Rancho Grande

  Henri Pittier, Venezuela
Monday, March 23, 2009

Hello,
 
We're lagging behind on entries, so I have to play catch-up.

We reluctantly dragged ourselves out of Merida, and forced ourselves to continue to Henri Pittier National Park. An 11 hour night bus took us from Merida to Maracay, where we grabbed breakfast before continuing to the Rancho Grande via por puesto (a kind of small bus). 

The whole point of por puestos is to drive as fast as you can, regardless of the number of passengers clinging to the bars in the aisles or trying not to fall out the back door. Lean on the horn to ward of on-coming traffic around corners, and play the same song that everyone plays and re-plays in EVERY CITY in Venezuela at maximum volume for our listening pleasure. Rancho Grande is the Biological Station located within the cloud forest portion of the park, just off of the road. Although it is possible for backpackers to stay there, they require notice. Permission to explore the grounds must also be obtained from Inparques in Maracay.



Rancho Grande was originally constructed with the intention of creating a luxury resort, but when Gomez (el dictator) passed away in 1935, the workers jumped ship. Henri Pittier suggested that the structure be used as a Research Centre around 1940. Here we are, about 50 yrs later, with a government that doesn't seem too keen about putting a lot of money into parks at the moment. Subsequently, the building is dilapidated, and if I hadn't read the description beforehand, I might have not been prepared to stay there.


Quite a few bunk rooms are located within the otherwise empty and echoing halls, where green mold and fungi grow along both the walls and floors. Existing windows are cracked or broken. Bats fly around the mist within the building at night, contributing to the ghostly atmosphere. The rooms contain a number of bunks (we reluctantly accepted the mattress but tossed the suspicious-looking pillows). No tents allowed, so we chalked it up to character building (again) and called it home for three nights. The Inparques guys and the Chief of Station allowed us to use the kitchen, so we were fairly comfortable, although we're still not quite sure where that mite infestation came from... at least they weren't bedbugs! I think... I've never seen one. 


The surrounding cloud forest made the stay entirely worthwhile. Some have called this cloud forest the best in the world, and we were treated to sightings of capuchin monkeys, and plenty of beautiful birds. My favourite moment was when I was eating my Cronch Flakes (Venezuelan imitation of Corn Flakes) out on the terrace in the morning while watching a little green toucan preen, yawn, scratch itself, and take a drink of water from the plant growing on the branch (Pierre's note: this happens to be a grooved-billed toucanet. Not only is it an endemic species found only in Venezuela but also fairly difficult to find anywhere but where Cory was crunching away). There were birds in all colours, the most prevalent (the Swallow tanager) the same shade of blue as the lakes of our Rockies. Quetzals (iridescent green and red birds) also frequented the area (Pierre's note: the white-tipped quetzal which can only be found here and sometimes in NE Colombia). Otherwise, there were guans, antpittas, antwrens, puffbirds, and the tiny mouse-like Caracas Tapaculo (another endemic for this trip).  The walks were beautiful, and we enjoyed sunny days with comfortable temperatures. 


Cheers!