Poised and ready, but...

...I still don't know which campus I will be on come August. By some incredible stroke of luck, I've managed to find fantastic (although outrageously over-priced) accomodation in Fontainebleau, but I'm still waiting to hear back from the admissions office. So I'm just keeping my fingers and toes crossed the accomodation will still be there for me by the end of the week, if I start in Fontainebleau; if I start in Singapore, I have the start the whole stressful house-hunt all over again...

So, while I twiddle my thumbs waiting for something INSEAD-related to happen, I figured I'd post a few pics of my Venezuela camping trip, which I know some of my office-bound friends have been clammoring for!

The trip started with a hike up the Roraïma tepuy in the Gran Sabana region of Venezuela. Took us three days to get close to it, and finally up it. The view from the top was well worth it, though, like something from Planet of the Apes or Jurassic Park. We half expected a couple raptors to come charging out at us from behind the massive black rocks. No wonder Conan Doyle got so inspired. As it turned out, the scariest living things we had to deal with were carnivorous plants and black frogs the size of a thumbnail. The 800-meter drop off the edge of the cliff face a few strides from our tents was a whole lot more terrifying!

We then made our way north to the Delta del Orenoco, stopping along the river's bank at Ciudad Bolivar, which felt like a Marquez novel prompting me to immediately fall in love with it (and this despite the fact that I had a bit of a mishap causing some nasty scars I still proudly display on my legs...)

The final part of the trip involved four days on a boat roaming through the delta and sleeping (yeah, right) in hammocks. The delta is famous for its birdlife, which is very impressive, except I'm personally not all that into birds... I was more interested in the contact we managed to have with the local Warao tribes, which explains why my favourite pictures from the Orenoco do not feature feathered and winged creatures in flight, but shrieking children playing in the water.

So, there you have it, my Venezuela escapade in brief. Hopefully there will be some concrete news re: campus to post soon, otherwise I'll just tell you 'bout the time I went to visit my grandmother and - ...