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"We need a vacation from our vacation," I informed
the Captain one day in mid-February. I had been varnishing
for several weeks, and Nick's project list was growing faster
than he could check items off. We needed a furlough from our
self-inflicted manual labor.
Dressed in layers of warm clothing, carrying a blanket and
enough food and water for the duration, we boarded a double-decker
tour bus in Puerto La Cruz on February 28th. The trip to Mérida
was 18 hours on a bus that could have easily done duty as
a meat locker. This trip is best approached like any other
overnight passage: you won't eat well or get much sleep, and
going to the bathroom requires careful balance and dexterity.
Although an American movie was shown on the TV monitors,
the volume was so low we could barely hear it. I found myself
reading Spanish subtitles to understand the dialogue. The
bus was clean and comfortable, but the bathroom lacked soap,
toilet paper, or water at the faucet. As the sun set around
6:00 P.M., we discovered the overhead lights did not work.
Since there wasn't another movie to watch and we couldn't
read, all we could do for the next 12 hours was stare outside
into the darkness or try to find a comfortable sleeping position.
The bus made two stops along the way where food and bathrooms
were available.
Arriving at 7:30 A.M. after a mostly sleepless night, we
hailed a cab to the residence of Gioia Arellano. Gioia (pronounced
Joy-yah), her 82-year old Italian mother, and their friendly
golden retriever Kio live in a sprawling two-story atrium
home built by Gioia's father 40 years ago. Gioia rents out
two of their bedrooms, limiting her clientele to cruisers
visiting Merida. The house is conveniently located in downtown
Mérida, just blocks away from the Bolivar Plaza and the Teleférico
cable car terminal. Our room had a comfortable queen bed,
private bathroom, and an armoire we could lock. Gioia gave
us a key to the house so we could come and go as we pleased.
Although it seemed a little strange to be staying in a stranger's
house, we quickly felt welcome and at home.
Merida is a sprawling city perched atop an alluvial terrace
at the foot of the Andes Mountains. It is home to 340,000
residents and students attending the Universidad de los Andes.
Mérida attracts adventure tourists from around the world.
The surrounding Sierra Nevada mountain range offers mountaineering,
white water rafting (during wet season), kayaking, tubing,
canyoning, hiking, mountain biking, horseback riding, and
paragliding. The most famous tourist attraction is the Teleférico
cable car, the tallest and longest in the world, ascending
for 7.5 miles to reach 15,630 feet at snowy Pico Espejo. For
the less adventurous, the town offers countless shops and
restaurants within walking distance of the downtown posadas
(inns) or Gioia's house.
We timed our trip for dry weather during the low tourist
season. Even so, the streets were bustling with tourists,
street vendors, and lots of traffic. Our only complaint was
the continuous street noise, often lasting late into the night
and resuming early in the morning. Car alarms seemed to go
off constantly on the crowded streets.
One day Nick and I walked to a Mexican restaurant (a rare
find in Venezuela). Firecrackers had been going off somewhere
in town for the past half hour (a common occurrence in Venezuela).
As luck would have it, the source of the noise was a political
rally right next door to the Mexican restaurant. WHAM, WHAM,
WHAM! The walls shook and car alarms started screaming all
around us. Sipping our cold Polar beers as we waited for our
enchiladas, we braced for the next explosive round. WHAM,
WHAM! We winced as more alarms wailed and smoke drifted down
the street. I started to giggle, then Nick, at the hilarity
of the situation. Somewhere in Baghdad, there were folks having
a more peaceful lunch than we were in Merida.
Ten days later when we said our good-byes to Gioia, Sonry,
and Kio, we weren't just anonymous guests checking out of
a hotel, but friends wishing us each other luck and promising
to stay in touch.
Gioia's Contact Information:
Home: 0274-252-4807 Cell: 0414-746-1121 E-mail:
gioia39@hotmail.com
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View of Merida from the Teleférico
Nick and Deanna at Pico Espejo, the highest
Teleférico station
Statue in Mérida's main plaza of Simón
Bolívar, South America's famed liberator. The main
square of every town in Venezuela has a
Bolívar bust or statue and a church. Only state capitols
have a statue
of Bolívar on a horse. In the nation's capitol, Caracas,
Bolívar's horse
has both forelegs in the air.
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