Post 11: Revisions thus far, and more plans by G

  

As June mentioned in the previous post, we have (as predicted) had to make changes to our original plan. This in essence adds 9 days to the beginning of our trip, throwing off where we would be for holidays and what not. The new schedule (which will be posted in detail soon) puts us in Peru for my birthday (Dec. 16th), Bolivia for Christ-mass and New Years, and our arrival in Brazil (at Iqazu Falls) will now coincide with Valentines Day. Due to our change of plans, we will also now be departing from Brazil (most likely through Manaus), thou we have considered departing from the Caribbean also.

$1400 saved! 

After the break - the (ever tentative) plans for Venezuela through Bolivia....

Post 10: Change of plans, we start in Venezuela by June

Ever eat a drumstick Sundae Cone as a kid?  Of course you have, it'd be un-American of you not to have.  You take that first bite into the nut covered chocolate shell that'd always stick to the back of your teeth, complimenting the cold vanilla cream melting along your tongue.  Then you move onto the cone; the chewy cone that somehow always kept the ice cream it encompassed colder than anywhere else.  But now you're coming to the bottom of the cone and we all know what's there, what has been anticipated and what is certainly the best part...... the fudge.  It wouldn't matter how much that ice cream was starting to melt and drip through, you would have that fudge.  It'd leave that dark chocolate taste in the back of your mouth and at that moment, nothing else could fulfill your palate.  Oh, the days of not caring about ingredients or caloric contents.

Angel Falls, or Salto Angel, in Venezuela was going to be the end of our journey.  It was going to be the fudge at the bottom of the cone.  In a sense, this waterfall encouraged me to take this trip.  Ever see Pixar's UP?  The landscape design was inspired and drawn from Canaima National Park.  That nudged me further.  I'm young, healthy and strong with little commitments that now is the time to seize the opportunity to go someplace I'd only seldom hear of, typically through magazines or TV shows that would speak of the world's highest waterfalls.  However, upon further research, I've come to realize that the end of our trip falls at the end of February, which means we'd be going during the later half of the dry season.  I could not risk making the rigorous trek there and potentially seeing no falls due to the dry conditions.  I'm not going to miss the "Auyantepuy" Table mountain in which she falls, or  the combination of breathtaking mountains called Tepuys, countless rivers, lakes, waterfalls, forests and savannahs spread like a green sea!  I want my fudge, but now I'm going to have to eat it first!

So the beginning plans are as follows:

Day 1
Arrival in Venezuela.
• Arrival at the International Airport Simon Bolivar in Caracas
La Guaira, - Maiquetía - Los Roques.
• Departure from Maiquetía to Los Roques.
• The tropical paradise with over 365 islands and about 95 miles off the coast of Venezuela.

Day 4-5
Los Roques - Caracas - Canaima National Park.

Day 9
Back to Caracas - Cartegena, Columbia(if they fly there?)

Note:
You can only get there by plane or helicopter.  There are 5 cities that have regular flights to Canaima.  Aserca y Aeropostal is the only direct airline from Caracas, running about $300 pp round trip.  We could save money by taking an 8 hour, overnight luxury touring bus from Caracas to Ciudad Bolivar, then fly from there to Canaima for est. $100.00 pp RT.

Next post will include further details for our plans in Los Roques and Canaima National Park.

It is not down in any map; true places never are.  ~Herman Melville

Post 9: We start in Cartagena by G

Fellow adventurers,

J and I were a bit delayed in our planning this weekend, but when we finally got around to it, we decided our trip should start in the Caribbean city of Cartagena, in the north of Colombia. Its logical to start here because its furthest north and there are direct flights here from Miami, which means we can avoid the more urban centers like Bogota.

From there, we should be headed via a domestic airline to Pereira, a city which has a name I can not wrap my tongue around. Pereira seems to be a safer alternative to Medellin, which I believe we will be avoiding.

We will be spending a total of 10 or so days in country, and a good mix of scenery  and landscape should be our goal before crossing  the border into Ecuador.

More on our plans for Colombia soon!

I say with excitement that I accomplished two things today, I got rid of more "things" and made more money ($100) to contribute to the pot in the process. The more I do this, the better off.

I have changed my end goal for money to $7,500.00, and though my money has been eaten to on and off, I have been doing really well in keeping it on par with where it should be. I would like to be comfortable after all.

$1145 down on Thursday when I get paid
$6355 to go til Cartagena.

G

Post 8: March is here by G

Dear fellow adventurers,

March has arrived, and with it has come with a good deal of what I was trying to get rid of - Stress. Though my problems have been mere trivialities in the bigger picture, they none the less wore me out physically and mentally this week and I think some relaxation is . I will try to use some of that time productively as well of course.

We have much to look forward to, and much of that has to do with planning for the trip. Tomorrow J and I will be sitting down to start the planning phases of our first leg of the trip, Colombia. I am excited to finally start doing some more research into the nation.

Links to view:

1.) Youtube: Travel Guide to Cartagena
2.) Colombia Travel Blog
3.) South American Tourism Office

Also, we have decided that our goal for March will be to secure our replacement passports. This is the first of many steps we must take, so starting early will ease our worries down the line.

Thats all for now, updates soon!

G