Ken Chen

I Want to go from Land’s End to John O’Groats

We went to Avila Magica (Caracas funicular) and then for about USD 2.00 a 4×4 car took us to Gallipan.

You can find there flowers, fruits and marmalades sales posts. It’s cold and the views are incredible.

My pictures of Gallipan

First you left from Caracas, it’s a 4 hours trip. Try to left Caracas before the rush hour and be at the base of the mountains at the National Park before night. The road up is very narrow and full of curves, also you can find rain or fog when you are near the top of the range.

I hadn’t had that much fun in a lot of time. I forget about email, cellphone, internet, google, etc.

The trip across the National Park to reach Choroní is worth for itself. It’s amazing to observe how nature changes in front of you as you go up and down those mountains.

The town is great, small streets with spaniard colony era houses in bright colours. The people is very friendly, you can hear the drums all night inviting you to join the “tamborera”, you can go walking safely at any hour to the near beach, to see that beach under the moonlight is awesome.

The food is cheap and excellent. I recommend to try a restaurant called Mango’s. We stayed at the Vista Mar Hostal, it’s at the end of the Malecon and charge $100,000 a night, that’s about USD 37 a day. Also try the fish arepas in the post in front of the park, they are wonderfully seasoned. You can find a mix of locals and tourists mostly from european countries. Margaux Heminghway lived here. Also try the “guarapita”, a local alcoholic beverage, but be carefull with its effects can be a little strong.

The days are not too hot, there’s always a sweet breeze coming from the sea and at night from the mountains. You can take a boat to a secluded beach of your choice or walk to the closest one.

For partying there’s a place outside Puerto Colombia called “El Pescaito” you can find from merengue to trance and electronic music.

These are the pictures I took:

Pictures of the Town of Puerto Colombia and ChoroniPictures of Day onePictures of Day twoPictures of the Day ThreePictures and videos of the National Park road on our way to Caracas

Settled by two german brothers from Colonia Tovar. It’s much alike Colonia Tovar but not as crowded.

Try the Goulasch soup there! It’s amazing!

Once at the top of the mountain. You can go down a dirt road (very jumpy old road) to a near town called Gallipan. You pay 2,500 bolivars for a 15min ride in a 4×4 truck with 6 people more or walk the distance, about half and hour.

At the town you’ll find a big set of stores selling from flowers to preserved fruits and marmalades. Try the “Sandwich de Pernil”, you’ll have to wait for the trucks to pick you up, it was a long queue that saturday, the weather is nice, you can see the caribbean from Gallipan, is cold too, so take a jacket with you.

Pictures of Gallipan

Finally on saturday I got to go up there. You’ll need to go to the teleferic base, is called “Avila Magica”. They charge 39,000 bolivars for a two-way trip. The trip upwards take near 20 minutes, prepare the cameras because you’ll be able to snap shots of the city and the forests in the Avila’s sides. At the top there is a long walk with food and snacks stores, two restaurants and a plaza near the old Humboldt Hotel where there are shows for kids and adults.

El Avila Teleferic

El Avila Avila Magica

In my visit to Caracas on 2005 I got to hike El Avila to Sabas Nieves, a Forest guard post. It’s a trail that a lot of people from the city does over the weekend. It was full of people of all ages and even parents with their babies. The hike took about two hours and the view is impressive. You can check at my Journal Entries photoblog the pics I took that one time.

I want to go up but using the teleferic this time! I hope to find the time and a good sunny day. Caracas is cold this time of the year and there’s use to be mist and clouds covering the top of El Avila.

http://www.welcomepanama.com/galleries/index.php?cat=7

San Jose has cool weather, so it’s a blessing with the hot David turns in the summer. It’s 12 hours by car from David, crossing the Panama-Costa Rica frontier and the scenery is great! It’s a great road trip.