Mérida (August 13 & 14, 2006)

We woke to a lovely sunny day with a more manageable temperature than the heat of the other areas we have been in (t-shirt weather but not too hot and sticky). The nice lady at the front desk gave us a couple of suggestions to look for accommodations for the rest of our stay here, and we got started in our search right after eating breakfast (at a place that served eggs – a treat!). The first place we asked at, called Posada Guamanchi (also an outdoor adventure tour company), said “sure, we have a room for you!” and led us up the stairs to a new section of their posada with rooms overlooking the Plaza Las Heroinas and the mountains complete with hammocks on the balcony. We were in heaven! All this for the cheapest price we’ve paid for a room yet (40,000 bs). Yup, our luck was changing and our spirits started to lift again. We later found out that the only reason this hostel had rooms available is because they don't rent rooms to Venezuelans because usually the local people won't buy the adventure tours as well and Guamanchi liked to have rooms for people returning or heading out on the tours.

Needing a day to just relax, we walked around town for a bit, went to a good Mexican restaurant for lunch, and hung out in our hammocks for most of the day. The prices here are cheaper, the weather is better, the surrounding lush mountains are gorgeous. The plaza was alive with craft stalls, food vendors, and families enjoying their Sunday. We loved listening to the sounds of the plaza and watching the people go by, and we started to like Venezuela more.

:: August 14 ::

Merida is Venezuela’s main hub for outdoor activities such as mountain biking, rafting, hiking, and horseback riding. It is also famous for having the world’s highest and longest cable-car system. The teleférico starts at 1500m in Merida and goes up to 4045m in three sections. It is best to go up in the morning when there are less clouds, so this morning we got up early to buy food supplies for the day and headed to the teleférico station around 8am (it opens at 7:30am). Just outside the gate a foreign traveler stopped us and told us that it was closed for the week for repairs, would reopen on the weekend, and tickets were already sold out until the following Monday. Yikes! Apparently you need to make reservations at least two days in advance of going, and it is also possible to reserve online before arriving. We had seen the teleférico running yesterday, and being peak season, we just assumed it would be running every day . Yet another disappointment.

We had another day to wander around at leisure. We asked at Guamanchi about all their different tours and decided on the white water rafting tour (2 days) and the canyoning tour (1 day). There was already a group forming for rafting tomorrow, so we decided to do that one first and canyoning the day after we get back. The rest of the day was spent trying to get caught up in our journals (a multi-day affair!), buying some Latin music, tried to go to the famous 700-flavour ice cream place (it was closed on Mondays), and made our dinner at the hostel. We met some British travelers that we chatted with for a while, one of whom is going to be on our rafting tour tomorrow.