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Published: September 21st 2008
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Dear All
Covered a lot of miles since we last spoke, unfortunately picking the busiest time of year as all of Venezuela have been on holiday too! Didn’t really notice it in Mérida as you expect a city to be busy and it can absorb more people.
Pico Espejo
Tried to buy a ticket for the teleferico on the 2nd but was told it was fully booked until the 6th, which is mad as it´s pretty pricey at 42 bols a time, about 11 quid! But it is the highest and longest in the world and I like these sort of things! Decided to queue in the morning in the hope of someone not turning up for their reservation, despite being there at 6.30am I was behind at least 60 other people and the gates didn´t even open until after 7. I had the girl I´d spoken to the day before on the scout for a place for me and by 8.30 joined a family with a missing party member. Well, it was good but not great, having to change cars 4 times spoilt the ascent but I guess it´s to give people time to acclimatise as it´s nearly 4 k high! We watched Merida disappear below and the landscape change from lush green to rocky scrub. The top was fantastic as you are actually above cloud level! You can also see Pico Bolívar with it´s small patch of snow which some crazy tourists like to climb! It was hot and sunny at the top but difficult to breathe and walk very far without pausing for breath.
Village in the clouds
From the third stop it is possible to take a mule or walk for 5 hours to Los Nevados, a tiny but beautiful mountain village. There was a Canadian guy doing the same and we thought that it was best to walk there (downhill mostly) and take a mule back. Spectacular walk through the paramo, into the rocky valley, through a cloud, round the mountain and into crazily steep green hills. Just as it was getting tiring we saw a sign for refresco and chocolate,..even better, Francisca had cerveza (beer)! Just the one had me skipping along and singing towards the village. All the buildings were whitewashed with red tile roofs surrounding a square and small church...looked idyllic until we found out they hadn’t had any
electricity since the 31st! No hot shower for me! Sat in a candlelit courtyard drinking beer and canela (like aftershock without the kick) with a lovely Venezuelan couple, the Canadian and a funny German guy..fantastico!
The last teleferico down is 2.00pm so there was no time to waste in the morning and was up at 6 again for breakfast and the mule. Glad we walked the day before as today was misty and cold. The mules were great and kept trying to charge past each other on these small rocky paths, mine even kicked the one behind! Bloody sore on the old bottom though and I was really tired, had to walk the last bit and couldn’t even see straight, think it must have been the altitude as halfway back down I felt a whole lot better!
Blackpool
After 2 weeks in Merida I was ready to leave for some tan-topping-up at the beach! Took the night bus to Maracay and the craziest drive the next morning through the national park to Puerto Colombia. Being the biggest beast on the road, the bus only needs to honk it’s horn and hurtle round corners expecting all other vehicles to
stop and let it past, there was a lot of slamming on brakes and screams from the passengers on the 1.5 hr journey! Everyone had raved about this place, how beautiful and relaxed it was. First up, the buses were all full, so were the posada’s and those with rooms wanting 70bols a night (was paying 12 in Merida), found a room for 30 in the house of a lady with a few spare rooms. Got to the beach, not expecting it to be like Blackpool on a British heat wave in august! Not a square inch of sand to be seen for tents and families and ninos diablos (devil children), I’m sure it’s great if you’re 18 and Venezuelan but I lasted half and hour before finding a quiet restaurant away from the din! In complete contrast the tiny and perfect village of Choroni 2k up the road was a haven of tranquillity and I sat in the plaza that evening to have a read and a drink of orange thinking about my next move.
Coro
Took a bus here the next morning, 5 hrs from Maracay. Oh shit, not the same story here too, the traveller’s posada
was full and all others wanted 70, was totally pissed off, how can they not find room for me (HRH??)!! So went back to plead for a space on the floor with the nice lady at the first place, who then put me in touch with her Belgian friend who has a place they are mid-way doing up. Had a bed in the lobby space here, which was great until I woke up with over 80 mosquito bites in the morning!
Bumped into a girl I had met before in Santa Elena here which was nice to catch up over a giant pizza (many, many pizza restaurants here and probably the only reliabale source of food!). Coro is a pretty but unhappening place, there wasn’t even any café’s open in the town centre but there was a man selling a sort of fudge, a local speciality, called here 'dulce de leche', or sweet milk. The posada owner took us in his car to an archaeological site where they have actually found the remains of a woolly mammoth! Though the poor bugger picked up a stick for some reason and got stung by a scorpion! Took a few beers to the
Medanos de Coro for sunset...this is a strange desert sand dune phenomenon just north of the town...earth just turns to sand for a couple of square k’s. Was pretty peaceful until the idiots with dune buggies turned up blasting their reggaeton (really bad music of the ‘gasolina’ genre).
Maracay
Headed here the next morning to catch up with Jormarie and Virgilllio, a young Venezuelan couple I met in Mochima who live here. We ate a typical dish of patacon last night, which is like shredded beef burger thing but flattened platano instead of bread, this came with a side portion of cheese fingers...not very healthy but nice!
Waiting here for the bus to Colombia at 4.30 am tomorrow!! Have had nearly two months here in Venezuela and feel ready for a change, excited about the prospect of Colombia and being back on the beach....
Hast la vista xxx
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