Pico El Aguila
24 August 2005 (Wednesday) – Mérida, Venezuela
Today is Jorge Luis Borges’ birthday. Today is Yasser Arafat’s birthday. Today is Paulo Coelho’s birthday. Today is Steve Guttenburg’s birthday. Today is Stephen Fry’s birthday. Today is my birthday.
And I woke up to a dreadful-looking day, pissing with rain continuously. Thank you.
I was glad I had changed my mind about taking the highest and longest cable-car in the world, which Mérida is famous for. It would have been impossible to see anything.
Anyway, I was supposed to be on an excursion to the Paramos (highlands) with a tour agency today. I had expected to be put on a tour van. However, as expected of the level of disorganisation here, the lady from the tour agency hooked me up with 2 Venezuelan guys she happened to run into, and she negotiated with a guy who drove a very beat-up and ancient Ford to take us on this excursion. Well, fine. As long as the Ford lasts through the day and does not fall apart on us…
The driver stopped by a few towns, a monument, etc… on our way to Pico El Aguila. The 2 Venezuelan guys were highly excitable. They literally jumped out of the car and ran to various ‘scenic’ spots and kept on taking photos of each other. They were really very enthusiastic about every sight, squealing happily and running off to pose again. For me, I did not find many things particularly interesting or pretty, and just calmly walked around and observed the views around me.
The driver, when both of us were alone at one point, asked me if I was WITH the 2 Venezuelan guys. Nope, why? He indicated the ‘limp wrist’ and said that he thought they were gays. Really? I had not really paid attention. I would observe closely now, hehee.
Yep, later, I spotted them giving each other pecks on the cheeks, and one of them even reached over to lick the other’s ear. Yep, gays alright. No wonder, they love taking pictures together.
We then, together with the rest of the Venezuelan tourists, slowly climbed up a mountain through a series of zig-zagged roads all the way to Pico El Aguila, at 4118m. It was very crowded and the ascent was slow as there was obviously not enough parking spots for all the vehicles on the way there. This area had also snowed last night and it was now raining non-stop as well.
Our driver parked his car along the road somewhere and we walked the rest of the way to Pico El Aguila. Here was one of the peaks that Simon Bolivar, the liberator of Venezuela, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru and Bolivia, had climbed across the Andes mountains from Venezuela with his armies to fight the Spanish. And here now, is a monument with an eagle (el aguila).
But it was freezing cold now, perhaps between 0-2 C. I had a terrible headache, as the sudden rise in altitude was too much for me. Also, the wind was unbearable. The clouds covered everything in sight. I could barely walk. My fingers were as good as dead. Yet some Venezuelan show-offs were in their short-sleeved shirts! Mad mad mad!!
I had wanted to go on this excursion because the tour agency said they would visit a reserve for condors. But as it was raining and the reserve was located at 4000+m, and our car which is not a 4×4 could not drive up to the reserve, we had to walk for about 45 mins. No way I could do that in this altitude and in this pissing rain and freezing cold. So, we gave up the idea. I guess I had to try and see condors in other parts of South America.
Then, we were driven to Laguna Mucubaji which was just a pretty lagoon with a type of very interesting flora, known as frailejon, found all around the lagoon area. This plant has curiously lovely felt-like leaves. Even the stems of the budding flowers had a thick felt-like feel around them. Very interesting, one of the most interesting plants I had seen in a while.
Tags: 05) Merchants of Little Venice, Merida
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