Merida
Pop : 310.000
Altitude : 1500 m



On a continent which basically is one giant slum the relatively pleasant Andean city
Merida is an anomaly for it's virtual lack of such.


Plaza las heroinas.


Downtown.





Angels in the cemetery.


Plaza Bolivar.

















Dinnertime...


Merida has some alright food.


and some goofy restaurants.





The strangest of them all must be the Coromoto ice cream parlour.
It has a thousand flavors , a world record !
Consequently there is plenty of room for bizarre flavors.


Check these out !
Everything from Tuna to hamburger to fried shrimp with garlic.
The hamburger ice cream was interesting , quite nice actually ,
with bits of bread , meat and ketchup in the mix.
What finally did me in was mixing too many flavors....after downing all the above mentioned
the bits of smoked salmon in my final cup of smoked salmon ice cream were too much.
I had to stop there , wasn't feeling so good anymore...
To my misfortune the one flavor I really wanted to try was glaring in it's absence.....
I almost plucked up the courage to ask ; "Where's the gasoline flavor ?"








Merida beholds another world record.
It has the longest and highest cable car in the world.
It goes 12.5 km to Pico Espejo at 4765 m.
From there you can hike all day to the charming mountain village......


Los Nevados



Toyota Landcruisers !





Cruising the Merida valley.




















A highland lake.











Condor.


Hiking to a hot spring area.








Toasty waters eminating from the rock wall.


Coffee !


On the other side of Merida is the charming colonial town...forgot the name..


Plaza Bolivar.