MÉRIDA, CITY OF THE GENTLEMAN AND A STATE OF DREAM

Last year I had the opportunity to visit a beautiful city called Mérida, this city is located in the State of Mérida - Venezuela.

It was wonderful to walk its streets, a pleasant climate, I met very attentive and kind people. But the best of all is that I had the pleasure of knowing several of its tourist sites of which I want to share some photos, data and tell you some experiences.

MUCUBAJÍ LAKE
It is believed that the name of the lake is due to the indigenous inhabitants who lived in the region. Mucubají means in this language "site of the great water".

I can say that it is one of the most beautiful and imposing natural landscapes I have seen in my life, you breathe a total peace and tranquility, and pure air. While you are in it you can enjoy the landscape, sitting around of the lake, while you drink some hot drink to withstand the cold temperatures. You can also visit its small boardwalk and on the way take advantage of capturing all the beauty that nature gave us on this site.

If you like to adventure, you can take walks around the area or you can do the same route to ride a horse; and cover greater distances of this little piece of heaven. On the way you can see a path full of frailejones. This is a truly magical place that has left in me memories of the most pleasant that I have about this magical state.

GOING UP TO THE MONUMENT "LA LOCA LUZ CARABALLO"

... And from Chachopo to Apartederos walks "La Loca Luz Caraballo" ... Mérida, can delight us with its nature in addition to fascinating stories, do you know what I'm talking about ?, if the answer is do not, let me tell you about this peculiar character of culture Venezuelan popular of the Andes region, tells the Legend that a woman mother of 5 children totally loses her sanity and embraces with despair the madness, due to the imprisonment of her daughter, the death of two sons, and the escape of her last two children, where it is said between myths and regional legends and here it is that this story becomes interesting, that these sons accompanied our liberator Simón Bolívar, as he passed through the Venezuelan Andes, in the Admirable Campaign ...

In this particular monument we can find this enigmatic woman pointing to the north, the reason for them is that when the spanish crossed these same lands in search of Simon Bolivar, they asked about his where abouts, which had gone south in direction to the farm “el llano del hato”, to which the mysterious woman indicates the way to the north thinking about the safety of her two sons who had gone after a man to ride horse, and "counting the stars 7, 8, 9 and 10 "....

THE STONE CHAPEL

This artisanal architectural work was built by the master Juan Félix Sánchez. Who built it in honor of the Virgin of Coromoto. It was made entirely by hand, is formed by rocks and has the best view of the Andes.

When I visited the chapel I could feel an energy of peace, it was amazing. It is a spiritual place, no matter what kind of beliefs the visitor has, visitors have an opportunity to examine their inner world. It is said to produce the same emotions as Machu Picchu or the Mayan pyramids.

The remains of Juan Félix Sánchez lie in his beloved chapel, in his work, his spirit is said to live in his house and in his work, probably taking care of his people and his páramo.

In the around of the stone chapel, I came across a test of the humor of the merideños, where you could enjoy a particular means of transport. YES, A DONKEY TAXI! I laughed a lot when I saw him with his "fashion" glasses.

BOTANICAL GARDEN

The Botanical Garden was founded in 1991 by the University of Los Andes for the preservation and research, regional flora and fauna. It holds some 12,000 accessions of live plants in cultivation. It is a space to admire the regional nature of this city, enjoy and share with your closest friends; also, activities like yoga, interpretation walking, lectures, games and activities for children are carried out. Also for adrenaline lovers there are extreme activities such as aerial trails over the trees where you can see most of the species collection.

Climbing this stone was a challenge, but was worth the sacrifice, you could see an excellent view of the park, and also take advantage of the perspective of my "photographer" (@sainerc) to take a thousand photos with the pine =). But ... Guess who was afraid then to get off? ... Yes, they did have to help me LOL.

To close I wish to share this beautiful tree, of which I can’t remember the name of its species is fascinated with the color of its leaves and its immensity, to capture the best of it was not easy but we made a great effort for it, if someone from The community knows what it's called I would be very grateful, I would definitely like to have one in my house and be able to read a good book under its comfortable and peaceful shade.

Good until here the trip has arrived ... LOL. I hope they fall in love a little bit of this city, that for me has a lot to offer, there are still many other places to show them of this wonderful city which I will be showing in a next post.