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Published: August 16th 2007
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Oh so cute
Wildlife at Arassari Trek Cartagena to Merida
Originally we should have been traveling overland to Venezuela but trouble at the border meant that we had to fly. It was a difficult day. We took a 11:25 flight to Bogota, and should have flown to Caracas soon afterwards but, shock horror, the flight was delayed. It was only a couple of hours but it was likely to mean that we would miss the night bus to Merida. At Caracas we were a little worried about immigration. First, we were told you need proof of onward travel, which not everyone had. Second, we were told we would need proof of German Measles vaccinations which no one had as you get the jab as a child. Neither was a problem, it was just a long wait to get through. The last bus leaving Caracas was 9 pm and it was past 8 pm by the time we finally got our stuff, got some money, and jumped into taxis. And the taxis were expensive. $75 US each taxi and we needed 3 of them. They were big SUVs with tinted windows. Seemed a little overkill but the road to Caracas was reportedly dangerous at night. Two weeks later when
Merida
A pretty church we were leaving Caracas ourselves, this was confirmed by 2 Bolivian crime consultants. They arrived at night and took a cheaper taxi. The taxi pulled over in the middle of nowhere and was quickly surrounded by 4 other cars. They were then told they had to pay or be kidnapped or killed. The drive took over an hour. We almost immediately hit traffic. There was a new bridge but it was not open yet. There were a number break downs, guys on their way home from the beach with no shirts on pushing old beat up cars. There were lots more SUVs as well as 70s and 80s Chevys and similar sized vehicles. There were a number of vendors moving in the traffic. One big fat lady decided to give us a kiss, laying a smacker on the back window. Made everyone laugh. Arriving at the bus terminal our taxi driver said we should wait inside the taxi until we knew if there was a bus going. No worries there. It looked dodgy as hell and no one wanted to get out of the taxi. We had a little giggle. It was at least 9:15 pm but Aimar still shot
Merida
Where we stayed into the terminal and managed to prevent the last bus, which was already late, from leaving without us. We were lucky. As we unloaded the taxis, a little flushed and bothered, a guy walked passed and said in spanish 'Look at them, they look so worried, must be going to Merida'. The bus was a big comfy one with near fully reclining seats. Only trouble was the aircon which kept the bus at a balmy 15 degrees or less. We froze all night. The locals were prepared with blankets, we were not.
Merida
First stop in Merida was
Arassari Trek. These guys would be helping organise our adventure in Merida. We sat on the balcony, with a fantastic view of the valley and listened to Don tell us about our options. Don is a kiwi who used to have a business near Murchison (near Nelson, my home town). His wife, Sabine, and 9 month old son, Oscar, had been with Arassari for a month. And there was another bloke there who was born in Ruby Bay, moved to California, but planned to return to Nelson to start up a business in the future. Small world. And they had kittens.
Yegua Blanca
The house and stables So very cute!
Rest of the day was spent wandering Merida, resting and eating. Merida is very much a working town. Not hugely pretty although the surrounding hills and mountains were lovely. Lots of traffic. Lots of people. But no one really bothered us. People were generally indifferent to us. Chavez promotes a dislike of foreigners and either people genuinely disliked us or did not want to show any friendliness because of how it would look to other locals.
We chose to do 2 days of horse riding. A red jeep picked us up in the morning. Nicolas drove us up the valley, a lovely drive, then off on a dirt track to the home of Jacky and Sylvie, a french couple with a ranch called Yegua Blanca. There were 5 others waiting. Jacky was busy explaining how he had not had any visitors for 2 months, then yesterday 3 agencies rang for today. And today not all his horses returned home for breakfast, they preferred to roam elsewhere on the farm. But he eventually got enough horses saddled. Jacky was 'riding before he could walk' and he spent a really good amount of time showing us how
Yegua Blanca
Jacky and his horses to ride properly. It was the best instruction that we had ever received in our short history of holiday horse trekking. We rode up into the hills. There were some steep and windy bits, but the horses were well behaved and we had both Jacky and Sylvie with us. For lunch we stopped and enjoyed a fresh salad and cheese and bread. Simple but good. We chatted and enjoyed the view. There was some trotting on the way back but it was a fairly tame day. After coffee the other 5 left. We were the only ones staying overnight. It was very relaxing in the quiet setting, great view, comfy hammock seat. After a delicious dinner we were happy to retire.
After a fantastic breakfast including fresh baked bread we were ready for another days ride. But the rain had a different idea. Finally headed off around 10 am. Just us and Jacky. He provided us some excellent trotting and galloping instructions which did help us somewhat during the day. We had to trot down the main road today and it was seriously difficult for me to keep a grip although Pieter was a bit more natural. Crossing a
raging river, we headed up to a ridge. Very steep. Both us and the horses were sweating. But the view at the top was spectacular. You could see Merida in the distance. There was more trotting and galloping. Galloping was easier than trotting and you just stand up and hold on, but it did make be scream a bit. Poor horse. Pieter was much more comfortable with going fast. It was great trip but absolutely exhausting. On return there was only time for a quick cup of coffee before Nicolas showed up to take us back to Merida.
Although we were suffering from the riding it was important to go to the ice cream parlour 25 blocks away. This place was in the Guinness book of world records as the ice cream parlour with most flavours. They had everything from vanilla to trout flavoured ice cream. We were not quite adventurous enough for the latter but I did have the beer flavour and Pieter had Coke flavour.
We found a very romantic spot for dinner. La Abadia on Avenue 3 between Calles 17 and 18. A little pricey but a fantastic gothic style with great food and good
Yegua Blanca
Rae and her faithful horse service. Since arriving in Merida we had not been able to get Smirnoff Ice or beer despite repeatedly asking. And here the story was the same. The reason we had been given was that Chavez didn't like people drinking on Sunday's or at the time of official visits. He was supposed to have visited Merida some days ago to open a new trolleybus system but had failed to appear. But we could get wine so we were forced to enjoyed an expensive bottle of 'El Gato Negro'. Shame 😊
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