OUCH!

Aright ya'all

I write this email to you in a internet cafe tucked behind some sheds in the Venezuela/Brazilian border town of Santa Elena. I am currently being bitten by hundreds of little black things, so you better all appreciate the effort, literal blood, sweat and lip chappage that has gone into this email!

"lip chappage" i hear you cry, well, as you asked so nicely... it all started when the Angel that looks after the water fall round these 'ere parts decided that he didn’t actually need the toilet at the mo, and consequently refused to give even a drop of water for me to view the resulting falls of water. Therefore going to see 'Angel Falls' kinda seems a waste of time,

So, along with two people that i had met in Santa Fey, you remember, the place with palm trees swaying gently in the light Caribbean breeze, waves tentatively lapping against the golden brown sand and beautifully tanned women walking around infront of me in next to nothing...that place. Anywho, instead i went off on a six day 'hike' to what i thought was a large-ish sized hill called Roraima....

oh

dear

god was i wrong about that one!!

Standing 2810 m high Roraima is the highest of the tepuis (flat-topped mountains that are dotted about south east Venezuela) it was actually the inspiration for Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's novel 'The Lost World', not to be confused with the 1996 film of the same name which had some shots actually filmed in the savannah below Roraima!

Needless to say your lucky that they have not yet invented smell-e-mail yet! After six days and only one pair of trousers (its what it suggested in the guidebook god dam it) i reeked!! The climb was actually the hardest thing i have ever done! Both my knees went on the way up (to the great amusement of the 30 somethinks all of whom had perfect knees) and therefore on the way down i needed two knee supports and hiking stick!

It was such a relief to finally reach the bottom after the six days. I would go into more details, but i there is simply too much to put into one email before it becomes an essay. Really though, it was amazing (i only realised this when i finished) So, for you people hard pressed for time, in short i had to..

* Swim across fast flowing rivers that were home to huge, and i mean HUGE tadpoles!
* Endure hours and hours of mozzy bites
* Walk under the fourth highest waterfall in the world, water hurts
* Actually rock climb, and try this with no harness or anything, also with a big bag on back
* Be in lots and lots of pain due to knees
* And lots of other stuff that i will tell you all when showing pics when i get home!

Tomorrow i am off to Brazil to find a route down the Amazon and into Peru. hope your all well, i'm off to brush up on my Portuguese, which is none existent!

chow for now brown cow



Matt