Intro to Hector &; George

I've checked out of my sixty quid a night luxury at the Park Hotel
&; am now at the more downbeat Centro Merida Hotel. No room for
yoga- have to attempt stretches on bed with a rather deep canyon in it.
I tell you what, my pigeon Spanish, is starting to turn into a warbler
like Spanish. Fingers crossed, I'll be albatrossing my way through the
language barrier by the end of the holiday.

Taken a strut down to Bum Bum Tours, which has changed it's name due to
some geezer ripping them off. Strangely, it seems to have expanded.
Thanked the portly Swiss chap who runs the joint, for last years
mountain bike ride that left me crippled for a good part of last year
&; still makes my ankle cringe at the thought of running. He
laughed. Sent various e-mails, attempting to replenish &; rectify my
non address book scenario. Ate scrambled eggs on toast &; sipped
fresh strawberry juice, whilst overlooking a beautiful green valley cum
canyon type thang. And those scrambled eggs - wonderful - a hint of
garlic makes all the difference. It's amazing what pleasures you get
from life when you're off the booze &; hash. Taste is a new
sensation. Life is just one long song at the moment.

The street life here is wicked. All pavements are maximum one person in
width with a step of about one &; a half feet down to the road.
Causes a few problems when you're confronted with a porky Arepa eater.
There are lots of street sellers who don't hassle you &; roads full
of Dukes of Hazzard type cars, all driven by tashed geezers with cowboy
hats on. The younger generation are very fashionable though &; the
trade is massive. Looks like the Hilfiger has well &; truly knocked
the Klein off his perch as most widely faked. There is also always a
heavy military presence everywhere.

I was woken this morning by a platoon of squaddies shouting out
whatever soldiers shout out, for half an hour. Next, a rapid succession
of 'HUH's' &; off all 40 of them stomped, on a run around town,
before returning back opposite the hotel, an hour later for more
shouts.

It's started raining, which is a shame as Merida is such an outdoor
kind of place. As well as being home to the Uni, it is also home to the
worlds longest &; highest cable car. 'The Telefrico' takes you up
10,000ft in four easy stages. The fourth has never actually opened
since it was built in the fifties, but is heavily advertised.
Nonetheless, I've decided that I'm going to take each stage separately,
so as I can explore the interesting flora &; fauna in great
detail.

Won't be tomorrow though as there's a football extravaganza on TV.
Barcelona v Arsenal &; Manchester United v Marseille. Crazy really,
here I am in the Venezuelan Andes &; I can watch football that I
wouldn't have been able to view in London. Starting to worry that I'm
going insane. I for some reason, don't really fancy seeing the gang I
met last year. I'd be up for seeing Uncle again, but am not in a major
rush.

Who needs Uncle when you've got Hector &; Jorge. They tried to sell
me some incense &; we ended the conversation talking about 70's
Progressive Rock music &; setting up a visitation to their bro'
tomorrow. What a couple of nutters. Hector drew an obscure picture of
me, that I will supposedly make more sense of when I'm out of my head
tomorrow. Cool though, they have also given me some good info. There
are no longer police in Venezuela. It's all the military now, hence the
large presence. If I ever get stopped, pretend I don't know any Spanish
at all &; they'll leave me alone. Fear of me knowing somebody in the
embassy should be enough to dissuade any squaddie from searching me.
The reason for this is because Chavez, the president of Venezuela, has
basically sacked the whole judiciary system due to complete corruption
&; no justice. He's actually doing a sterling job at the moment. The
army are now building incomplete schooling projects &; handing out
basic necessities to the poor through markets they set up.

There is a great deal of fear in the West, that he's going to turn the
country into a Pro-Castro, Marxist state, which at the end of the day,
is probably the best thing for a country like Venezuela. No wonder the
poor are happy. There are vast oil reserves sitting underneath this
country, supposedly second only to the Gulf states. The wealth from
this oil has basically contributed to an extremely modern looking, high
rise Central Caracas, lovely island resorts &; regal like comforts
for the rich &; mud huts, no education &; no sanitation for the
poor. Seeing as the US consume far more oil than they produce, they are
particularly worried, as they import a hell of a lot of the stuff from
Venezuela.

We parted, after hugging each other about six times.

If they skank me up, it'll only be for a fiver anyway &; if they
don't, I'll be maxing to the base. Gonna be an interesting day.