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Larry's LogTuesday, we went out early and I bought a pair of hiking boots. We had breakfast at the same place as yesterday, Luncheria Joseph, but had one of the typical Andian dishes called Pizca Andina, a soup made with milk, potatoes, onions, cheese and an egg. It was excellent and cost about $1 each. After dropping off the large shoe box at the room, we went back to the Andes Tropicales office. Once there, we discussed the trip we had decided on, a 3 night one that went through the paramo (high moors), well above the tree line at 3 to 4 thousand meters (up to about 15,000 feet). We chose that since it was the shortest and we would see if we liked the concept and the accommodations. We also asked about some of the sites around Mucuchies, a small town where we would go to spend the night and then continue on to the mucuposada in the mountains. Dayana, the girl who was helping us suggested a local guide that she knew for a very reasonable price and she tried contacting him. Unfortunately, when she finally did, he was unavailable until next Monday. We talked some more about what we should do and said we would come back after lunch again; perhaps Dayana could arrange the trip to Mucuchies with someone else. We left, had lunch and came back around 3 but she still hadn't resolved the problem although she eventually did - she spoke to another guide she knew from a tour company who agreed to do the trip to Mucuchies and the sites around there for the price she had quoted. He was also bilingual and would also bring us to the various places around Merida that we wanted to see as well as the sites on the way to Mucuchies, like the stone chapel by a local artist, the condor breeding station and a mountain lake. So, we paid the fee for the Andes Tropicales trip and the one to Mucuchies and went back to the center of town where Diane bought some warm socks. We then went back to the posada and made arrangements with them to hold our bags until we got back. We had dinner and then stopped at an Internet place where I check email and had them make a CD of the pictures I had already taken so I could reuse the media. We got up early Wednesday even though we had packed last night. We brought the bags we were leaving at the posada to the girl at the front desk and also told her there was a problem with the bed - some of the slats under the mattress (no box springs here) had slipped off the frame making the bed a little uncomfortable. We had breakfast and our guide picked us up. We started off and stopped first at a locally well-know place for excellent jams and jellies. We sampled some wonderful flavors and the owner gave us a little explanation of how they grow everything there (he had started another career by studying agriculture in the US so he also spoke English well). We bought some and then continued on to Mucuchies to find a room for the night. It took about 40 minutes to get there since it was further up in the mountains. We stopped at several places and settled on a nice hotel just on the outskirts of the town that had heat in the room (using a space heater). We then left for the sites we had wanted to see nearby, but we didn't get too far - the van broke down. Carlos, our guide, had started to have some problems back in Merida and the car eventually just quit. He tried changing the ignition coil but it didn't help. We finally had to admit defeat and he got us a taxi to take us back to the hotel. He felt badly about it and we felt badly about leaving him but there was little we could do so we went to the hotel, got a room and decided to walk around Mucuchies for the afternoon. (We later learned once we got back to Merida that Carlos had finally managed to get it started and made a beeline back to Merida where he brought it in to a shop to get the engine and transmission replaced; a tour guide needs reliable transportation.) The hotel staff recommended a place in town for lunch and we went there and the food was quite good. The only problem was that there were many flies all around town. This was because, as we learned, the local farmers had just fertilized using the stuff they usually use, manure, and that attracts flies. This was a very agricultural area and there were fields all around. Well, as long as we walked outside, it wasn't too bad. We also spoke to the hotel staff about transportation and they were very helpful in getting us a taxi for tomorrow morning to bring us to some of the places we had planned to see with Carlos and to bring us to the first mucuposada, in a small village called Mitibobo. We decided to eat dinner at the hotel's restaurant since they had the flies under more control than the rest of the town. We were also told they were fumigating the town so we thought it best to stay away from that. The restaurant was very pretty; a high roof with ornately decorated beams, and the food was pretty good. We were also the only customers (it was low season). We got up early Thursday, took nice hot showers (the room was cold even with the space heater) and had breakfast at a posada, Los Andes, in town. The walk back to the hotel, at an elevation of 3000 meters (almost 10,000 feet) and uphill, was 'breathtaking' but we finally made it. We got ready to leave but there was a little problem with the taxi arrangements - the hotel couldn't contact the guy they had spoken to the night before. They finally got someone else (at a slightly higher price) and we left at about 11am. We went first to the little stone 'capilla' or chapel built by a fairly famous architect and sculptor, Juan Felix Suarez. It was made without any mortar, just rock and marble from places nearby. It was a church-like building, maybe 300 square feet, which was very interesting - Senor Suarez and his girlfriend of 40 years were also buried inside. After a few pictures and an explanation of the building and builder by a local guide, we went on to see a mountain lake. The lake (laguna) was even higher, at 3600 meters. It had become a bit cloudy by then but it was still very pretty, and the views of the central valley of Merida were great. Unfortunately, I started having problems with the camera - after taking a picture, it would take forever to write the picture to the media. I had to actually open the battery case to get it to stop. Of course, that would ruin the shot and possibly others on the media as well. I thought about the problem much later and figured that it was the cold - the battery voltage was lower than normal because of the temperature and I was using rechargeable batteries, which have a slightly lower voltage than alkaline batteries anyway. We left the lake and made our way to the first mucuposada of our trip. El Trigal. The driver passed by the astronomical observatory since it was fairly close (we couldn't go in since it was closed to the public except on weekends). When we got there, one of the owners, Irene, greeted us with her cousin. She showed us to the rooms from which we could pick (we were the only guests) and then served us lunch. Lunch was a very good Andean soup (it was cold at 3400 meters and even the locals said so) and a perfectly prepared trout, famous in the region. Although they spoke no English, we managed quite well since Diane speaks Spanish fairly well and I can at least understand it. The people near Merida and in the Andes also speak more slowly than other parts of the country so it was generally easier to understand them. The mucuposada was pretty rustic but nicely painted, neat and very clean, and there was hot water (but no heat). The house had a small central, open courtyard around which there was the rooms; bedrooms, bath and kitchen. There were sitting areas in the kitchen and outside under the eaves but no "dining" room, per se. We ate in the kitchen, which was the biggest room. After eating, we walked around the area a little and admired the beautiful scenery. We were amazed at the terracing that had been done on the mountainsides in order to grow crops. The fields were still very steeply sloped but I guess the farmers and their oxen make do. There were no tractors at all and all plowing was done by a team of oxen pulling a wooden plow. This was definitely a very agricultural area, with farmhouses and small villages widely scattered around the mountains and valleys. A little later, while Diane was napping, I looked through the guest book, which we also signed. There were people from all over the world who had been here and they all seemed to enjoy it. There had also been some cruisers that signed it who we knew. After writing in the book in both English and Spanish, I walked around a little more. After dinner, also very good, Irene left to go to her English lessons and we just relaxed and looked through our materials on the trip. It got pretty cold but Irene had made us some hot water bottles that she put in the bed to warm it up, and we used them to advantage but the combination of the cold and the altitude caused us to not sleep very well. Living at sea level for so many years and then going to over 11,000 feet requires more acclimatization than we had time for, but we managed. Friday morning we got up about 7:30, took showers (hot) and had a very nice breakfast. We met our guide for the day, Irene's husband, Venancio, who had been out working yesterday. He got the horses ready while we got ready. There were only 3 horses so Diane and I used one each and one was for our bags, and Venancio walked. We got a slightly late start since he changed saddles once. When I saw the horses, I thought I would get the larger one but Diane got him. I got a yellow one that was smaller (but turned out to be Venancio's usual mount). Well, we got on and started out, saying goodbye to Irene, her mother, cousin and granddaughter. Almost from the start, my horse was somewhat problematic. He didn't like other stallions and when would go past other horses, he would whinny loudly and start to get excited. Also, when going up the first very steep part, he would stop every 10 feet. I sometimes could get him started again although usually Venancio had to do it, but he would stop again in another 10 feet. I think I was just too big for him, especially on the steep slope, and he wasn't used to it. The other problem was that the stirrups were as long as they could be but were still much too short for me, causing problems with my knees later in the day. Because the horse would stop constantly, it was taking a long time to go up the first part of the trail. So, even though it was pretty steep and very rocky, I 'volunteered' (needed) to get off and lead the horse up to where it got a little easier. At 3600 meters, I was pretty exhausted by that time. Diane's horse was fine. We had started at about 3400 meters and climbed to about 4000. The views were really amazing and I continued to take pictures, but also continued to have problems with the camera. I didn't realize what might have been the problem until later, but it wouldn't have made much difference at that point - no place to buy batteries up there. Some pictures were OK but I lost a fair number. The first day's trip took about 4 hours and I had walked about an hour of that. The trail overall wasn't bad except for the first part where I had to lead the horse, and naturally, that was the steepest section. I also walked the last few hundred meters to the next mucuposada, Aguita Azul. We got there a little before 1pm. We arrived and Iris, one of the owners, served a nice lunch. After he finished his lunch, Venancio left to go back to El Trigal (he said it would only take him an hour to get back via a different route) and we walked around a little. Iris showed us a cooperative water project nearby and we then walked a bit more. Diane got cold and went back for anther jacket and while I wandered around, stumbled across a small bird's nest on the ground with 2 eggs. I saw the bird briefly but couldn't identify it (no binoculars). I guess most birds up here nest on the ground since it's almost above the tree line. It was cold at about 3300 meters, but not too bad in the sun. Diane caught up and we walked around some more and then went back to rest. After about an hour, I got up to walk around again but it started to rain lightly so I headed back and found Diane talking to Iris and her daughter Maria. We all talked for a while (well, mostly Diane and Iris) until Diane and I went for another walk again. I took some shots of the family and their dogs; one was a St. Bernard and the other a local breed named after Mucuchies that looked just like a St. Bernard except it was mostly white. Diane watched Iris making arepas for dinner while I looked around some more. The rest of Iris' family came, her husband Jose, and Leonardi, her 8 year-old son. Diane and Leonardi got along very well since he was learning some English in school and Diane and he were having fun with that while I wrote my log. Iris served a light dinner with hot chocolate as the drink, which was fine considering the size of lunch. After dinner, Jose, Iris, Diane and I had a conversation about life in the US. They probably thought we were rich but when we explained about the prices of things in general compared to Venezuela, they seemed to understand - no, the streets are not paved with gold. They left to drive home about 10 minutes away and we just relaxed. My knees bothered me a little after the ride in the morning but we would see what happens tomorrow. We were scheduled for a long, 8 hour ride up to the high moors (the paramo), well above the tree line to over 4200 meters, to see a high mountain lake and the unique plant life that lives there. It was supposed to be all on horseback but we'll see what happens. |