This is the second time we've tried to write this blog. Alice did the first one which was apparently comic genius but unfortunately it didn't survive the internet connection out here and so you're getting the Jack version - sorry!.

Anyway this last week has been mostly filled with near death experiences, or bus rides as they are more generally known, winding through the Andes up to the city of San Cristobal.

We left Zip and took a bus to Tunja before getting a connection to San Gil. Despite getting seriously dehydrated in the baking hot bus the trip was surprisingly quick and easy. Too bad this wasn't to be repeated later. San Gil is meant to be an adventure sports city and we had hoped we might spend a few days there. However, when we arrived we discovered fairly quickly that it wasn't the place for us. The hotel had flooded and its toilets and shower don't even deserve describing, in addition the town was full of chav-tastic tourists and dodgy locals.

A hasty departure led us to Bucaramanga. The trip wasn't too bad although it was made at stupidly high speeds and we did pass a lorry which had gone off the road and was spread all over the mountain below. Scary. The city is basically a huge industrial type place and so we spent a day at the local village of Giron which was really pretty. There was also some sort of fair going on (it's like they know we're coming) and so there were buses packed with musicians driving around the main plaza.

We decided to get out the next day and so our bus related woes began. The plan was to get a 'quick' bus up to Cucuta, on the Venezulian border. This 200 km trip took 8 hours along the windiest roads imaginable, all with shear drop offs. Arriving completely spaced out we were thrown into a bus station more typical of India or Africa than out here. Lots of people tugging on sleaves and shouting about which bus or taxi to take. We survived though and crossed the border to Venezuela the next morning.

We had read in our trusty and oh so accurate guide book that the border was a nightmare because of guerilla fighting and drug running. This turned out to be complete fiction. Taxi up to border along motorway, change money with surprisingly honest black market people, get an exit stamp, walk across bridge, get an entry stamp, done. Of course once we were across our bank cards began to play up again, it had been almost two months after all, and getting some more money involved running all over San Antonio in search of an ATM which would take our cards. Still we eventually got it sorted and found a bus to take us up to San Cristobal. About five minutes into the bus ride we were pulled over at a customs block and everyone had to show ID. Because we had bags we were taken into a side room for an inspection. The guard was friendly enough though he was more than a bit confused by Alice's 'lady products'. Still at least we weren't strip searched as our guide book had promised!

San Cristobal doesn't have much character and so we took a day trip to the local village of Peribeca which was very touristy but very nice with lots of handicraft stalls and some nice shaded plazas. These were appreciated because it was really, really hot and only a few hours of sun turned us lobster red. We went for lunch in a restaurant in someone's back garden and ordered food off the menu completely at random as we didn't have a dictionary with us. I ordered Mondonga because it was cheap, this caused a look of surprize on the waitress' face and a visit from the owner a minute later to take me into the kitchen to be sure it was what I wanted. I should have been more suspicous I know but it looked just like chicken soup and I said that it looked great. Turns out it was tripe. Anyone who knows me knows that I'm pretty fussy about food and stomach lining definately falls into my don't eat bracket. Still the experience was more than made up for by the taxi we took to get back to San Cristobal. It was one of those low rider things which bounce when you press the horn. Of course this one didn't because it would have fallen apart; wires hanging out everywhere, most of the body work missing and even a detachable window lever. Love it!