Venezuela, London and now Lanka

So the wedding plans are underway - I flew to Sri Lanka for 2 weeks to attend to the essential stuff that needs to be done - there is so much to do! I have been living, breathing, eating and sleeping the wedding plans and I think it is finally coming together. We are so excited about it and my family will be in charge once I leave this week, so fingers crossed!

Yippeeee.

The fact that I was in Venezuela just a month ago is super surreal - one thing is for sure, the world didnt change much while we were away and for us, that is harder to take in. The real world will never have us!

The amazing proposal!

So that very same day (see post below), Friday the 20th of July, was to become a very special day in my life.

It was the day that Lee asked me to marry him! I never expected it and I think thats the best way for it to happen. I couldnt have asked for a more incredible, emotional or loving proposal - and it happened on a deserted beach, just the two of us, standing on the north side of Francisqui island facing the Caribbean sea. I wont delve into the details because I would rather tell you face to face, but I can say that he got down on both knees!

I dont remember being this happy! We have set the date for the 29th December 2007, not ones for long engagements - we're hoping for a beach wedding in Sri Lanka with parties before and after, plus a celebration in the UK when we get back mid January. Its all pretty exciting especially as we have some really special people flying down from UK to celebrate it all with us.

We spent the next 4 days on Los Roques celebrating with our new Spanish friends, telling everyone we could, snorkeling, wining, dining and seeing a number of the islands in the archipelago. Blissful paradise. Whoooo hoooo!

Los Roques - now this is paradise

So the time came to get on a very small propellor plane and fly to these magical islands off the coast of Venezuela. Destination Los Roques: it is an archipelago of islands, mostly uninhabited - no cars and each island accessible only by boat. It is too expensive for most Venezuelans so the pollution is fairly limited. Anyway, after an incredibly stressful morning at the Mexicana Airlines desk at the Caracas airport (they are thieving bandit bastards) and getting ripped off for an extra USD $1000 just so we could fly to Mexico to catch our flight back to London, we were fairly wound up and upset. Not the way to start what was meant to be a romantic splash out for the last few days of our 6 month South American journey.

So the plane was small. And old. And we could see the cockpit and everything which Lee found very exciting. I on the other hand, thanks to my recent development of fear of flying, wasnt too happy. Anyway a fairly smooth 30mins later - we landed by the most exquisitely blue ocean I have ever seen. White sand, the most turquoise blue ocean and water so clear you can see your feet from chin level!

Gran Roque was the main island - and the only inhabited one with a population of about 800 people. Filled with colourful one storey posadas and boutique styled bars, it was such a haven away from the chaotic Caracas suburbs. Our posada, Dona Carmen, was right on the beach front close to the airport runway and the pier where all the boats would depart to the other islands.

I could feel us slowly unwinding from the days stresses as we whiled away time at the pier waiting for our boat to arrive to take us to the island of Francisqui, about 10 mins away so that we could relax and snorkel. And thats exactly what we did - the water was so clear and the marine life we saw was incredible. Puffer fish, pink and green eels, squid, brightly coloured fish of all shapes and sizes, rainbow coloured barracuda... absolute paradise.

Little did I know what was about to happen.