It was time to leave my sheltered nest and head out on my own. Many thanks to my host Fernando, his son Phillipe and his girlfriend Isabella for letting me store my bike, making me feel at home, providing me with a route and contacts throughout Colombia and giving me a great welcome to Colombia!

I had a lovely first day ride. 340 miles, 8 hours of riding, $15-$20 worth of petrol, 1 juice stop, 1 train stop, 1 police stop and $10 for a roadside hotel.

The second day of my bike recovery program I rode without luggage to a mud volcano, Volcán de Lodo El Totumo, where you can climb into mud that is so thick that the furthest I could sink into it was my chest. I only got stopped by the police once and this time I had my documentation on me and I was a bit nervous riding in the mud.

I also repacked the bike for the first time since the fall. Due to having too many books I have had to leave behind my Mexico and Central American guide book, 2 fiction books, the joy of photography, woven bag, bear spray, tinted helmet visor, binoculars, compression bag and bicycle shorts.

I must admit that I am quite nervous about riding the bike again (even though after spending 60 hours straight on public transport getting back from Trinidad I am also glad I am riding). I am always a little bit apprehensive riding in a new country before you know what the other drivers are like on the roads and how the officials will act when they stop you and also when I haven’t ridden for a while. So for my first day I decided to take it easy and just bike around the little town I am staying at just outside of Cartagena. I rode into town and was stopped twice by the police. The first time I think they were telling me to go onto the main road. And the second time they stopped me they asked for my bike documentation which I had left at the house. So I thought they were going to follow me back to the house after motioning me to ride in front of them but then they passed me before my turn off so I just turned off and lost them and am now a fugitive from the law.

On the ferry I befriended a young American girl who is going to Venezuela to do her thesis on oil and it’s effects on Venezuelan politics. As it was her first time in Venezuela I showed her the ropes. Where to buy her bus ticket (someone’s house), where to change money (bookshop), where to have a beer and use the toilet (hotel restaurant).

Then on the bus I was befriended by a Colombian Hari Christianer missionary. Which made me think that if I was a missionary I would probably go to the UK as it seems to me to be the least religious country I have been to. These are just some more photos of Trinidad and Tobago.

On the way to catch the ferry we were pulled up by the police for turning left between 6:30-8:30am. Pretty much everyone missed the road sign. Everyone got away with a warning after one of the women started crying about how unfair it was. I would be pretty happy if this was the only time I was pulled up by the police on this holiday.

Mostly the turtles with a lizard and a bit of goat racing at the end.

The word lime is used to describe partying in TnT which we did at the Sunday School in Tobago. Though it is a bit like being back in time as all the songs seem to be islandised remakes. As well as getting in some beach time we went diving, bird watching, watched goat racing, and drove along narrow roads with broken bridges. If you want a Caribbean holiday Trinidad and Tobago is suppose to be relatively cheap (£369 return from the UK and most of the accommodation 35-50US for a double room with aircon and cable) and I highly rate it. The diving off Little Tobago is probably the best coral diving I have done. The seabed was an array of colourful coral which unfortunately we didn’t see when we were snorkeling and I had my camera.

We spent one week in Trinidad and one week in Tobago. In Trinidad we visited Pitch Lake, one of three bitumen lakes in the world and where they mine 250 tonnes of bitumen a day which is exported and used in making roads all over the world. A mangrove swamp tour to see hundreds of scarlet it Ibises (though it was more like tens as it wasn’t the season for them).

And one of t he coolest things I have done, we went and watched leatherback turtles come up to shore to lay eggs and little ones hatching only to be eaten by the birds in the morning on their way to the water. Female leatherbacks grow to about 500 pounds and the males can get to be close to a tonne. They migrate to Australia but always come back to lay on the beach they were hatched.

I just arrived in Trinidad where Steve is meeting me for a two week holiday, within a break, within a trip. I know it is a hard life. But necessary for my bike trip as he is bringing over some custom earplugs as my ones are broken and I can’t do the rest of my trip without listening to music as it is a big place. Plus a heated jacket I ordered (it is also going to be colder) and my lovely daytona boots. But he drew the line at a helmet (my one got covered in mud and smells).

The ferry turned out to be much more expensive than the guide books said. $235 (1185B + 80B tax + 75TT) instead of around $100 return. So it used up all my remaining Venezuelan Bolivars and US dollars and I arrived in Trinidad without any money. A taxi driver tried to charge me double what the people I asked on the ferry said a taxi would be so I ended up going back with a women who runs a guest house and was picking up her husband off the ferry.

Btw – this is the code I have for the videos and even though it is set to autostart false it is always playing the videos when I open the browser. Does anyone know how to fix this?

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Sharon and I spent out last few days in Venezuela together eating at the Chinese and Arabic restaurants that abound in the coastal city of Puerto La Cruz, finishing off the rum we had and drinking strawberry juice drinks at kebab shop next door. We were suppose to go diving or snorkeling but Sharon didn’t think her back was up to it after hurting herself falling off the horse (she thinks she may have broken her tail bone).

We finally have internet in the foyer of our hotel so I am also putting up the videos that I did in Honduras and Costa Rica and my favourite picture from Guatemala and a couple more from Angel Falls.

After having to get up at 5am we got taken to the airport at midday and then watched everyone else leave on flights. Finally at 3pm a plane showed up to take us back. We missed the last bus and had to take a four hour shared taxi listening to super loud music, driving at 140km/hr in a car with no suspension and crammed between the side and another person in the back. I miss my bike but now worried after seeing how they drive while watching music videos.

Our group was very UN and consisted of a Russian, Greek, Romanian, Irish, British, Venezuelan, Japanese, American and a Kiwi but we were still in South America so it was the guys that had to get out and push the boat up the rapids.

After the trek through the jungle to the view point we had a swim at the base of the falls.

When we walked behind the falls in Canaima I spotted a frog and when it jumped away and I tried to find another one all I found was a leaf. Also check out the ant that needed a light.

Angel Falls ‘discovered’ by Jimmy Angel in 1933 are the world’s highest falls at 980m (3212ft). It must also be one of the world’s most isolated falls. We took a 16 hour bus ride to Cuidad Boliver a town on the banks of the Orinoco. From there we took an hour plane ride to a settlement that you can not access by road, near an inland lagoon. Then a five hour boat ride up a river.

The waterfall comes from rain on the top of the mountain as it has it’s own ecosystem and rains all the time. I still find it hard to believe all that water is from rain.