Not thinking much of the artesans bows and arrows or blowpipes we pressed on southwards through the breathtaking scenery to San Francisco de Yuruani, the turn off for Roraima. This tepuy, the highest one at 2810m, crosses into British Guyana and Brazil and is supposed to have inspired Arthur Conan Doyle to write his book 'The Lost World'. We had been thinking of climbing it but five days hiking with heavy packs didn't seem very appealing, plus we are already two weeks over our 90 day tourist visas, hopefully our National Guard connections in Paragua will help us aviod a hefty fine.

Opting to just drive as near as possible to the mountains to get a few pictures at sunrise the next day, we headed down the track towards the end of the road at Wadaura. After a few kilometers we happened across our Toyota driving friends from Caracas who were parked and in the process of debating their journey plans. Faced with a 16 hour drive back to the capital some of their group were keen to start back that evening, but we convinced them to come with us instead, being eventually swayed by the desire check out ihana on our lappy.

We awoke as the sun cast an orange glow across the lenticular cloud formations surrounding the tepuys, but by the time T has finished relieving himself and got the camera, the fast changing skyscape had lost much of its dreamlike appearance. Nevertheless, it was still amazing. After admiring the scene and breaking camp, comparing gadgets, appraising car qualities and gear designs, we convoyed back to the road and said our last goodbyes to our new friends.