MERIDA

 

While staying in Puerto La Cruz we decided to take a week long trip to the mountains.  Everyone raved about how beautiful it is in Merida so that was our first choice.  The bus ride from PLC to Merida takes about 20 hours, but the ride is comfortable.  Leaving at 2 in the afternoon and arriving around 10 in the morning, you spend the majority of the trip sleeping. Plus the seats are big and there are TVs that play movies for you. 

We had attempted to make arrangements with a lady named Gioria who speaks great English and has been a resident of Merida for many years.  She has a posada that we had planned on staying in, however we informed her too late and there were no rooms left.  But she was very helpful in setting us up in a posada right in town center. 

We arrived right at the beginning of a long weekend so the town was packed.  Our hotel window faced the park which was great during the day, however at night, cars lined the streets and blared their stereos with doors and trunks open.  Little parties would form around each car, it seemed, the more anoying the car the larger the party and hence a terrible compitition and subsequent caucophonic racket ensued until the police broke it up, which sometimes wouldn’t be until well after midnight.

The room we stayed in was the penthouse suite as everything else was booked solid and cost us a whopping 70,000 bs a night for the 3 of us (still less than 20 bucks).  But if there’s one things I’ve learned about traveling in Venezuela, it's this…BRING YOUR OWN TOWELS AND TOILETPAPER!  A posada does not generally provide you with towels, and toilet paper is a hard thing to come by in rest stops. 

While in Merida we took a few smaller busses to smaller towns in the area.  The first day we ventured to JaJi, a small town about an hour out of Merida.  The whole town is only about 2 blocks with a large church in the center.  However there is a posada and restaurant and a few shops selling little trinkets and knitted hats and such. The three of us all got hand made knitted hats and I bought a very nice hand made purse for next to nothing. 

We also caught a bus to La Chulata and hiked the fields and hills for a few hours.  We witnessed a young boy milking cows for his family and talked some with a couple from Costa Rica who had just arrived. 

The weather was much cooler in Merida than we were used to so the change was very nice.  However the high altitude made it difficult to do anything without running short of breath. But by the end of it all we were getting the hang of things. 

On one of our last days we caught the teleferrico (the longest gondola ride in the world) to the top of the mountains.  This point is the highest point of the Andes in Venezuela (about 5000 meters).  There was some slight snow when we got up there but the wind was blowing and it was COLD! 

After sipping some hot cocoa and walking around we caught a ride back down one level where we would ride mules on a four hour ride to the tiny village ofLos Nevados.  This village is set deep in the mountains and the ride there can get rough.  There is a small trail leading the way, however its certainly not a smooth easy trail.  And your legs start to get pretty stiff after four hours.  But the experience was one I’ll never forget and the village was amazing. 

All along the trail are farm houses with their own crops and cattle.  When you get to the village it seems the only people who actually live in the village are the owners of the four pasadas.  However the farmers and their families come to attend church and mingle.  There is no grocery store, just two tiny shops containing beer and some snacks.  I didn’t even see a schoolhouse.  It takes only about 30 minutes to see the whole village but we spent some time hiking around the outskirts. 

The pasada we stayed in was owned by a little lady with a friendly smile and she prepared us dinner when we arrived and breakfast the next morning.  At around noon a local from the village gave us and another couple a ride back to Merida.  However the ride in the jeep was just as long and rough as the ride on the mule.   The Jeep sat 5, but of course our driver fit 12!  Including 2 little girls hanging off of the back and another laying on top of the luggage on the roof rack as it rained and we kicked up mud.  At one point the dirt road colapsed as we rounded a very steep ravine and I thought for sure we were all going to die in the ensuing landslide.

Four hours later we had arrived back at the pasada.  We found that the young Belgian couple who rode back with us was actually staying in the same posada as us so they invited us out to dinner.  We all agreed it was nice to speak english for a change.  Since the law of staying in penthouses clearly dictates it, we were forced to throw a party.  The belgians supplied much beer (of course) and many storries were exchanged amongst the travelers from so many different countries.  The next day was time to head back to PLC on another 20 hour busride.  The trip had been fun and I’d very much like to go back if we get the chance.