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Published: September 25th 2006
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Merida 1
Plaza Bolivar Warning, this bit is boring, so skip to Merida section..
I took night bus from Manaus (Brazil) to Boa Vista (about 12 hrs). Then another bus to the border town of Santa Helena in Venezuela (about 3 hrs).
After having been told that tour to Angel Falls were cheaper in Santa Helena, I discovered that they were better taken from the town of Ciudad Bolivar. So same day I took another night bus to Ciudad Bolivar. This was organised by a guy from one of the tour operators. He organised for their rep in Ciudad Bolivar to meet me and a couple of others at the bus terminal, take us to their posada and from there we could take a trip. I didn´t feel up to a 3 day tour, as just came out of the jungle and body was devastated with bites etc. He advised me that a one day trip was possible if he found a couple of others to go too.
So began my Angel Falls saga. At the posada, no-one spoke English and all seemed to ignore me while they were sorting the other travellers out. Then I was informed there was no one
Merida 2
Start of Teleferico day trip available, and also, "because I had taken so long to make up my mind"???!!!, there was now no seat on the plane for the 3 day tour. So I kind of lost it .. (being tired and at the end of my travels my tolerance for this kind of thing was wearing out).
Long story short, I ended up going to the airport still trying to find an operator who would take me to Angel Falls. After being told "yes", then "no", then "maybe tomorrow" it never happened and my enthusiasm had disappeared. Also,it is very expensive. So decided to fly to Merida, but found that I had to first fly to Caracas (out of the way), then take another flight to Merida. By that time i had had enough, and just said "ok" to everything. No connecting flight that day to Merida (which of course the guy neglected to inform me when booking), so had to stay overnight in a hotel near the Caracas airport. It was not worth going into town as the airport is quite a way and with traffic would become quite expensive.
Merida - Next day took another flight to Merida.
Los Nevados 1
One of the guides cut a fine figure with his bright pink "Barbie" packpack. Wow! Merida is really beautiful, as it is nestled in a valley in the Andes. It is Venezuela´s major centre for adventure activities and you can do almost anything here, from horseriding to mountain climbing.
There is a two day "tour" that I liked which was outlined in the book. However as it is now low season and not many tourists around, there were no organised groups going, so found out how to do it on my own. First took the teleferico (cable car), which is the world´s longest and highest, up to the last station which is 4765m. From there went back down one station (there are four) and got off at Loma Redonda (4045m).
At Loma Redonda there are guys with "morros" (mules) waiting to take you 4 hours through the mountains to the village of Los Nevados. After a frustrating conversation where the guide spoke Spanish and I spoke Spanglish, I got the idea that for some reason the mules weren´t going today. The guy motioned to the track and told me to just go and walk it by myself. Luckily while I was still contemplating if this was just a dumb or a REALLY
dumb thing to do, a few more Spanish tourists turned up, and suddenly the mule caper was on again.
We set off. A few minutes into the hike, the rain started and lasted for an hour, totally drenching my unwaterproofed self. Was a bit worried as hadn´t brought any clothes as was only staying over for one night. Luckily the sun came out and dried us out. The scenery was spectacular. Felt sorry for the morros though, as they were stumbling up and down the hard, slippery rocks with us on their backs, and the guides giving them a hard time.
Las Nevados (2700m) is cute and tiny. It is so small, but still has the mandated Plaza Bolivar, complete with statue and town church. There are plenty of budget tourist accommodations and food here, but not much to do except admire the view.
Next day took a jeep the 4 hours back to Merida. Was told the jeep would pick us up at 9am from the plaza - which meant it may turn up at 8am or 10am or not at all. Was surprised that it appeared at 9.30am and we took off on a steep,
extremely bumpy and breathtaking ride, hugging the edge of the mountain all the way down to Merida. Luckily the jeep held itself together, especially the brakes, and we made it back to Merida in one piece.
Caracas - took a night bus to Caracas. From what I had heard from both Sth Americans and tourists alike, by the time I got to Caracas I was pretty paranoid about its safety record. Found a hotel in Sabana Grande, which is meant to be slightly more safe than central Caracas. But then had to get the metro to the downtown to see the (few) sights anyway.
The main plaza, "Plaza Bolivar" is quite nice and leafy, except no seats. However there were lots of cute, black squirrels who appreciated the greenery. In the centre is the mandatory equestrian Bolivar statue. Tributes to Bolivar and other polical messages are evident all around Caracas.
Don´t know if a correct opinion can be formed in one day, but Caracas seemed pretty dirty ie. garbage in the street and the breeze, perfumed with urine, wafting past on occasion. Also, many homeless asleep in the streets and a significant favela (slum) on the hillside.
Not much in the way of tourist sights, although I did go and see the house where Bolivar was born. This was decorated with interesting murials of various significant battles and other events. Next to this was also a museum dedicated to Bolivar.
Wanted to buy an "I survived Caracas" T-shirt but strangely I couldn´t find one. Guess the tourism board was against the idea...
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