Pueblos del Sur, Venezuela

Behind the Venezuela Andes. Fiesta Time.


Indigenous Crowned
A young Cospes Indian, distinguished by his lofty crown of feathers, smiles at others across the street.
Pauliteiros in Action
Pauliteiros dance in honor of San Isidro, the patron saint of farmers, on the road that connects Mucusún to San Juan, near Tostes.
San Jose de Acequias
One of the main towns in the Pueblos del Sur de Mérida, lost in a green valley crossed by a river of the same name.
Dances with Locainas de Santa Rita
Locainas (men dressed as ladies) dance ecstatically in a corner of the central square of San José de Acequias. The locainas are just some of the characters in the Pueblos del Sur's busy party calendar.
shopping
A young resident of San José de Acequias visits an old shop in the pueblo, located in a colonial house in the central square.
Sooty Indians
Blackened Cospes Indians continue to resist Hispanic evangelization in Mucusún, a hamlet on the outskirts of San José de Acequias.
Pauliteiros Transaction
Two Pauliteros complete a small occasion business at the end of a long exhibition of their art in honor of San Isidro.
on the sidelines of the party
Carolina holds her son Jean Alejandro in the old courtyard of a colonial house in the heart of San José de Acequias.
Convenient break
Two Cospes Indians rest from their dances in honor of the Virgin of Coromoto, next to a roadside house in Mucusún.
Pauliteiro de Colo
Father holds a small pauliteiro from whom not even the animation of his counterparts together with Mucuambin steals his sleep.
Cospes friends
Young people masked as indigenous people aboard a pick-up truck after the dances in honor of the Virgin of Coromoto.
The Star of the Piece
Young actress from San José de Acequias sings in one of the musical excerpts of the youth play she stars.
Little Pirate and Viajero
Dona Marilin Fernández raises her grandson Jean Alejandro next to the game board she showed him.
Pauliteiro in Burlap
One of the many pauliteiros present at the party, dressed in his own fashion.
Unapproved helmet
Pauliteros head to San José de Acequias,. one of them still wearing his terrifying furry mask, despite the strong sun that was felt in the Andean region of the Pueblos del Sur.
Indian Patience
A native of the Pueblos del Sur dressed as a Cospes Indian waits for companions to proceed to San José de Acequias, where the party is supposed to continue.
In 1619, the authorities of Mérida dictated the settlement of the surrounding territory. The order resulted in 19 remote villages that we found dedicated to commemorations with caretos and local pauliteiros.

as we descend from Merida highlands (1.610 m) down a long canyon road, the sheltered scenery between steep slopes becomes arid. And, soon, stony, dotted with cacti.

Almost half an hour of slope later, we reach Las González.

We find the gateway to the Pueblos del Sur decorated with a panel semi-political that classifies the destination as touristic and, at the same time, promotes the figure of Marcos Diaz Orellana, the governor Bolivarian of State.

The Chama river splutters there, accelerated by the slope that makes it flow even faster into Maracaibo, the great lake from which, when it is in the political and economic conditions for it, Venezuela extracts most of its oil wealth.

We crossed it by an old iron bridge with a field look. On the opposite bank begins the ascent to the mountains and valleys where the final destination end.

The Andean Path To Pueblos del Sur

The asphalt road proves to be worn, winding, increasingly narrow. The undoing of one of its curves and counter-curves reveals to us a motorcyclist-artist in the region. It had stopped by a clayey wall. There he worked on a commemorative sculpture, with a knife raised and a helmet placed with the visor down, to protect himself from the dust caused by his excavation.

Due to the deliberate stop of the bus and the curiosity of the multinational group of passengers, the traffic practically stops flowing.

We are forced to continue on our way. We only stopped when we arrived at a village called Mucusún. There, we are surprised by a band of blackened natives dressed in wicker skirts and crowns of feathers and feathers. They were all solidary pauliteiros.

They danced to the squeaky music of a cellist accompanied by two guitar players and a choreography that favors the release of movements.

Pauliteiro in Burlap

One of the many pauliteiros present at the party, dressed in his own fashion.

The Indigenous-Christian Legend of the Virgin of Coromoto

The exhibition of those who informed us that they were Cospes Indians paid homage to the Virgin of Coromoto. At one time, the Cospes were refugees from the colonization and forced evangelization of the Spaniards. Until the Virgin appeared to them in the Guanare jungle where they took refuge and urged them to be baptized and to convert.

Almost all indigenous people accepted. This was not the case with the chief – named Coromoto – who feared losing his importance. Coromoto fled. The Virgin appeared to him again. Angry, Coromoto tried to grab her but the Virgin disappeared, materialized in a small plant print that would later be found and is venerated by Venezuelans.

As for Coromoto, he was bitten by a poisonous snake. He returned to Guanare dying, where, in a trance, he began to ask for his own baptism. Saved from death by the Virgin and converted, he became an apostle. He begged a group of Indians who were still resisting to convert.

Later, with the Catholic name Ángel Custódio, he died of old age.

The Cospes Indigenous Resume Their Exhibition

The Cospes dance takes place between an elevated plantation and an opposite rural house, covered with aged colonial tiles.

When he finishes, the chief of the “indigenous” inaugurates a speech as pompous as possible in which he praises the arrival of visitors to FITVEN, the Venezuelan international tourism fair that had given rise to the whole stage.

Indigenous Crowned

And, above all, the initiative of the Ministry of Tourism of its Bolivarian homeland to make those remote places a tourist destination.

We confront Coromoto's actor with cameras at the ready. The chief returns to his role as leader of the sooty indigenous people. Take a wooden cupid bow and make yourself even wilder.

Aim your bow and the tiny arrow. At the same time, it hides its face and emits the screams and howls of a panicked creature, interspersed with snorts of fury.

Sooty Indians

Blackened Cospes Indians continue to resist Hispanic evangelization in Mucusún, a hamlet on the outskirts of San José de Acequias.

We followed the act until the Indian Cospe put an end to it. After which we return to the bus blessed by the sound of a maraca that starts playing in our direction.

The Pauliteiros, Locos and Locations Exuberant Mucuambin

We continued into the mountain range pursued by a van pick up loaded with spit Indians who would join the party later on. When we reach the outskirts of Mucuambin, the scene is repeated. This time, in color.

Pauliteiros in Action

Pauliteiros dance in honor of San Isidro, the patron saint of farmers, on the road that connects Mucusún to San Juan, near Tostes.

We went down to the side of the road. There, they'll arrest us with frantic pauliteiros dances, several in gaudy fringed costumes, in the style of caretos from the Americas, in honor of San Isidro, the patron saint of farmers.

Each one displays its irreverent look. Some wear masks that are hideous heads of goats, cows and other domestic animals.

Unapproved helmet

Pauliteros head to San José de Acequias,. one of them still wearing his terrifying furry mask, despite the strong sun that was felt in the Andean region of the Pueblos del Sur.

Fascinating eternalizations of totemic cults and rituals of the peoples chibcha e Arawak with which the Spanish colonists struggled in the XNUMXth century and which they ended up annihilating or assimilating.

Pauliteiro de Colo

Father holds a small pauliteiro from whom not even the animation of his counterparts together with Mucuambin steals his sleep.

Even babies are subject to tradition. We see them fall asleep in their laps, in reduced clothes with the same standards as the elders. Meanwhile, some adults are perfect in their childishness. They ride on wooden horses in the middle of a wheel of tireless sticks.

Also in Mucuambin, the show reaches its end.

Once again, we return to the organization's bus ride. A folkloric band of motorcyclists follows us, driven by the satisfaction of their duty done.

San José, Heart of the Pueblos del Sur

After a few more curves, almost always over abysses, and a huge slope that crosses the valley full of cornfields of the San José River, we enter the central square of the homonymous city, what is considered the nuclear settlement of the Pueblos del Sur.

San Jose de Acequias

One of the main towns in the Pueblos del Sur de Mérida, lost in a green valley crossed by a river of the same name.

Next to the police station, a black mural joins the trio Chávez, Castro and Morales. Validates the municipality's Bolivarianism with the maxim "We are not willing to leave a homeland reduced to rubble by capitalism".

An anxious crowd awaited the arrival of the entourage, under the shade of the trees and lined up in a dizzying diagonal, under the sheds of the centuries-old houses. We barely enter the square, instead of crazy, it is a battalion of locals also with big hair and in long antique dresses in bright colors that assume the prominence.

Dances with Locainas de Santa Rita

Locainas (men dressed as ladies) dance ecstatically in a corner of the central square of San José de Acequias. The locainas are just some of the characters in the Pueblos del Sur's busy party calendar.

Make the inevitable resound sticks on each other. This rhythm, synchronized with that of the drums, keeps the residents used to that animation only at other times of the year, in a kind of trance.

The owner of the best located business in the village, wearing a cowboy hat, doesn't ask for help. Invoices many extra bolivars, sheltered between a weathered wooden counter and untidy shelves.

shopping

A young resident of San José de Acequias visits an old shop in the pueblo, located in a colonial house in the central square.

Also Marilin Fernández, the neighbor next door, gives in to the lure of profit. Take advantage of the availability of your decan glacier and improvise your own wine cellar which it marks with a simple rectangle of paper written in marker over the window.

“Come and see my wood oven!”. She invites us to make up for her youngest daughter's rebellious resistance to socializing with outsiders.

We don't think twice. inside the home, we find spartan and dismal rooms but also with an open-air central patio that would have changed little or nothing since the colonial construction of the house.

In that same patio, Carolina produces herself with great care in the mirror, always keeping an eye on Marilin's grandson, even so, hoping to still catch the best of the pilgrimage.

Little Pirate and Viajero

Dona Marilin Fernández raises her grandson Jean Alejandro next to the game board she showed him.

The End of the Evening Party and the End of the Soggy Afternoon

Outside, the celebration had moved to a small ranch to which authorities at the time kept access restricted, in order to avoid an unwanted flood.

On the farm's lawn, there is a lunch banquet and a wider display of traditional Pueblos del Sur life and festivals.

There is a historic warehouse under self-service. And a wait that some visitors are subject to in order to get glasses of freshly squeezed sugar cane juice. Under nearby sheds, another group of musicians play themes famous among the natives. Sellers show handicrafts and the flavor of the region's main delicacies.

We also joined the enthusiastic audience of a musical, female and youth theater play that addresses the difficulties in finding the right man for marriage.

The Star of the PiecePitch-black clouds had long taken over the valley. As soon as the play ends, it starts to rain down in pots. All of San José takes refuge from the more than guaranteed water.

We stopped between the farm and the central square, next to a group of teenagers who had finished some sporting event and were rewarded with homemade ice cream packed in bags.

One of them hears us talking and asks if we are Portuguese. “Well, it seemed to me that I was recognizing that way of speaking. There are a few more out there. They haven't talked like you for a long time, but I'm sure some understand you better than I do!”.

We wait for the downpour to give way to the lull and we return to the heart of that Pueblo del Sur in ecstasy, attentive to the signs of life of the unexpected descendants of Luso-Venezuelans.

Pueblos del Sur, Venezuela

The Pueblos del Sur Locainas, Their Dances and Co.

From the beginning of the XNUMXth century, with Hispanic settlers and, more recently, with Portuguese emigrants, customs and traditions well known in the Iberian Peninsula and, in particular, in northern Portugal, were consolidated in the Pueblos del Sur.
Mérida, Venezuela

Merida to Los Nevados: in the Andean Ends of Venezuela

In the 40s and 50s, Venezuela attracted 400 Portuguese but only half stayed in Caracas. In Mérida, we find places more similar to the origins and the eccentric ice cream parlor of an immigrant portista.
Mérida, Venezuela

The Vertiginous Renovation of the World's Highest Cable Car

Underway from 2010, the rebuilding of the Mérida cable car was carried out in the Sierra Nevada by intrepid workers who suffered firsthand the magnitude of the work.
Cape Coast, Ghana

The Divine Purification Festival

The story goes that, once, a plague devastated the population of Cape Coast of today Ghana. Only the prayers of the survivors and the cleansing of evil carried out by the gods will have put an end to the scourge. Since then, the natives have returned the blessing of the 77 deities of the traditional Oguaa region with the frenzied Fetu Afahye festival.
Bacolod, Philippines

A Festival to Laugh at Tragedy

Around 1980, the value of sugar, an important source of wealth on the Philippine island of Negros, plummeted and the ferry “Don Juan” that served it sank and took the lives of more than 176 passengers, most of them from Negrès. The local community decided to react to the depression generated by these dramas. That's how MassKara arose, a party committed to recovering the smiles of the population.
Bhaktapur, Nepal

The Nepalese Masks of Life

The Newar Indigenous People of the Kathmandu Valley attach great importance to the Hindu and Buddhist religiosity that unites them with each other and with the Earth. Accordingly, he blesses their rites of passage with newar dances of men masked as deities. Even if repeated long ago from birth to reincarnation, these ancestral dances do not elude modernity and begin to see an end.
Jaisalmer, India

There's a Feast in the Thar Desert

As soon as the short winter breaks, Jaisalmer indulges in parades, camel races, and turban and mustache competitions. Its walls, alleys and surrounding dunes take on more color than ever. During the three days of the event, natives and outsiders watch, dazzled, as the vast and inhospitable Thar finally shines through.
Look-alikes, Actors and Extras

Make-believe stars

They are the protagonists of events or are street entrepreneurs. They embody unavoidable characters, represent social classes or epochs. Even miles from Hollywood, without them, the world would be more dull.

Gran Sabana, Venezuela

A Real Jurassic Park

Only the lonely EN-10 road ventures into Venezuela's wild southern tip. From there, we unveil otherworldly scenarios, such as the savanna full of dinosaurs in the Spielberg saga.

Mount Roraima, Venezuela

Time Travel to the Lost World of Mount Roraima

At the top of Mount Roraima, there are extraterrestrial scenarios that have resisted millions of years of erosion. Conan Doyle created, in "The Lost World", a fiction inspired by the place but never got to step on it.
PN Canaima, Venezuela

Kerepakupai, Salto Angel: The River that Falls from Heaven

In 1937, Jimmy Angel landed a light aircraft on a plateau lost in the Venezuelan jungle. The American adventurer did not find gold but he conquered the baptism of the longest waterfall on the face of the Earth
Henri Pittier NP, Venezuela

PN Henri Pittier: between the Caribbean Sea and the Cordillera da Costa

In 1917, botanist Henri Pittier became fond of the jungle of Venezuela's sea mountains. Visitors to the national park that this Swiss created there are, today, more than they ever wanted
Masai Mara Reservation, Masai Land Travel, Kenya, Masai Convivial
Safari
Masai Mara, Kenya

A Journey Through the Masai Lands

The Mara savannah became famous for the confrontation between millions of herbivores and their predators. But, in a reckless communion with wildlife, it is the Masai humans who stand out there.
Thorong Pedi to High Camp, Annapurna Circuit, Nepal, Lone Walker
Annapurna (circuit)
Annapurna Circuit: 12th - Thorong Phedi a High camp

The Prelude to the Supreme Crossing

This section of the Annapurna Circuit is only 1km away, but in less than two hours it takes you from 4450m to 4850m and to the entrance to the great canyon. Sleeping in High Camp is a test of resistance to Mountain Evil that not everyone passes.
Engravings, Karnak Temple, Luxor, Egypt
Architecture & Design
luxor, Egypt

From Luxor to Thebes: Journey to Ancient Egypt

Thebes was raised as the new supreme capital of the Egyptian Empire, the seat of Amon, the God of Gods. Modern Luxor inherited the Temple of Karnak and its sumptuousness. Between one and the other flow the sacred Nile and millennia of dazzling history.
Bungee jumping, Queenstown, New Zealand
Adventure
Queenstown, New Zealand

Queenstown, the Queen of Extreme Sports

In the century. XVIII, the Kiwi government proclaimed a mining village on the South Island "fit for a queen".Today's extreme scenery and activities reinforce the majestic status of ever-challenging Queenstown.
Ice cream, Moriones Festival, Marinduque, Philippines
Ceremonies and Festivities
Marinduque, Philippines

When the Romans Invade the Philippines

Even the Eastern Empire didn't get that far. In Holy Week, thousands of centurions seize Marinduque. There, the last days of Longinus, a legionary converted to Christianity, are re-enacted.
Gray roofs, Lijiang, Yunnan, China
Cities
Lijiang, China

A Gray City but Little

Seen from afar, its vast houses are dreary, but Lijiang's centuries-old sidewalks and canals are more folkloric than ever. This city once shone as the grandiose capital of the Naxi people. Today, floods of Chinese visitors who fight for the quasi-theme park it have become take it by storm.
Meal
Markets

A Market Economy

The law of supply and demand dictates their proliferation. Generic or specific, covered or open air, these spaces dedicated to buying, selling and exchanging are expressions of life and financial health.
Efate, Vanuatu, transshipment to "Congoola/Lady of the Seas"
Culture
Efate, Vanuatu

The Island that Survived “Survivor”

Much of Vanuatu lives in a blessed post-savage state. Maybe for this, reality shows in which aspirants compete Robinson Crusoes they settled one after the other on their most accessible and notorious island. Already somewhat stunned by the phenomenon of conventional tourism, Efate also had to resist them.
Spectator, Melbourne Cricket Ground-Rules footbal, Melbourne, Australia
Sport
Melbourne, Australia

The Football the Australians Rule

Although played since 1841, Australian Football has only conquered part of the big island. Internationalization has never gone beyond paper, held back by competition from rugby and classical football.
jet lag avoid flight, jetlag, turbulence
Traveling
Jet Lag (Part 1)

Avoid Post-Flight Turbulence

When we fly across more than 3 time zones, the internal clock that regulates our body gets confused. The most we can do is alleviate the discomfort we feel until it gets right again.
Obese resident of Tupola Tapaau, a small island in Western Samoa.
Ethnic
Tonga, Western Samoa, Polynesia

XXL Pacific

For centuries, the natives of the Polynesian islands subsisted on land and sea. Until the intrusion of colonial powers and the subsequent introduction of fatty pieces of meat, fast food and sugary drinks have spawned a plague of diabetes and obesity. Today, while much of Tonga's national GDP, Western Samoa and neighbors is wasted on these “western poisons”, fishermen barely manage to sell their fish.
sunlight photography, sun, lights
Got2Globe Photo Portfolio
Natural Light (Part 2)

One Sun, So Many Lights

Most travel photos are taken in sunlight. Sunlight and weather form a capricious interaction. Learn how to predict, detect and use at its best.
Cable car connecting Puerto Plata to the top of PN Isabel de Torres
History
Puerto Plata, Dominican Republic

The Dominican Home Silver

Puerto Plata resulted from the abandonment of La Isabela, the second attempt at a Hispanic colony in the Americas. Almost half a millennium after Columbus's landing, it inaugurated the nation's inexorable tourist phenomenon. In a lightning passage through the province, we see how the sea, the mountains, the people and the Caribbean sun keep it shining.
Jean Marie Tjibaou Cultural Center, New Caledonia, Greater Calhau, South Pacific
Islands
Grande Terre, New Caledonia

South Pacific Great Boulder

James Cook thus named distant New Caledonia because it reminded him of his father's Scotland, whereas the French settlers were less romantic. Endowed with one of the largest nickel reserves in the world, they named Le Caillou the mother island of the archipelago. Not even its mining prevents it from being one of the most dazzling patches of Earth in Oceania.
Oulu Finland, Passage of Time
Winter White
Oulu, Finland

Oulu: an Ode to Winter

Located high in the northeast of the Gulf of Bothnia, Oulu is one of Finland's oldest cities and its northern capital. A mere 220km from the Arctic Circle, even in the coldest months it offers a prodigious outdoor life.
Baie d'Oro, Île des Pins, New Caledonia
Literature
Île-des-Pins, New Caledonia

The Island that Leaned against Paradise

In 1964, Katsura Morimura delighted the Japan with a turquoise novel set in Ouvéa. But the neighboring Île-des-Pins has taken over the title "The Nearest Island to Paradise" and thrills its visitors.
Table Mountain view from Waterfront, Cape Town, South Africa.
Nature
Table Mountain, South Africa

At the Adamastor Monster Table

From the earliest times of the Discoveries to the present, Table Mountain has always stood out above the South African immensity South African and the surrounding ocean. The centuries passed and Cape Town expanded at his feet. The Capetonians and the visiting outsiders got used to contemplating, ascending and venerating this imposing and mythical plateau.
Mother Armenia Statue, Yerevan, Armenia
Autumn
Yerevan, Armenia

A Capital between East and West

Heiress of the Soviet civilization, aligned with the great Russia, Armenia allows itself to be seduced by the most democratic and sophisticated ways of Western Europe. In recent times, the two worlds have collided in the streets of your capital. From popular and political dispute, Yerevan will dictate the new course of the nation.
Geothermal, Iceland Heat, Ice Land, Geothermal, Blue Lagoon
Natural Parks
Iceland

The Geothermal Coziness of the Ice Island

Most visitors value Iceland's volcanic scenery for its beauty. Icelanders also draw from them heat and energy crucial to the life they lead to the Arctic gates.
Chichen Itza, Yucatan, Mayan History, heads of Kukulkan, El Castillo
UNESCO World Heritage
Chichen Itza, Yucatan, Mexico

On the Edge of the Cenote, at the Heart of the Mayan Civilization

Between the XNUMXth and XNUMXth centuries AD, Chichen Itza stood out as the most important city in the Yucatan Peninsula and the vast Mayan Empire. If the Spanish Conquest precipitated its decline and abandonment, modern history has consecrated its ruins a World Heritage Site and a Wonder of the World.
Heroes Acre Monument, Zimbabwe
Characters
Harare, Zimbabwewe

The Last Rales of Surreal Mugabué

In 2015, Zimbabwe's first lady Grace Mugabe said the 91-year-old president would rule until the age of 100 in a special wheelchair. Shortly thereafter, it began to insinuate itself into his succession. But in recent days, the generals have finally precipitated the removal of Robert Mugabe, who has replaced him with former Vice President Emmerson Mnangagwa.
Cahuita National Park, Costa Rica, Caribbean, Punta Cahuita aerial view
Beaches
Cahuita, Costa Rica

Dreadlocked Costa Rica

Traveling through Central America, we explore a Costa Rican coastline as much as the Caribbean. In Cahuita, Pura Vida is inspired by an eccentric faith in Jah and a maddening devotion to cannabis.
Easter Seurassari, Helsinki, Finland, Marita Nordman
Religion
Helsinki, Finland

The Pagan Passover of Seurasaari

In Helsinki, Holy Saturday is also celebrated in a Gentile way. Hundreds of families gather on an offshore island, around lit fires to chase away evil spirits, witches and trolls
Flam Railway composition below a waterfall, Norway.
On Rails
Nesbyen to Flam, Norway

Flam Railway: Sublime Norway from the First to the Last Station

By road and aboard the Flam Railway, on one of the steepest railway routes in the world, we reach Flam and the entrance to the Sognefjord, the largest, deepest and most revered of the Scandinavian fjords. From the starting point to the last station, this monumental Norway that we have unveiled is confirmed.
View of Fa Island, Tonga, Last Polynesian Monarchy
Society
Tongatapu, Tonga

The Last Polynesian Monarchy

From New Zealand to Easter Island and Hawaii, no other monarchy has resisted the arrival of European discoverers and modernity. For Tonga, for several decades, the challenge was to resist the monarchy.
Women with long hair from Huang Luo, Guangxi, China
Daily life
Longsheng, China

Huang Luo: the Chinese Village of the Longest Hairs

In a multi-ethnic region covered with terraced rice paddies, the women of Huang Luo have surrendered to the same hairy obsession. They let the longest hair in the world grow, years on end, to an average length of 170 to 200 cm. Oddly enough, to keep them beautiful and shiny, they only use water and rice.
Sheep and hikers in Mykines, Faroe Islands
Wildlife
Mykines, Faroe Islands

In the Faeroes FarWest

Mykines establishes the western threshold of the Faroe archipelago. It housed 179 people but the harshness of the retreat got the better of it. Today, only nine souls survive there. When we visit it, we find the island given over to its thousand sheep and the restless colonies of puffins.
Napali Coast and Waimea Canyon, Kauai, Hawaii Wrinkles
Scenic Flights
napali coast, Hawaii

Hawaii's Dazzling Wrinkles

Kauai is the greenest and rainiest island in the Hawaiian archipelago. It is also the oldest. As we explore its Napalo Coast by land, sea and air, we are amazed to see how the passage of millennia has only favored it.