Vene-Suelo: The tick in the mosquito bite in my foot

I realized I haven't told any "horror travel stories" recently, so I'd toss one out for all of you -

There is currently a tick living in the mosquito bite in my foot, and I can't get him out. I've been here so long that constantly having mosquito bites in my feet stopped striking me as odd. Jeez!

I picked up about 20 some-odd ticks, all over my legs yesterday, at some point during my day climbing El Avila - the big mountain. They're lots of fun, especially Mr. Diggy, who's still travelling long-distance via my foot. BTW - it is starting to itch a bit . . .

I also almost killed myself, again. Apparently, one is supposed to stick to the marked trails in this national park, because folks who don't do so tend to fall off the mountain and die, as happened last week. But, hey, that's no fun! So, me and two friends started climbing the mountiain on the side of a 70 foot waterfall. It was really picturesque. Unfortunately, it really wasn't a path, so after heading up about 40 feet, our lead guy told us to turn around. Turning around, mind you, is usually more dangerous than continuing to climb. Of course, all the rocks and tree roots are loose because of the constant terrential rains during this time of year, so as I started to gingerly come down the side of the mountain, I not-so-gingerly slid about 15 feet on my thin shorts. Luckily, I caught myself, and didn't really take a tumble. Also luckily, I got down before a shower of rocks and boulders, kicked up by my higher-than-me compatriots, rained down on where I would have been.

We did eventually go back to the real path, and FINALLY I got to climb the mountain and look out on the city. It was a great experience, a true experience in nature, ticks included, right inside the concrete jungle. When I come back here, sometime in my life, I'll climb the higher peak so I can look out on the Carribean Sea. That would be cool.