Merida: A backpacker sanctuary

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Hi all, i honestly don´t feel like writing much which is rare for me but it might be a result of my hangover and the fact that the girl to my right is singing very badly and a woman on my left is screeching down a telephone.

Despite these distractions (stop saying Alo Alo Alo woman to my left!) i will tell you a bit about Merida because it is a rather unique place. Those of you who have backpacked may think it is common to find cheap hostels, white rastas who seem to have sat on the same chair outside forever, clubs that play a totally random mix of music to try and appease both locals and travellers....but you clearly have not visited Venezuela. Merida is, as the title suggests, a sanctuary away from the expensive but basic hotels in the major cities and despite wanting to experience real Venezuela it is comforting to meet English people again. Also Merida is a student city, allegedly 10 universities, which means finally there is some decent night life which explains the hangover.

Yesterday after a night drinking 20p beers while watching Brazil scrape past Uruguay followed by 40p beers and drunk dancing to music ranging from Salsa to Dance to Heavy Rock (I´m talking Rammstein) a group of us got up at 6.45am to go on the highest cable car in the world. Quite frankly the journey was pretty awful, each car takes 50 people but there are four stations and at each one you disembark and wait for another cable car which can take up to half an hour. At a price of $30 as well it does not seem to be value for money but then luckily the people you are with often make a place.

My favourite man on the cable car had to be a middle-aged bearded American who was an avid bird watcher. I suspect he wet himself when he saw an Eagle and he shouted at the bird "Turn, Turn, Turn" and when it did he let out a excited "It turned, God yeah". Mr. Bird watcher did not like us however, i blame Mark (a fellow Leeds University student who is travelling with Pete who was actually in one of my tutorials last year, small world) who kept shouting "Eagle!" and "Condor!" to watch the mans reaction. Very juvenile, but very funny. Pete, Mark and myself also decided to hike down to the two lakes we could see because they thought it would be fun to go swimming "in the clouds" and i thought a mountain walk would "invigorate me". Unsurprisingly the water was very cold (i for one did not go in but those two jokers/idiots loved it) but that was not the biggest problem. As we turned around we realised we had to get back up the mountain to get the last cable car home. Hungover with no water at 4000 metres altitude is not the time to start trekking up mountains. The 15 minute descent was a 45 minute ascent as we took numerous breaks and a power nap. Mark called it "the lowpoint" of his trip, I found the experience "awful", Pete was too tired to speak.

Sitting here now i sometimes wonder how we made it, i think i had a nightmare about being stuck up the top of a mountain with no water last night...but a real life nightmare creature does also exist here in Merida. The end of the street where our hostel is located is patrolled by a pack of stray dogs, they are all pretty scary but the leader of the pack is clearly the black fluffy one we have dubbed "BEARDOG". At night when we returned from the club "BEARDOG" was there in the road just waiting to savage us...or so i thought. Luckily he was sleeping and we shuffled past and into our hostel without the beast realising. I don´t look forward to the walk home tonight.

On that frightening note i will leave you all. Next stop is Maracaibo for the Copa America Final on Sunday which is sure to be a wonderful occassion that i will share with you next week. Photos of socialist propaganda in Caracas and Leeds graduates swimming in the clouds will be added to the respective blogs soon i promise.

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Comments

[Dad]

I should first dissaccossiate myself from your Mum's earlier nitpicking. More important, you seem to be having a great time - if a little scary in parts - and that's really good. Tom's birthday today and he was ringing us all at some ungodly hour this morning. Like you, he was pretty high - and they don't have mountains in Newquay. Mmmm... I start a new job in September, teaching economics to MBA students. It's only part-time,/temporary - but as they say - each great journey starts with a small step. Stay safe. Dad XXX PS Is Beardog a metaphor for an unshaved Pablo?

[MikeT]

water and dogs
I cant believe you experienced a terrifying event involving your two worst fears (dogs and water) for the second time while in South America and I wasnt there to whitness it! I bet you were shaken up for days. Were you sick?! Take care matey. Loving the blog.