Central & Western Venezuela
The Llanos is an expansive, sparsely populated area of grassland east of the Cordillera de Mérida and north of the Orinoco, reaching up to the north coast. The area is the heart of the Venezuelan cattle country and the landscape is flat and only varied here and there by slight outcrops of land. It is veined by numerous slow-running rivers, forested along their banks. The swamps are the home of egrets, parrots, alligators and monkeys. The equestrian skills of the plainsmen can be seen at many rodeos throughout the Llanos, as well as exhibitions of cattle roping and the Joropo, Venezuela’s national dance. Barquisimeto, one of the oldest settlements in Venezuela, is now the country’s fourth-largest city and capital of the Llanos. Its cathedral is one of the most famous modern buildings in the country.
Along the Colombian border is the Cordillera de Mérida and, to the east of this range, the Cordillera Oriental. Set in the area between these two ranges are the city of Maracaibo and Lake Maracaibo. Windless and excessively humid, the city and its environs are dominated by the machinery of oil production from the largest oil fields in the world, discovered in 1917. Sightseeing tours are available from here to the peninsula of Guajira to the north, where the Motilone and Guajiro Indians live.
Their lifestyle has changed little since the days of the first Spanish settlers. Their houses are raised above the lake on stilts and are in fact the original inspiration for naming the country Venezuela, or ‘Little Venice’.
The Cordillera de Mérida are the only peaks in the country with a permanent snowline. Frosty plateaux and lofty summits characterise the landscape and many cities have grown up at the foot of the mountains, combining tradition with modern ways of life, as well as diversified rural and urban scenery. The scenery in this area is extremely varied – lagoons, mountains, rivers, beaches, ancient villages, historical cities, oil camps, sand dunes and Indian lake dwellings on stilts. The Sierra Nevada National Park offers opportunities to ski between November and June but, at an altitude of 4270m (14,000ft), this is recommended only for the hardiest and most dedicated.
Mérida, to the south, is today a city of wide modern avenues linking mainly large-scale 20th-century developments, although, wherever possible, relics of the colonial past have been allowed to stand. A university town and tourist centre, it nestles in the Sierra Nevada, overshadowed by Bolívar Peak (5007m/15,260ft) and Mirror Peak (where the world’s highest cable car climbs to an altitude of 4675m/14,250ft). Mérida has modern and colonial art museums and much more worth seeing, including the Valle Grande, the Flower Clock, Los Chorros de Milla, the Lagoons of Mucubaji, Los Anteojos, Tabay, Pogal, Los Patos, San-say and the famous Black Lagoon. A mountain railway runs from the town to Pico Espejo. The view from the summit looks over the highest peaks of the Cordillera and the Llanos. The Andean Club in Mérida arranges trips to Los Nervados, the highest village in the mountains. Again, this is only recommended for the hardy. Other excursions from Mérida include San Javier del Valle, a relaxing mountain retreat, and Jaji, which has some fine examples of colonial architecture.
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