VENEZUELA and T&T 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