Sanyu's World

Villa de Leyva

The World Cup is really messing with my travel schedule! I arrived at the bus station at 2:30am to try and get a bus to Tunja where I could change for Villa de Leyva. Why would I do such a thing? So that I could arrive in Leyva in time to watch the England vs. Ecuador match of course! There wasn't a seat available on a bus until 4am so I spent the time studying Spanish, pretty impressive, eh? Villa de Leyva is a cute little white washed town where rich Colombians go to chill for the weekend and I could see why. The church is of course the center point for the town and out in front is a huge open cobble stoned courtyard where people meet and chat and just generally hang about. I found a small place on the square to watch the game (which was fantastic, yay Beckham) before heading out on walkabout.   

I caught a bus at the station to Raquira which is a small colorful nearby town lined with shops selling all sorts of tourist nick knacks. I was wandered around for a bit before spotting and hopping on a small minibus to Candelaria to see the nearby monastery. Everything was so white and bright you couldn't help but feel serene. Also, I know it's strange but the color of the sky here is a blue more beautiful than any I've ever seen. It's very windy and there is a lot of cloud cover but when you see a bit of blue sky peeking out you can't help but be mesmerized. I didn't want to sit around waiting for a bus back so I walked on the road for about an hour before one caught up with me. It was going in my general direction but luckily there was a woman on he bus trying to get back to Villa de Leyva as well. We had to change to another bus and then a shared taxi before we were safely back in town.

I thought Sunday night and Monday was going to be more quiet but this is the second holiday weekend in a series of 3 for Colombians. I went to bed quite early but the rest of the town was up late drinking in small bars and hanging out in and around the bonfire in the middle of the square. The morning  was eaten up by yet another football match before I headed out on a one hour hike to see an astronomical music site. Still not sure what it was all about. It kind of looked like a bunch of big stone penises stuck in the ground but who am I to judge. From there I headed southwest to see the fossil of a kronosaurus which was pretty cool. I then had to hike home about an hour trying to go as quickly as possible so I could make it back in time to see the second half of yet another game. Do you see how this is becoming a real problem?

Back in Leyva the mass exodus was well underway. I had a late dinner and called it a night. The next morning  I of course had to watch the Brazil game but left early as I couldn't really watch Ghana being brutalized like that. I hopped on a minibus to Tunja and then on a whim decided that I couldn't possible miss the France vs. Spain game so I hung around the bus station watching it with everyone else. As soon as the game was over I headed out to find a bus to Bogota and found one leaving immediately and they even wanted to give me a ticket at a discount. Great I thought. Not great. The bus was full and my seat was a cushion propped on a small ledge in the back in front of the bathrooms. Be careful what you wish for I suppose. I got off the bus at Portal Norte, the noth end of Bogota, to transfer to a Transmileno bus which are supposed to be super clean, efficient and fast. Super complicated is more like it. Each bus changes number depending on which direction its going and different numbers are used at different times of the day. While all buses are navigating the same routes, each bus only stops at a small selection of stops and two buses who might both stop at your stop have to be caught at different places on the platform. I stood there staring at the schedule wondering why I didn't just play the $4 for the taxi.

I picked a bus stopping one station passed where I wanted to go and hoped for the best. From there I found a taxi to take me to my hostel. He couldn't find it and I finally just got fed up and told him to let me out and I would walk. Well, thankfully he let me out only a few meters from a building where four gringos had just walked out of. I knew that had to be it but as I looked at the gringos I just kept thinking, 'it can't be'. I called out 'Ian' and one of the guys turned around. It was a fellow Canadian I'd hung out with all though Bolivia. We spent the rest of the night catching up and chatting with others in the hostel. This is a total gringo hangout which is a nice change. Ian's leaving for Canada tomorrow and he seems really ready to just go home. I hope I'm ready when the time comes.

Welcome to Columbia!

So glad was I to get out of Merida. The town is really traveler-friendly making it a tough place to leave. One last saucy burger and I was set to go. The burgers (and hot dogs) here are heaven to me. You buy them on the street, cheap, and then stand there eating while all the different sauces they've already put on for you drip off. In between each bite you have to choose one or more bottles of sauce (garlic is my fav) and squeeze it on. Extra saucy! It was raining which made getting a cab to the bus station a near impossibility. It took almost 20 minutes and when one finally pulled over he then immediately pulled away when he saw that my wet bag would have to go on his nice upholstered seat. Luckily a less discriminating cab stopped not to long after and I was off. I just missed my 1pm bus and had to wait an hour and half which blew my schedule to smithereens but what can you do? Six hours by minibus San Cristobal and then another two hours to the border town of San Antonio de Tachira.

It was late and I needed to walk through town to find the hostel I'd picked out but as I walked down the main road and looked down the side streets I needed to turn onto I just thought, nope. Too scary. Found a decent enough hotel a block away just off the main road and crashed. Up early to do all my immigration stuff. I had to walk about eight blocks to the Venezuelan office to get my exit stamp and then walk over the bridge with my big pack to the Colombian side. Easy as pie and I didn't have to wait too long for a bus to take me in to Cucuta, Columbia, 12 km away. At the bus station I had to change $20 USD at a crappy rate but it meant getting on a bus to Bucaramanga leaving in 10 minutes. What a ride! I was in yet another small van for the six hour trip through the mountains and was so happy that the bus only broke down once. The driver was going way too fast on the narrow winding roads and blindly passing any truck within reach for fun. There were two young kids on the bus. One started puking halfway up the mountain. The other decided to wait until he had had a full meal at our quick lunch stop and then when he was comfortably seated behind me decided to let 'er rip. My whole left side, including hair was covered in barf. The rest of the passengers were lucky that I was wearing a tank top under my shirt cause the shirt was coming off no matter what. My chair was covered as well and the bus was full so I had to sit on the very edge of my seat for the last two hours. Who said traveling isn't glamourous?

Well I couldn't get off that bus fast enough. I jumped in a cab and made my way to a super crappy hotel in downtown Bucaramanga. Even though I smelled like puke, the taxi driver was hitting on me like crazy. Go figure. I took a quick shower and headed out for a quick meal which was great. Set lunch for just over a dollar with soup, meat, yams and lentils. It was still early but I was beat so I smuggled two beers into my hotel room and settled in to watch a few hours of TV. Talk about bliss. In the morning I headed out to the beautiful small white washed town of Giron. Life here moves at a very slow pace. I checked out a few serene shaded areas where locals were lolling about and the main square grounded by its blindingly white church but there wasn't much else to do there so I headed back after about an hour. I wasn't sure where to catch the bus but amazingly the same bus driver that had dropped me off passed me and stopped to let me on. Back at the hotel I grabbed my stuff and headed to the bus station.

Yet another minivan awaited me for my quick two and half hour trip to San Gil. At the station I was the belle of the ball. All the bus companies were trying to get me to get on their minivan leaving to San Gil in ten minutes. I told the girl at one company that I just waited to check the price at the stall next door and she lowered the price even further. Great. This trip while mountainous was quite uneventful thank heavens. The best thing about these small minivans are that they drop you in town instead of at the bus station which saves so much hassle. I arrived in San Gil a little before 4pm and got one of the last available rooms. There's a big festival here this weekend but for what purpose I haven't yet figured out. Walked down to the nearby riverside park where all the trees have floaty gray beards. Quite pretty in a strange way. I walked a bit more but I was pretty done. I stopped for a quick dinner and then a quick beer at a small bar but I was garnering a little too much attention. Home again.

I headed down to the river at 9:45am to try and get on a group rafting trip. Even though they open at 8am, the girl at the counter had told me the day before to get there by 10am if I wanted to go in a group. Didn't make any sense to me but of course she was right. There were a few dozen people all around getting ready to go. They hurried me off to a van and we zoomed off up river to the starting point about 15 minutes away. About 5 minutes in we hear the guy sitting in the back yell 'Suave, mas suave'. I figured his girlfriend was getting sick because we were going so fast but as we all turned around simultaneously we looked on as the four stacked rafts on the back trailer toppled off to the right and started scraping on the ground as we dragged them along. The guys got out and stacked them back up and luckily when we arrived we found that we didn't have to use them anyway as there were two rafts already set up for us. I was in a group with two other couples and even though we got all of our instructions in Spanish I was shocked that I actually understood most everything. We headed off down the class 3 rapids. A pretty easy ride for the most part so the guides like to make it a bit more fun by  (a.) making everyone stand up on the edge of the raft while holding hands just before pushing everyone in and (b.) tipping the boat over purposefully every chance they get. It was an excellent way to spend the morning.

At the end of the trip I walked to the hotel dripping wet and quickly changed into some dry clothes. I had wanted to quickly catch a bus to another small town called Barichara but I'd just missed one and had to wait 45 minutes. No problem, I was starving and I'd seen a woman doling out some sort of meat and rice concoction from the head of a pig and decide to go back and investigate. She made me a plate to go which I ate in the park before strolling through the local covered market on my way to the local bus station. We made it to Barichara in under 45 minutes and the first thing I noticed was that all the houses were painted bright white with dark green doors. The second thing I noticed was that all the doors were closed. After wandering the streets for a few minutes I figured it out. The Mexico and Argentina game had just started. I found myself a seat in a store/bar and tuned in. When in Rome and all that. I'm back in San Gil now and am heading out to Villa de Leyva in the morning after I check out the festival party scene. Ciao!   

Merida

Merida is a gorgeous city with a vibrant green mountainside to its southeast. I found a very friendly hostel with lots of World Cup fans before heading out on a day of errands. I was running back to the hostel to try and catch the last half of last game of the day when I passed a small storefront selling beer and broadcasting the game. A group of locals and a couple from my hostel were gathered around drinking beer and cheering the South American team on. I stopped and joined in the fun before heading back to the hostel where I met 3 of the 17 young American missionaries taking up most of the dorm beds at the hostel. I hope they don't try to convert me!

Yet another day of World Cup action. It's really hard not to watch but at least they replay all the games at night, just in case. I met an American guy named Timoteo who took me out on the town for a night of salsa dancing. It was Saturday night and there were lots of people out. I hadn't realized before just how big Merida was. I'm staying in a tiny little part close to the mountains and teleferico but this place is sprawls out for miles. I was pretty tired from the late night but we decided to head up the teleferico anyway. It is the world's longest and highest cable car ride (and just around the corner from the hostel) so missing it wasn't an option. The ride is in four stages and by the third stage you're already passing above the clouds and getting lightheaded. It was freezing at the top with not much to see due to all the cloud cover. A great ride though. Finished the day watching a very strange movie at the cinema and having an amazing Italian meal. They waiters didn't skip a beat when the lights went out. They brought out candles and standalone lamps and our dinners with hardly any delay.

Up early the next day to go canyoning which was basically rappelling down waterfalls. Really, who makes this stuff up? It was incredible and terribly frightening. It was myself, a Brit named Piers and a guide and after a 30 minute drive and 20 minute hike in our skivvies we reached the river where we put on scuba suits to keep warm in the freezing cold water. We hiked to the first waterfallfirst waterfall which was only about 10 meters down but I was petrified and the 5 minute rappelling lesson in Spanish didn't do much to alleviate my stress. The big shock came about halfway down when I swung into the waterfall and felt the water crashing down on my head. I couldn't breathe and could not figure out what to do. I lost my rope, my lifeline and felt myself slide quickly down about 3 meters until I hit the bottom. I had missed the part of the lesson where the guide mentioned that while I repelled down on my rope, he was actually reeling me out on the backup rope so it was more like being lowered down. Thank heavens for backups.

We hiked to the next waterfall crossing back and forth across the raging river to follow the safest path. The rocks were very slippery and it was easier just to slide on my bum on the trickier parts. We got to a small ledge and our guide just jumped in. The rock wall opposite us was only about 5 feet away and it's just barely deep enough to jump at that one point. It looks insane and I really had to talk myself into it. There was more hiking to the two last waterfalls, the last one at 25 meters high convinced me that a fear of heights is a good thing. I never once looked down. My adrenaline was pumping hard enough just concentrating on not letting go of the rope this time. At the bottom we hiked out to our jeep and pulled off all of our scuba gear and headed back into town feeling exhilarated. They had a delicious chicken coconut curry waiting for us back at the office and we finished just in time to catch the last football match.

Finally, my last day in Merida and in Venezuela. I'm busing it into Columbia early tomorrow so I've had a million little things to get done today. I did get a chance to make it out to the nearby ice cream parlor where they have the Guinness world record for the most ice cream flavors. This list is stomach churning, onion, garlic, hamburger, chicken in wine sauce and even shrimp. I'm not sure anyone actually buys them because the containers looked very full and looked like they'd been sitting out for a good long while. I tried a few and was horrified. I'm sticking to strawberry from now on.

Final Score: Good Days 4, Bad Days 3

Staying an extra day in Cuidad Bolivar turned out to be a monumental mistake. The owner of my hotel is a crazy German guy and I thought that this was going to be the perfect place to chill out and watch the first day of World Cup action. Wrong. I was the only tourist at the hostel because he was running low on water so he turned away all the tourists looking for a room and the big party I was hoping for just didn't happen. I watched the Germany game with Gerd and his son and then headed to the bus station to find out how to get to my next stop, Caripe. I found a guy at the station who gave me lots of information on the best way to get there but as I found out later, he exaggerated how short each hop would be. I ended up spending the entire next day on a series of smaller and smaller buses and didn't arrive in Caripe until 4pm. I was annoyed at wasting an entire day and consoled myself with a very nice, if expensive, dinner at pretty much the only restaurant in town open past 6pm.

I woke at 7am and caught a cab for the 12 km journey to the Cueva del Guácharo. They were supposed to open at 8am but this is of course South America so I had to sit around for 45 minutes before they would let us buy tickets to enter the cave. I was in a group with 9 other early birds and our guide Manuel. As we moved deeper into the cave you could hear screeching and squawking all above our heads. The birds hate the light so we saw them mostly in shadows. Walking along the path was a bit treacherous because it was covered in fruit seeds from the bird's late night banquets. We walked in further looking at all the stalactites and stalagmites and trying desperately not to fall on the slippery ground. I was happy to get out of the damp darkness and easily found a taxi to bus station where it was another long journey in a series of shared taxis to Puerto de la Cruz. It was an eerie and interesting experience but I'm not sure it was worth all the traveling.

I arrived in Puerto de la Cruz at 4pm and made up my mind to catch the ferry to Isla Margarita from where I could fly to Los Roques. At the ferry terminal I bought my ticket and then jumped on the Internet for 30 minutes to book the flight. It was a bit more expensive then heading back to Caracas and flying from there but taxis to/from the Caracas airport are crazy expensive and even more so at 5am when there is no public transport available. The ferry was 2 hours late so it was 11pm when we finally walked off the boat. I found a Spanish girl to share a cab into the city center and went to sleep for 4 hours in a pit of a hotel before heading out to the airport. One hour later I was in paradise! Los Roques are a series of small islands just below Aruba and Bonaire. The main island, Gran Roque, is so small that from the place that you walk off the plane to the the center of town is less than 100 meters.

I chose a small cheap hostel in the square and went to check out options for scuba diving that day. I found the company I'd been exchanging emails with and quickly put a bag together to head out on the excursion with them. We had a great morning diving around a large pointy rock called the Pinnacle and had lunch on a small nearby island before heading out to try and look for sharks. No sharks but we saw lots of big fish. Back at the hostel for dinner I found out that an American guy I'd met at Angel Falls was staying at the same place. There aren't many cheap places to stay on Los Roques so all the single travelers seem to be at my hostel. An funny English guy, a French girl and 3 Dutch girls rounded out the rest of the group. Food on the island is also expensive but breakfast and dinner are included in the room price. We all sat down a dinner of fish and then drank and chatted well into the night. The next day I had organized to go diving with a different company along with a Spanish couple who I'd gone diving with the day before. It was a one hour boat trip down south to the reef but it was worth it. In the morning we spotted two gorgeous eagle rays and in the afternoon we spied a nurse shark sleeping under a small ledge. Eugenio grabbed the shark's tail and annoyed him enough that he took off and we got a good look at him. Lunch was on a tiny little sand bar which was more tiny scatchy pieces of shell than sand. The water here is an amazing blue-turquoise and changes rapidly depending on the depth of the water. Did I mention this was paradise.

We arrived back on Gran Roque just in time for the last of the Brazil game and then a I headed down to watch the sunset with Sophie and Pierre. Fish dinner (I think it's fish every night), more drinks and chatting and then bed. My last day on the island was filled with football and short hikes around the island. The beach around the island is covered with boats waiting to take tourists over to other islands for the day but I'd had enough of boats. I just wanted to relax. 6pm came much too quickly and from takeoff to touchdown we were in the air only 30 minutes. I took the bus and metro to my old hostel in Caracas and was happy to see my big backpack waiting for me. Two whole weeks without it I must say I was missing it a bit. I talked to some fellow travelers who had just arrived and talked them into meeting me at the Diablos Danzantes festival the next day. I drew them a map with instructions and headed to bed.

I was up and out of the hostel somewhat early to make it San Francisco de Yare for the festival. The other travelers I'd spoken to wanted to go later but this festival is the whole reason I came to Venezuela directly from Ecuador and I didn't want to miss a second of it. When I arrived at the church at the center of town it was in a sea of red. Hundreds of men and boys dressed in a red costume atop of which they each have a big colorful mask. They were dancing in small circle to the beat of a drum and maracas. It was mesmerizing. After about half and hour they stopped and the church service began which included lots of Latin-African music and singing streaming out of the loud speakers. I ran into the travelers I'd met the night before and we hung out alternating between eating ice pops and drinking beers in the hot sun. Once the service was over, the priest was carried out of the church on a white and gold throne. All the devils got into position and walked backwards in a long wide line in front of the throne like the priest was driving them out. What an ending! We hung out for another hour or so drinking a few more beers and having a quick lunch. We were about to go when a commotion  started a few meters in front of us and all of a sudden we realized that a guy had just gotten stabbed in the shoulder. Looking around I realized there were easily ten times as many people in the streets as there were when I'd a arrived a few hours before. Definitely time to go. By the time we made it back to to the hostel I only had about 15 minutes before I had to head to the bus station to catch my bus to Merida. What a week!

Salto Angel

Santa Fe is such a chill little place. Unlike Jericoacoara, Brazil which is billed as a small fishing village, this one actually is. The beach is small and quiet but in the mornings, there's a bit of a hustle and bustle in the north end as fisherman weigh and sell their catch and the fruit and vegetable markets are in full swing. I headed into the 'big city', Puerto del la Cruz, on Saturday to do big city things. I found an ATM willing to give me cash and then surfed the web to my hearts content as Internet access in Santa Fe is horribly slow. I spent the next day in Santa Fe alternately swimming, drinking beer and renewing my commitment to learning Spanish. I hit the books hard and took notes until my hand started to cramp. It was a Sunday so there were lots of families splashing around in the water and enjoying the day. The manager in the restaurant below my hostel made me the most delicious shrimp in garlic butter for lunch. Dreamy. It was a great day that went all too fast and ended in a beautiful sunset.

I left early the next morning to catch a minivan down to Puerto del la Cruz in order to switch to a five hour bus to Cuidad Bolivar. I was expecting a big city but it's really just a very beautiful small one. I found my way into the small downtown and located a hostel run  by a wacky German guy, Gerd, who immediately put me at ease. We chatted for a while and then booked my Angel Falls tour with him. I took a walk down to the main street lining the river Orinoco and up around the city. The churches, buildings and monuments were in pristine condition and made a beautiful backdrop. Later on at the hostel I wanted to run down to the store to pick up a few things for my excursion but Gerd warned me against going out alone at night and sent one of his friends to walk with me. A real class move. Up early to head to the airport with Gerd on the back of his motorcycle. I pretty much prayed the whole way and cursed myself for not wearing a helmet.

Our plane for the 50 minute trip to Canima was tiny and a bit flimsy looking but it sufficed. The five of us were met at the airport in Canima and taken straight to a hotel where we met up with eight more travelers before beginning our journey. We headed out on a 30 minute walk around the nearby lagoon until we reached the boat docks. Four bum numbing hours of a boat ride were in order. The scenery was of course lovely. All around are tepuis which are grass covered flat-topped mountains. Unique to this region I believe. Just as our boat pulled up near Angel Falls it started raining heavily. We all got out of the boat as quickly as possible and stretched our stiff limbs before we were quickly led off on a one hour trail up to the viewpoint . The rain dissipated quickly but in the end we were so glad for it because it cleared away the mist covering the falls and we were treated with an amazing view. The falls are almost a kilometer high so by the time the water reaches he small waterfalls below it has turned mostly to mist. A really ethereal sight.

We walked a few minutes more to a small waterfall and pool at the base of the falls where we could jump in and feel the powerful water pushing us around before heading back down the trail to our campsite. They treated us to barbecued chicken and rice before we hit our hammocks for a good night's sleep in front of the falls. When we woke up for breakfast the falls were completely covered by mist but all of a sudden the mist cleared away and we had a beautiful view for about thirty minutes. The ride back on the river was much faster as we were traveling with the current, thank heavens. The water is a dark red and stings your eyes because of all the tannins in the water. The sn was out and the sky was all blue but most of the tepuis we'd seen on the way to the falls were completely shrouded in mist. Did I menion how lucky we were. Lots of people go on the excursion to angel Falls and see nothing but mist and heavy rain the whole time. Back at the hotel we said goodbye to over half our group who were returning to Cuidad Bolivar. It was just five of us again.

We had relaxing lunch and siesta before heading out to check out two nearby smaller waterfalls. We caught a boat across the lagoon to see the Sapa waterfall first. We walked a short way to the falls and then walked about 100 meters along a very slippery path behind the wall of water. There was one point where there was so much water coming down you couldn't really see your next step. I just took a deep breath and went for it. There was a nice area on the other side where we sunned ourselves for a bit before heading down to the beach for a swim and then up to the top of the falls for the view. Acha falls was next. It looked the same on the outside but walking behind the cascading water felt like being in a hurricane. A strong wind was blowing water spray everywhere and you could hardly see. I was glad to make it back out of that one.

(Psst, mom, this is a Canima orchid!) Dinner and a few drinks and I was off to bed. The next morning was all free time until our flight back to Cuidad Bolivar. We were all ready to board the plane when I realized that I'd forgotten my sneakers back at the hotel. Our guide Freddie was kind enough to run and retrieve them for me but as they'd been left out in the rain all night and day they added a horrible rotten smell to the flight. Oops. Oh well, I'm back in lovely Cuidad Bolivar. Tomorow's a big day. Go Ecuador!

Viva Venezuela

Big night out on Saturday with about 20 other people from my hostel. I was glad I didn't go for the 2 hour 'all you can drink' dinner before hand because when most people were pretty smashed before we even got in the cabs. Sunday was definitely a day of rest. I didn't leave my bed til well after noon which was fine because Sunday's are ridiculously quiet here. I walked around the old quarter to some of my old haunts and then headed down through Ejido Park to El Mariscal, the new town, to grab some dinner and kill some time on Internet.  On Monday I finally sucked it up and made the decision to head to Venezuela instead of Columbia. Long story and an even longer list of pros and cons. I picked up my ticket and then headed off to Ipales market in the old town to try and find some cheap flip flops as the ones my mom gave me in Peru are a few millimeters away from being binned. I found a great seafood cafeteria style place that offered a big bowl of shrimp ceviche for $4. And it included a bowl of popcorn for free. Let's just say I was in heaven.

One more day to kill before my early morning flight to Venezuela. My taxi didn't show up but thankfully I'd requested it to come much earlier than was necessary and I was able to flag one down a few blocks away. Arriving in Caracas seemed easy enough. I floated through customs and found my way to the tourist desk. Then I spent about 45 minutes arguing with about 7 different bank machines. none of them wanted to give me any money and kept giving me cryptic error messages. So frustrating. I finally found one that worked with my card and headed to catch the bus into town. I hopped from the bus to their really nice metro system and exited at Plaza Venezuela where I came up above ground in the middle of a crowded street market. There were people selling things on every square inch of sidewalk. I walked through as quickly as I could and made it to the door of my hostel which conveniently enough, also rents rooms by the hour!No worries, the place was clean and the managers were really nice and helpful even if they were all gloom and doom about being careful and advising against going outside at night. I decided to heed to their advice about half an hour later as we all watched two drugged up guys circled each other, preparing to fight a few meters from our front door. Even more so when two police cars drove by not caring what they were up to. Ok, off to bed it is.

I spent the next morning walking around the downtown area where the sidewalks were lined with even more stalls. I wound my way through them over to check out the Simon Bolivar Plaza and then onto the Bolivar Museum. I was a little nervous walking around after all the warnings I'd been given but the other option is just staying inside your hotel room, right. Caracas has a great feeling of the old and the new all muddled up together as gorgeous old buildings will be flanked on either side by new boxy edifices. Back on the metro to my neck of the woods and long walk down the street market until I found a bus to El Hatillo, a small quaint suburb, such a contrast to Caracas. Almost every door around the main square is an artisan shop or a restaurant and they all are painted all different and vivid colors. It made a nice escape but I couldn't stay very long as I needed to get back to my hostel well before dark. 

Another early night and an early morning to catch the bus to Santa Fe, a small fishing village in the northeast about 45 minutes from Puerto del la Cruz. The buses here are as nice or maybe nicer than those in Argentina, which is saying a lot. For the last 45 minutes the bus driver let me sit in the front passenger seat so I could hop out quickly. It was a great view on a winding road hugging the coast. The day was clear and you could see all the different islands just off the coast. I walked through the small town until I found the beach and checked into a small hostel. There aren't many tourists here and there doesn't seem to be much to do except sit and enjoy the water and sun. I was hoping to do a little scuba diving here but I've been told there just aren't enough people right now to make it worthwhile to the dive shops. So I've got to get myself into beach mode. Tough life I lead.