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Larry's LogIt rained again overnight - so hard I woke up. Our posada had an open courtyard but was covered by heavy plastic sheets overhead. Some posadas had an uncovered open courtyard, and we were warned against going to those since everything got wet if it rained. When I woke up, I thought about the boat but I was sure that either Elias or Ralph would email me if there was a problem. We called Andes Tropicales again (we called yesterday afternoon as well) and they said to come back in the afternoon - they would have the information then. We just walked around some more, had lunch at MacDonald's and went to the central market. We bought some souvenirs (including the obligatory T shirt) and little gifts and then walked to the Andes Tropicales office. We spoke to Dayana about the Los Nevados trip she had arranged but even though it included one night in a farm with no heat or hot water and one in a posada, it was more expensive than doing the trip on our own with two nights in a posada (with hot water at least). We told her that we needed to think about it since we were surprised by the high price. (Of course, these prices were still cheap by US standards but you have to realize where we are.) Anyway, we left and checked with another tour company about a similar trip and it was also cheaper. We decided to do the trip on our own and called Dayana back. For dinner that night, we thought we would go back to the nice Italian place but when we got there, they had a projection TV setup that covered the entire bar area and were showing a football (soccer) game between Venezuela and Chile. It was so loud we just couldn't stay so we went to out favorite pizza place again. Thursday morning, one of the posada staff knocked on our door at 7:30 to say a driver was here to take us to Los Nevados. Evidently Dayana hadn't been able to contact the driver to cancel the trip (even though we never told her we definitely wanted to go). We called her and told her again that we would go on our own. Since our trip to Los Nevados was delayed, we decided to go to the zoo and took the bus to get there. We asked where to get it and it came quickly but getting on, someone tried to pickpocket Diane's bag - 2 men crowded on in front of me and the guy inside shook Diane's leg to get her distracted but he got nothing and then quickly left. Some of the other passengers saw it and told us right away but all three men had already disappeared. We got to the zoo with no other problems. Right near the zoo was a satellite store of the one we had been to that sold the excellent jams and jellies so we went in there first and came back later to make our purchases. We walked around the zoo - it was pretty but small and some of the cages for the big cats they had were much too small, the cats could barely walk around them without having to turn around. Interestingly, they did a nice job with some of the smaller cages. We picked up our jams after leaving and started to try to find the restaurant recommended around here for lunch but after walking downhill for 10 minutes (and with my sneaker starting to fall apart again) we just caught the next bus we saw, went back downtown and ate at a local fast food place (a MacDonald's look-alike). We then walked back to the shoe repair place and brought in my sneakers for some more repairs (I had changed into my hiking boots). Then we started looking at hiking sticks since we figured that they would be useful in Los Nevados (and definitely would have been useful on our prior trip). We found some and decided to get them even though they were a bit pricey at $100 for 2 (they were aluminum and telescoped from 24 inches to about 54 inches). Hopefully we'll find them helpful. We then just relaxed in the room, went to pick up my sneakers about 6 and went to dinner at the good Italian place we had tried last night. Then we packed to get ready for our trip to Los Nevados. We got up early on Friday, put the bags we were leaving at the posada into their office and walked down to the corner where the 4x4s wait for passengers going to Los Nevados. We were there at 7am and put our bags into the first car on line and went to get some breakfast at the little bakery nearby. We also wanted to get sandwiches there but they wouldn't make them that early - too busy?! After waiting some time, the first guy decided he wasn't going since there weren't enough passengers (at 8am we were still the only ones going) so he told us and put our bags into the next car that had its back seats along the sides rather than across - much less comfortable. We finally left with a total of 6 passengers at 8:30. Diane got in the front seat and I was in the back with the rest just behind the driver. We wound up making several stops so the people who lived in Los Nevados could buy supplies they couldn't get in the mountain village so the trip was taking longer than expected. We understood the need but the number of stops was getting annoying. The ride itself was fine for the first 2 hours since it was a good road but then everything changed. The road, if you could call it that, became dirt and deeply rutted. As we went further, there was lots of loose rock that had fallen from the mountainside and at times, the sides of the jeep were just inches from the mountain while the outside tires were just inches from the cliff. It was definitely the worst road I had ever seen and I was impressed with how well the driver handled it. We made one scheduled stop at a little bodega to stretch, use the 'bano' and eat. The views were really wonderful but I couldn't even think of taking a picture from the bouncing vehicle (although he might have stopped briefly if I had asked). We gratefully arrived at Los Nevados at about 1pm. The posada where we wanted to stay was just off the main square (the village only had one square and three streets). Since they weren't expecting us, it took a few minutes to find someone to check us in as the owners were away and there were no other guests. We got settled and went to have lunch at the small 'cafetin' (bar/snack place) up (literally) the street from the posada. There were no restaurants in the village of just 300 people so we didn't have much choice. The family who worked for the owners of the posada was very nice and tried to make us feel welcome. The family's 18-year old girl, Cecilia, was basically 'in charge' of us and she made sure we were comfortable and had something to eat. After eating, we walked around the village a little and I took some pictures. There was a special program going on in which firemen from Merida were in town and providing vaccinations to people and animals as well as doing dental exams and giving a little fiesta for the children. We watched the party and then walked around some more. We relaxed in the room and then walked back up the hill to the cafetin for dinner. The posada's dining room was locked since the owners were away. Cecilia prepared a dinner that was very good and she made sure we enjoyed it. After finishing, we were walking out when Diane started talking to 8 or 10 of the firefighters, 'bomberos', from Merida. They didn't speak any English and had been having some beers and although we don't speak a lot of Spanish, we had a good time for about an hour or so. One guy in particular seemed to have fun with trying to talk with us - of course, he had also been drinking a bit more than the others but they were all very nice and we eventually understood the program that they were there for - they came up to Los Nevados about once a month to provide various services. It wasn't a new President Chavez program - it had been going on for years. We left to go back to the room as it was getting late and we planned to do some trips on horseback into the surrounding countryside tomorrow. The room was relatively comfortable since it wasn't quite as cold as the mucuposadas we had stayed in - it was 'only' 2700 meters (9,000 feet) here (still no heat though). Saturday morning, after some initial confusion about the hot water (turns out the hot water faucet was on the right, not the left as is normal) we had a nice breakfast and met our guide for the trip to the 'hacienda' (farmhouse). He was the owner of the house next to the posada on the road out of town. I got a fairly large white horse to ride and Diane got a mule, while the guide walked. Things seemed to go pretty well on this ride and the horse and equipment were fine except there was no saddle horn, as on a western type, to grab. If we went up or downhill, I had to grip the saddle itself, just over the blanket, but we had few problems. (I know you're not supposed to ride like that, but I'm still a beginner.) Diane's equipment was the same but she was fine with it. We had a very nice trip to the hacienda, El Correzal. We did have to walk down in some spots because of bad rocky parts and the hiking sticks definitely helped there. We also went past the river at the bottom of the valley, which was very pretty - the water was running pretty strongly since it had been raining over the past few weeks. The hacienda was very interesting to see although extremely rustic. When we arrived, the family, a mother of about 50 and 2 grandparents, were busy taking corn off the cob, by hand, in a very smoky room (not sure why that was). The young daughter was cleaning up the place and we saw clothes that must have belonged to the husband or sons, who were probably off working. They were very nice and showed us around the house. We think it was the place that Andes Tropicales had intended us to stay for one night if we had taken the tour with them. We were glad we visited - the family was great and the place in a very scenic and beautiful location, but we were both very glad we had not stayed there. The accommodations were even more rustic than the mucuposadas we had stayed in (and I'm not really into camping). No heat, no hot water and what looked to be a latrine toilet were more than we wanted to deal with. Of course, that was how they lived and it would have been an authentic experience. I took lots of pictures but was still having problems with the camera and it turned out later that I lost most of the pictures from that day, a real shame. Anyway, we stayed for a while and then started the trip back, which was uneventful and, for the riders, pretty easy since we rode all the way back, arriving back at the village around 1:30. We ate a very nice lunch, again prepared by Cecilia, and decided to go on another trip to a local flour mill (molino). This one was even easier than the first since it was along the road we had taken in. We walked down the last part but that was only 10 minutes. The mill was in a small building near the river but when we got there, the 'molinero' (miller) wasn't around. Luckily, he showed up 15 minutes later when he saw some people on his property and opened up the mill house. It was fascinating. A small, stone aqueduct leads water under the building that turned a horizontal paddle wheel. The paddle wheel was connected to a large (5 feet in diameter) stone wheel inside the building. The wheat was fed into the center of the mill wheel by a clever arrangement that slowly shook the wheat down from a large hopper suspended over it. Of course, as the wheel turned from the water force below, the wheat was ground into flour and forced to the outside of the wheel where it was collected. The miller said it took about a day and a half to make one 50 kilogram sack of flour. He also said that the mill had been in continuous operation in his family for over 200 years - it was really fascinating. The trip back was also pretty easy although my legs were not used to riding yet. We were was very glad we did the second trip - we originally thought we might not since we were still a little tired from the one to the hacienda in the morning. Back at the posada, the owners had arrived and dinner was now planned for the posada dining room. At least we wouldn't have to walk up the hill to the cafetin. We just relaxed, got our stuff ready to leave in the morning and had dinner. We had seen the driver we had wanted to take up to Los Nevados on Saturday night and he said he was going back to Merida Sunday morning. We told him we wanted to leave with him and he said he would be leaving around 9. So, we had breakfast, paid the posada, went up to the square and put our bags in the car (a Toyota 4x4). We waited for more people but only 2 more came and we finally left around 10. Because it had rained last night and the night before pretty hard, the road was in worse shape than when we came up. Along the way, we first stopped to pick up someone else along with 2 sacks of potatoes, which were tied to the top. Of course, now that there was another person inside, our bags also had to be tied on top, next to the potatoes. The road was so bad in spots that the driver asked us to get out to lighten the car (I felt like saying he should dump the potatoes but didn't). We had to do that twice (three times for Diane and the people in the middle seat) and on one of these 'excursions', we had to walk down a steep, rocky section about one-quarter mile long. We had also made another stop to pick up 2 more people who sat in the third seat in the back, so we were now full with a total of 8 people. We made our scheduled rest stop along the way (where we had stopped before) and met some mountain cyclists that had also left Los Nevados. We had noticed them come in last night. They were all Venezuelan but several spoke very good English and we met one man from Caracas who was the financial director of the Venezuelan-American Chamber of Commerce. He knew the US Ambassador well and we spoke to him for quite a while until we left. They road stayed very bad and it started to rain as well just to make it more interesting. The driver handled the road very well but kept crossing himself each time we got through a really difficult part. Finally we reached the paved section and we breathed a bit easier. The driver stopped to let the guy with the potatoes off at a little town on the way and we continued into Merida non-stop after that, arriving around 2:30. We were both tired and hungry but Diane didn't want to get lunch so late so we went back to the posada and rested. At the posada, we met a British couple, Liz and Graham, who were also cruisers from PLC, when we went to relax in the common sitting area. They had just come back from a trip to Los Llanos and we traded stories about our respective trips. Based on their description, we were glad we hadn't gone to Los Llanos now since it's the rainy season. We talked a while with them and Tanya, an Australian woman Liz and Graham had met on their trip, and then Diane and I went to the pizza place nearby for dinner. As it happened, the three of them went there a little after we did so we continued our conversation. Back at the posada, we gave Tanya the information we had about the Andes trip since she was interested in possibly doing one like it. We also told her about our experiences so she would be informed. |