From San Cristobal we caught a bus further up into the Andes to visit Merida. A painless journey up until the point the front of the bus caught fire and everyone had to flee the vehicle... still no one died!

We decided from Merida we would like to do a trip to Los Llanos, the huge flood plains in the centre of Venezuela. There are loads of tour groups operating out of Merida and so we picked the most honest looking one and got set to leave the next day. Unfortunately the other people on the trip didn't turn up until 3 hours after we were supposed to leave and so the first day was a bit rushed. At least they were a nice couple and it hadn't been their fault that their bus to Merida had taken 18 hours not 12. This meant we couldn't hold a grudge too long. Anyway, after a very long drive up into the high Andes and then down to the plains we made it to the camp in the middle of a huge thunder storm which was very cool to watch. During the trip we did a little bit of horse riding and some pirhanna fishing (everyone caught a fish almost everytime apart from me who is pants at it). We also did a river safari which involved racing along in a canoe fitted with an outboard motor. We think the plan was to come round the corners so quick we would surprize the animals before they could hide - very eco friendly. It also turned out that because the motor was so old it couldn't be switched on and off without considerable effort and so when we spotted river dolphins rather than park up we just drove round in big circles and scared them silly. The highlights of the trip were definately watching fireflies buzzing over the swamp at night while lightning storms lit up the horizon, and when we caught a caiman and an anaconda. Unfortunately the anaconda squirted some yellow gunk out of its bum at us - some sort of antipredator defense apparently - and now we can't get the funky smell off!