Parked the boats and off inland to Merida 08.32.37N 71.04.44W
Chaser 2
Yvonne Chapman
Sun 23 Sep 2007 18:47
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We, together with Tony and Chris, parked our boats in the marina
at Puerto De La Cruz, bought a bottle of El Muco rum, packed our rucksacks and
went off backpacking to the Andes. This is the large mountain range
stretching from Chile to Venezuela in South America.
We took a cab from the marina to downtown Puerto De
La Cruz bus terminal, about a 20 minute ride for one pound. We loaded our gear
aboard the Merida bus and departed at midday. It's an 18 hour bus ride to Merida
but it's a comfortable bus, air conditioning, wc, TV and plenty of leg room. The
fare was 9 pounds each, but we had to either take our own food or buy it at a
restaurant in one of the stops on route, Yvonne took a sandwich in her handbag
in case we got peckish, and Tony and Chris took a rucksack in case they
did. Despite being a nice bus it's a long time, but we managed to get a little
sleep. We stopped a few times on route, either to change drivers, fill with fuel
or grab a bite to eat or drink.
The bus arrived in Merida bus terminal at about
8am, so we grabbed a cab to take us to our Posada, we had previously booked a
Posada (kinda guest house) for two nights in Merida via internet. The driver
took us right to the door, so we unloaded our bags and checked in. The Posada
had a lovely plant lined entrance, really attractive. Our rooms were upstairs
opposite each other. Not the height of luxury but we had en suite shower and
dunny, TV, wardrobe and bed, a fan too. The room was nearly 12 pounds per night
though, it was a little early to go into the room so we left our bags at
reception and took a walk outside for some breakfast.
Merida looked an impressive town so we were eager
to do some exploring. After breakfast we went back to our room got things
unpacked, put away and had a short siesta before go for a walk round the
area. That evening it rained hard so we decided to eat in
the Posada restaurant, they had a good menu and the prices looked
reasonable. Unfortunately the owners tried to go the upmarket way, by giving
small portions in a highly decorated state,the steak was tough, they had no beer
or spirits, not even rum, they did have a bottle of red and one of white
wine, so we had that. If anyone came in for a drink after that it would
have to be water, but we had a nice evening,
Next day we checked out the Teleferico, apparently
the worlds longest or highest cable car. We booked a ride up for a Sunday, so we
spent the next couple of days exploring Merida. There were many tour operators
in town offering trips to various other attractions inland. Chris had met some
friends back in the marina who told her that a visit to Los Llanos was very
worthwhile. So we checked a couple of agents prices and booked a four day trip
to the Savannahs leaving Monday morning. The cost for this trip was about 53
pounds each, that included our transport, a new 4x4 Toyota landcruiser, our
driver and our guide for the 4 days, it also included our accommodation for 3
nights and all meals and drinks, aswell as boat trips, safari trip and
horse riding, but more on that next time.
In the meantime we did a little shopping around
town, checked out some local hand made products: Tony sampled half a
dozen pots of local strawberries and cream, he said they were
delicious, so I tried a bucket too, he was right! We went our separate
ways to look at the shops, I knew Tony fancied a pair of real leather
cowboy boots for our impending trip, so I bought a cowboy hat, I was
sure he'd get back to our rooms with new boots. We got back to our room a
little later than the Waylanders, but soon after we got in Tony knocked on
our door, 'Look at these' he said whilst he pulled up his jeans looking at
the quality of the leather, I then donned my hat and told him how stupid he was
buying cowboy boots just for our horse riding trip. When he looked round at me
in me John Wayne hat he nearly fell off the balcony laughing. Kids, we were
called by the ladies. We did have Ponchos aswell.
We had asked the girl in the restaurant what the
Zoo was like in Merida, she said it was ok but only for kids really. We had a
day to spare and we like kids stuff. We took a cab to the zoo and after a pot of
cream and strawberries, paid the 35 pence entrance fee. What a beautiful
Zoo it was, we were really surprised, the animals all in good condition, yeah, I
know they were caged, but us and all the children can see them without the aid
of high powered telescopes. You could touch the lions, monkeys and Jaguars if
you were brave enough but there was security there to stop you putting your
hands in. We got told off once or twice.
Like many places we've seen so far here in
Venezuela, they're not out to rip you off, I'm sure they could charge a lot more
but then people couldn't afford to go, the animals then suffer and the zoo would
close. That is I suppose socialism, which is blatantly advertised on walls
and buildings everywhere, ''Socialism, Patriotism or die!''
We had only booked two nights in our Posada, we now
wanted to stay another two nights but our landlady told us she was full, so we
had to move on. There are plenty of Posadas in Merida, we found one that looked
attractive overlooking the park and cable car area to the mountains. They had
rooms available for 7 pounds a night, we asked if we could look over the rooms
first. We chose the two rooms on the top floor, they had the best view
and hammocks on the balcony. The room was quite basic, i.e.. no TV, no
fans, wardrobe, we did have a shelf, Tony and Chris didn't. There was a bed, a
shower, wc, and a nice view but we can put up with that, we're backpackers
now!.
Next day we went for a ride in the Cable Car,
Yvonne wasn't looking forward to this one, she doesn't like heights at the best
of times, she won't even go in a glass lift in a shopping mall, but Tony
talked her round and shakily she boarded providing she could have a fur hat.
It's the first time we had been on any substantial cable car, it takes 30 people
seated and 10 standing. After the base station there are four other
stations to the top at over 4000 metres. We were lucky with the weather the
view was awesome, and once we got to station 3 Yvonne managed to grab a view too
and began to enjoy it, but it was getting colder. After reaching the top we went
outside the station for a walk around, I have never got so cold so quick, within
ten minutes my hands were really hurting, my hair was literally frozen, and it
was surprising how breathless you became at that altitude. Needless to say we
didn't hang around too long out there, someone said it was minus 2 but
I would have guessed the temperature to be minus 20, it was very ccccold!!
The ride down was equally breathtaking as the town of Merida came into view
through the clouds. By this time Yvonne had gotten over the fear of heights and
really enjoyed the trip. The cable car setup is quite a feat of engineering,
each station is a major structure, getting materials to each site must have been
an enormous task. Whether it pays for itself, I don't know, on each of the four
rides there are two cable cars each taking 40 people, one going up and one
going down, it takes about 15 mins between stations, so as soon as a car
arrives at the station, everyone disembarks, to get the next car up, and then
this car is filled with people waiting to go back down. The price is about 7
pounds for the 4 rides up and 4 back. There is a car up and down
every 15 mins and they always seem to be full, even though this is the low
season. So we all had a good day, back in our rooms we peeled off our layers of
clothing, boots etc and chilled out for a while before going out for our
evening meal at a local restaurant. Merida is a tourist area so prices are
corresponding higher than some other areas, but for us Europeans it is still
very reasonable. Most of the tourists are Venezuelan, but there are a lot of
Europeans too. Haven't seen any Americans yet, but they don't tend to venture
out too far, which is probably good because they do generally throw their
money around a bit more, giving large tips and not haggling, which inevitably
causes prices to rise for the foreigners.
Merida is a beautiful wealthy town, good
shopping centres by any standards, the scenery is breathtaking and the people
are friendly. One evening a Venezuelan family came up to Yvonne and me, the
daughter maybe 12 or 13 years asked us very nervously in the
best schoolgirl English she could manage, if her mother could take a
photo of her and her brother standing with us. I think because we are English, a
rarish site for them, and tall comparatively, whatever the reason, that
kinda typifies the way the Venezuelan people are in the outer areas, untouched
by too many foreigners, just inquisitive, friendly and helpful.
Tomorrow we go to Los Llanos in the Savannahs. this
area is completely the opposite to where we are now in Merida. It's low lying,
flat with many rivers and canals, which are now flooded as a result of the
winter rains, so the whole area is wet underfoot if not flooded, but it is
hot.
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