Sunday morning Alfredo and I went down to the bus station in Merida to check out the bus situation to Trujillo and it turned out that buses only go there three times a day and take 6 hours. Sooo I took a taxi with a few others instead. It worked out fine, although it was a bit more expensive than I had budgeted for. On the way to Trujillo it was actually clear in the mountains and I was able to again catch a glimpse of Pico Bolivar with its small glacier and had gorgeous views of surrounding peaks as well. To get to Trujillo we had to go back over the really high pass I went to with Victor and his friends. It was very beautiful, although a very very winding road. On the other side of the pass the road continued down through little villages and hillsides blanketed in pink foxglove and bright yellow mustard flowers. Since it was Sunday, most of the villages were having little processions with the men bearing statues of this or that saint and the women and children following along. All the church bells were also ringing so it was really pretty. In one village all the cows were tied in pairs of two with garlands of artichokes, flowers, garlic and fruit hanging from their necks. Most of them were just standing around looking a bit sad and although I know enough Spanish to ask what it was all about, I wouldn´t have been able to understand the driver´s answer (they talk so fast here!) so I didn´t bother. Once I arrived in Trujillo finally, almost everything was closed because it was Sunday, but I was able to look inside the cathedral and walk around the town a bit. Trujillo has the prettiest Plaza Bolivar I have seen yet- it was like a jungle! The town is narrow and long, running up a valley towards a green mountain to the SW. After a bit a mass began in the cathedral, but they left the doors open so I could hear the choir singing as I strolled around.
Yesterday morning I got up early to walk up to the Virgen de Paz,
a huge concrete statue of the Virgin Mary 2500ft above Trujillo on the
mountain. There are jeeps to take up there, but considering the lack
of exercise I´ve had on this trip, I opted to walk the 11km. It was a
really nice walk up through a really beautiful Trujillo neighborhood
and then up through the ills leading to the mountain. The views out to
the SE were gorgeous with layer after layer of mountain fading from
bright green to pale blue. At 8 it was already probably about 80
degrees so it was a really hot walk, but still fun. As I got to the
top of the mountain, the fog started drifting across from the north
side and it was much cooler, although as I approache the statue from
behind, Mary´s dark cloaked head in the fog looked more like the Grim
Reaper´s than a saint´s. When I arrived at the monument, of course
there was a power outage and they shut down the monument for a few
minutes until the elevator started working again. The elevator looked
a bit rickety, so I just took the stairs. There are five lookout
points from the statue: a couple at waist level, one from the dove she
is holding and one from her eyes. The view was really nice- to the
surrounding mountains and down to Trujillo and its suburbs.
Unfortunately, the big mountains around Merida were covered with fog so
I couldn´t see them. After a bit of exploring around the monument, I
headed back down to Trujillo and had a really good, cheap lunch,
although the power went out again...
Last night I caught a night bus from the nearby town of Valera to
Caracas. The lady at the ticket office said it would arrive around 6
ot 7am, but actually got to Caracas around 4:30!!! I thought I had
outsmarted the bus this time by bringing a sleepbag so I could sleep
without being cold, but the bus was really jerky so it was like trying
to sleep through an earthquake all night...didn´t sleep much... The bus
terminal in Caracas is in a really dangerous part of town, but one of
the metro stations was really close by so all I needed to do was take a
3 minute taxi ride to safety. The taxi driver wanted Bfs30 ($15) for
the ride! No way. I told him that all I had was 20, which was not
true, and he said he would do it for 25, but I didn´t want him to know
I lied about how much money I had so I utilized a bit of advice Carlos
from Chichiriviche gave me (If you want to get your way in Venezuela,
start to cry, REALLY, it works and it is normal he said), so I
pretended to cry and after about a minute the taxi drive gave in. HA!
I still had to pay about $10 for a three minute taxi ride, but it was
the only option. I am now at a hotel next to the airport
(unfortunately, the airport is inconviently located far from everything
in a sketchy, dangerous town) and will probably just hang out here
until tomorrow when I am shuttled to the airport at 5am. I fly out at
8:15am if the flight is on time, although I´ve heard I shouldn´t count
on that here. I fly to Houston and then on to Portland and will
hopefully be home tomorrow. Hope all is well. I will post picture
links (hopefully they´ll work this time) when I get home.
