Merida

by Adriana Ignozza

venezuela ILLUSTRATION Photography mérida trip

I went to Merida in August 2018, a date that I considered totally perfect because it's one of the coldest months in my country Venezuela, and it was a perfect experience for me in the midst of all this chaos that we (venezuelans) experienced.

The stay was amazing, when we woke up we had this beautiful view of the peak every day, and the climate oscillated normally between 13° and 20°.

In the first day we took a tour of all the interesting places that the city had, we ended up in a valley with a river and a cold that made your bones tremble, and it was not even 2 PM! I do n't want to imagine the temperature that must be reached in the evening hours. Maybe this sound silly, but for me, that I have lived my whole life in Maracaibo with its normal 30° - 45° throughout the year, this climate is another world.

The flora and fauna was also magnificent.

This is me! :D

Of course, a person like me, who loves puppies of all kinds, can't ignore the beautiful Sanson, a dog of the Mucuchies breed that makes the Monument of the Dog in Mérida, and everyone who has gone and not seen the beautiful Sanson did not really visit that beautiful state. There is even a story in the monument!

I transcribe it:

"Monument to the Snowy Dog
Commemorates the delivery to Bolivar of the dog snowed by the child Juan Jose Pino at the request of his father, Don Vicente Pino, and the appointment of Tinjaca Indian as an aide to the dog, fact occurred in June 1813, according to the historical legend of Don Tulio Febres Cordero .
This story tells us that a faithful dog of the race mucuchies and his aide-de-camp who shared with the deliverer. Until June 24, 1821 at the Battle of Carabobo, when the snow dog dies with a spear, attacking the realist cavalry like an untamed beast that, in the heat of battle, rushes against its master's enemies.
The liberator dismisses him "with a tear of deep sorrow ... The beautiful snowy dog was worthy of that tear" ... "

This little friend came to greet me and I couldn't resist her doggy charms.

Of course the Merida trade and craftsmanship completely fell in love with me.

In the midst of so many crises and problems in which Venezuelans live, the idealization of the late President Chávez cann't be omitted, a rather poor reminder that in the midst of so much beautiful nature that our beautiful country offers us, we can't live in peace ... But of course I couldn't resist more than one "Fuck Maduro", daily bread.

The city of Merida looks so small from the cableway! Did you know that the Merida cableway is the highest in the WORLD? With a distance of 12.5 km and ending at the tip of the mirror peak at a height of 4,800 meters above sea level, with several stations? That's AMAZING!

With great regret in my heart, the last station (Pico Espejo) was closed, thanks to another achievement of the revolution. So we stopped at the penultimate where we had an appetizer of hot chocolate, at the beautiful Paramo Café. The temperature was around 7° and there was a wind that froze your snot.

Further down we are close to the beautiful Frailejones, plants that only grow at a certain temperature and we were forbidden to take them (apparently, many tourists used to take them, deteriorating the flora of the place).