merida, venezuela.

i am here in the andean town of merida in venezuela, and i am loving it, but i will try to backtrack and say something about the previous days...
from bogota i got on the "wrong" bus to cucuta (colombia-venezuela border) and that's where my bad luck started...the bus took a hell of a long time, stopping everywhere, going through the backroads and loading passengers anywhere!!! so throughout the same night i probably had at least 5 different people sitting next to me! i was looking forward to riding through the colombian andes at night and getting to the border in the morning, but i soon started to realize what i had gotten myself into...anyway, the peak of the trip was when in the middle of the night some soldiers got on our bus with their machine guns in sight, and one sat right next to me for about an hour! needless to say i was freaking out and thinking bad things already, since that was an area with guerrilla and in the middle of the night...you know? i never dared say anything, so i still don't know if they were just getting a free ride or if they were actually supposed to protect us...but i was scared! then we passed some more checkpoints and some were body-checked a couple of times...the view of soldiers with machine guns is pretty common, so i learned to get used to it...
once the endless and annoying ride finally ended, i got on another bus to the actual border, then walked across, had my whole big backpack searched, got the stamps i needed to get on my passport, then took another bus to san cristobal in venezuela, got body-checked a couple of times, ...and then i finally made it to san cristobal! well, little did i know...the last bus to merida (my destination) had already left, i couldn't get any money out of the ATM, and even though a very nice woman policeman helped me (once she knew i was italian), i had to change some colombian pesos from some random person to pay for my ridiculously overpriced little, dirty and muggy room by the bus terminal...oh, i had also forgotten that venezuela is an hour ahead, so i missed my last chance of spending my last money at an internet cafe before calling it a night!
the next day i was determined to finally solve my money problems, and went around 5-6 banks, to no avail! i finally entered one of them and asked for cash advance, which i didn't even know existed! haha (oh, it's "avance de efectivo", very useful term to know; another very useful word i quickly learned is "cancelar": it means to pay in advance, meaning you can't grab the item or be serviced before you pay) well, the person there helped me a lot, welcomed me to venezuela and quickly gave me what i asked for...so that's when fate finally started turning in my favor!
i finally got on a bus to merida, got some food and water, and enjoyed my bus ride with air-conditioning (since it's pretty hot) and loud, fun music (that people always sing along to: fun!). this time the bus almost never stopped! well, except for some more police checkpoints and stuff like that...then i finally got to merida, where i am being hosted by M...
for some reason i already knew that i was going to live it here, and i really do! it's more easygoing, less dangerous, friendlier and cheaper than anywhere in venezuela (although i have not been anywhere yet!), and it's by the highest venezuelan mountains (pico bolivar-5004 meters, and pico humboldt)...it's by the same andes i had explored last year in argentina, only at the other end! i met a lot of european travelers, walked around and i already don't want to leave!
well, yesterday i took the longest and highest cable-car in the world up to 5007 meters a.s.l. by the pico bolivar...after trying to get used to the altitude, i rode a horse for 4 endless hours up and down mountains, rocks and streams...although i felt really bad for the poor horse, it was much more of a physical workout than i thought! the best part was the dog that was running before and by us, it reminded me of belle & sebastien a lot!!! i tried taking pictures of the whole thing, but it was pretty hard and we will see if the results are even decent! thanks to the horse i got to this remote village at about 2700 mt a.s.l. called Los Nevados, where i chatted it up with some locals about chavez, took some nice pictures, got a rustic bed for the night, and before going to bed...dinner was included, so i went down for dinner and talked the "senora" into making me something vegetarian...which was very yummy! i had dinner with a spanish couple that i will meet again sometime i think...then went straight to bed, and slept for a whopping 12 hours!!! i am sad i missed the sunrise this morning, but i couldn't get up anyway...went down for breakfast again (where "down" means down a super steep cobblestone road!) and then hopped on a jeep (4WD vehicle, or offroad vehicle,...) with the spanish girl and 3 italian-swiss tourists and a local...well, down a tiny path running next to the side of the mountain for 4 hours to get back in town...
so that was my fun adventure so far; tomorrow i might have to leave and go to the mochima national park where i will be relaxing at the beach, visiting some caribbean islands and maybe even snorkeling...from there it's onto a more secluded beach by puerto colombia, then a quick trip to caracas before going back to bogota for christmas...
so far i've been loving venezuela, which has been up to its reputation for chavez and beauty queens. the former is everywhere, well, rather, pictures, posters, banners, images, etc of him are everywhere, also because the elections were just 2 weeks ago...i've been asking a lot of people about him of course, and most seem satisfied with what he's been doing...as for the beauty queens, venezuela is statistically the country with the most girls winning international beauty pageants, and you can totally see that walking around...it's not about quantity but quality, definitely!
oh, merida is going to host the 2007 "copa america" this coming july!
i've also been enjoying the loud, dancy, fun, hispanic music blaring everywhere, the cheap internet cafes and the views...i am sure i am forgetting something but i better go now!