ecosystem, with orchids growing upwards off the bark and vines draping down over the river. Underneath is a patchworked together wood and corrugated iron hut, complete with cable, blasting out the cricket commentary.
We chilled for a bit in the house and Aunty Mary had chicken rotis delivered to us! So good, so much fatter than our Herne Hill substitutes. Then Matthew arrived to take us all to the beach. We wound higher and higher through the lush mountains, on the drive to Maracas that I remember so well from my childhood, and then on a bit further to a small beach in Blanchisseue that I haven't visited before. It was a postcard perfect introduction to Caribbean beaches for Alice: warm sand, a stretch of palm trees, brilliant waves, and we had it all to ourselves! So we played in the waves and got covered in sand several times, and now we are waiting to go lime with Mary and her friends...
So it's been a great first proper day! Lots of love, Hannah and Alice
We chilled for a bit in the house and Aunty Mary had chicken rotis delivered to us! So good, so much fatter than our Herne Hill substitutes. Then Matthew arrived to take us all to the beach. We wound higher and higher through the lush mountains, on the drive to Maracas that I remember so well from my childhood, and then on a bit further to a small beach in Blanchisseue that I haven't visited before. It was a postcard perfect introduction to Caribbean beaches for Alice: warm sand, a stretch of palm trees, brilliant waves, and we had it all to ourselves! So we played in the waves and got covered in sand several times, and now we are waiting to go lime with Mary and her friends...
So it's been a great first proper day! Lots of love, Hannah and Alice
We're here, and survived the journey! The entire journey felt strangely short with the exception of the irritating 3 year old on the plane who seemed to consider us an interactive climbing frame. We landed in Tobago, checked in our luggage for our flight to Trinidad and grabbed some food before heading to the beach a 10 minute walk away. After making ourselves suitably wet and sandy, we wandered back to the airport to wait in the departure lounge. A short flight and longer wait for our baggage later we met Hannah's Uncle Peter who drove us home where we met the loud, attention seeking dogs. After several glasses of grapefruit juice with Auntie Mary, Peter and Kenneth and a small meal, we fell into bed completely exhausted after having been awake for about 24 hours.
We were woken at about 7.30 today by the sun, birds and dogs barking, dressed and ate mangoes with the prospect of rotis and a day at the beach.
Also, HANNAH GOT A 2.1 IN HER EXAMS!
We will write again soon. Love Alice and Hannah.
We were woken at about 7.30 today by the sun, birds and dogs barking, dressed and ate mangoes with the prospect of rotis and a day at the beach.
Also, HANNAH GOT A 2.1 IN HER EXAMS!
We will write again soon. Love Alice and Hannah.
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