Posted on 12/29/2011 10:15:53 AM PST by PJ-Comix
Before I tell you what happened on my second day in Venezuela, a correction on the geography. San Cristobal is about 600 miles mainly west and only a little south of Caracas rather than just south as I posted before. It is in the state of Tachira which is one of three Andean states of Venezuela. Andean which means it is part of the Andes as you can tell from the heights of the nearby mountains and the coolness of the weather.
Anybody into hang gliding would love it here. Right near the airport where I landed we spotted somebody hang gliding. On the second day here (tuesday) we visited El Chorro de Indio mountain. The top is also ideal conditions for hang gliders with a constant updraft wind of about 40+ mph. Better wear a jacket because it was only about 60 degrees and I´m sure it can get much colder than that. The big attraction of the mountain is the waterfalls which has a sheer drop of about 200 feet and a nearby smaller falls above it with a sheer drop of about a hundred feet. The overall feeling of the mountains and the surrounding area is Alpine with a Latin flavor. With Mexico becoming much more dangerous, this area could be destined to become a big tourist attraction after the big changes expected later next year.
The city of San Cristobal is in the middle of a vast valley. The best view is from atop El Chorro Del Indio where the views of both the city and the surrounding mountains are breathtaking. One thing that impressed me a lot about the people was no sign of gangs nor gang activity. The young people appear cleancut like the youth of the USA were like in the 1950s. Another surprising thing is how calm folks are in traffic. The streets here are narrow and steep with with situations that would cause extreme road rage in the States. Here they have what I would term ¨anti-road rage.¨ Road situations that would make most Americans scream in anger, here folks just laugh. My wife´s cousin, Chile (I joke that he must have a sister named ¨Argentina¨), is an example. He reminds me a bit of a Venezuelan version of Zorba the Greek. A bad traffic jam and Chile just tosses his head back and laughs. Chile also supplied me with Polar Ice beer of which he had quite a few bottles in his trunk. Since folks know to avoid the public water (I haven´t seen any water fountains) Polar Ice is the drink of choice especially since it is very inexpensive. I must have chugged down more beers on Tuesday than the rest of the previous year combined. At the end of the day I passed out in the car on the way home from the mountain which is good since I didn´t have to see the many traffic close calls of Chile although I know there must have been a lot from the sound of his frequent laughter.
As to food, good news. The beef here is almost all grass fed. It does make a taste difference from our primarily corn fed cattle. BTW, you see a lot of cattle here in the country munching on grass. They look to be a different variety than what we usually see in the States. There are many roadside mountain inns serving food. The food is often served on a big platter with combined sausages, beef cuts, chicken, and tripe. The latter might be hard on some North American tongues but it didn´t bother me. I just thought of myself as a junior Andrew Zimmern and dug in. The country inns are pretty basic with plain light bulbs above. Best thing to do is just think of them as rustic but the primitive atmosphere is balanced by the fact that the prices are cheap...and of course all food is washed down with Polar Ice beer.
I left my mark in the form of an ¨art project¨ on Chorro del Indio mountain. I can´t tell you what it is but after the big change next year that is expected, I will reveal it to you. I predict it could become a tourist attraction.
Finally, the people here love fiestas. Even while we were at the inn by the waterfalls yesterday, folks were turning that into a fiesta. Tonight I am due to go to another fiesta and yesterday we had a big wedding fiesta at a mountain resort. I became muy MUY borracho and my wife became muy MUY angry. But I will go into more detail about that wedding fiesta in my next posting.
OK where are the pics!
FYI
Just to emphasize again, this is a hang glider paradise here.
Good travelogue. No meeting with Hugo?
Today more than 95% of Haiti's forests are gone, fertile soils and farmlands have been destroyed and the mountains are now reduced to bedrock. The situation will continue to get worse as long as charcoal and low productivity agriculture are the only opportunities for poor farmers.
Sounds like a blast! Kinda scared wondering what your “mark” was, apparently not ‘yellow snow’ if the temps were in the 60s ;-)
but looking forward to pictures/videos too! :-)
Stay Safe!
Wow, that is really sad! That poor country has been so mismanaged over the years...think of how successful it could have been with the right leadership!! :-(
I´ll put it like this: If this were an auditorium and I announced what my mark is, everybody in the FR would stand up and CHEER!!!
Economic success has never been a part of the “progressive” agenda.
UHHH, 40 plus MPH is just a bit too much for hang gliders. About half that would be JUST right.
Okay, that is why I didn´t see any hang gliders at El Chorro del Indio but I was told that there was another nearby mountain with lots of hang gliders so I guess the winds there must be less.
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