HIKING

we went on a hike to a small town called mucuchies (moo-KOO-chee-is). it was really great. there were a ton of people on horses at the bottom of this hike that were sort of offering tours but more just hanging out. the weather was obviously way colder because we were about 4400m high, which i think is about 1000 above Merida, where i am usually living. when we got back from this maybe 3 or 4 hour hike, it was incredibly foggy. to the point that you couldn't see huge trucks or busses from what seemed like a block or two away. we therefore couldn't figure out how to catch the bus back to the main town a few miles down the road. our lonely planet book said that we could walk, but the foggy conditions were not conducive to that. after hailing down a bus, me and two friends got off the bus hoping to catch the next (last) bus at around 6,  and decided to explore the three block radius of this town and drink beers with some locals. it was a good time. we must have missed the bus because one never came, but we ended up hailing another bus that stopped. it was completely empty going somewhere unclear, but passing through the outskirts of Merida, so gave us and our leftover beers a ride. the man was very nice, even stopped to let the two silly gringos off to make a pitstop halfway through.

cheese empanada for lunch

this is where the bus let us off

clear day

we were above the clouds

alive on top from the waste up

resting in peace

one of the highest seasonal forests in the world

mountain lake in the clouds

lake lost in the fog

cool old cars everywhere

tiendas lost in the fog, the bus stop is missing

Mucuchies, Venezuela. Maybe a few hundred meters below where the last photograph was, and entirely out of the fog. This is where we hopped off the bus to explore/eat/drink

This is proof of two things. One being that there is more than just "Polar Ice" beer in Venezuela--a beer equivalent to that of a shitty beer that comes in a 30 pack. The second being that this german beer, costing us under a dollar, officially naturally brewed according to the German  Purity Law.  We thought that was funny. They were good, or better than usual.

Drinking a round of beers next to some stray dogs you can't see because the farms on the mountains across the way are prettier.

Cuban Cigarettes. Really cool design/packaging.

pitch black bus we hitched a ride back to town in.