Caracas of the red roofs, the beautiful capital of my country Venezuela, beautiful, imposing. That's my city. I arrived in Caracas 25 years ago, so I'm already celebrating my silver anniversary in this city! I'm surprised to see how time passes and how I see things now. Arriving in Caracas was very easy and much more was getting used to it, you definitely never got bored.

I look at these photographs and I cannot help but feel nostalgia. Artists, cultivators, singers and painters have dedicated their lives to paying homage to this majestic mountain and its beautiful valley with their art. I remember at this moment the singer-songwriter Ilan Chester who dedicated one of the most famous songs to the Avila Hill.

"🎶 Voy de Petare, rumbo a la pastora, contemplando la montaña que decora mi ciudad. 🎼 "

There's not a minute that I don't stop thinking, my head looks like a crazy radio, maybe I haven't got the off button or the one to tune in to a single station!

More and more thoughts come to my mind and now I remember the famous pictures we have been seeing in the city for years. God knows how many painters dedicated hours to capture in a canvas so much majesty.

Manuel Cabré was a Spanish-Venezuelan painter, one of the most outstanding landscape painters in Venezuela. He is known as "the painter of El Avila".

And what about the poets who have been inspired to write beautiful verses or how many eyes have relaxed just by looking at the landscape.

In Caracas there are many traditions and good customs, not everything is bad as it is painted, one of those things that caraqueños do to train themselves is to go up to the Ávila or Warairarepano. It has been proven that exercising in this way improves your body, you relax, detoxify, and forget about everything while you breathe pure air and enjoy the scenery.

Since I worked in Caracas I liked to go to the mountains every morning, my route was the one to San Bernardino and on weekends I climbed with my friends on the Sabas Nieves trail.

Sabas Nieves was a park ranger who dedicated part of his life to preserving the Loma Serrano area in the Ávila

---

¡The journey

That's how our journey began. A few days ago we left very early to do an activity that had been postponed for some time by one thing or another. That day we left our car in a parking lot of the city and we took a bus that left us in the park Los Chorros de los Dos Caminos, there we exercised first with some warm-up exercises directed by my friend José Barreto who was the main guide and knows a lot about the measures that must be taken for when you are going to make a walk as long as the one we were about to start.

The first thing we did was to stretch for 15 minutes and then we started the climb with a gentle pace that we increased progressively as we went up. One of the main recommendations of the guide is to be well hydrated. That is why we all carried a good amount of water and, of course, the food we could not miss. We all knew that the hike would be very long but what we did not know was that it would take almost 4 hours to reach the wells or waterfalls where my friend wanted us to go.

When we arrived at the park ranger's booth, we made our first stop for food and were attended to by the staff working there, who made a series of recommendations and gave us a brief description of the route and the safety measures we should have in order to start the stretch.

This road you see here is one of the most difficult as it is very rocky, steep and has a strong breeze, but when we reached the summit we could rest just 10 minutes and meanwhile we took some pictures of the mountain; in each picture I could only think of the times I contemplated those mountains from the Francisco Fajardo highway and now I was here so close that I could touch them.

There began a descent to the other side of the mountain, we entered a lush but beautiful vegetation that barely allowed the sun's rays to touch you.

While we were walking I took the opportunity to get out my phone and take some pictures, these are the ones I liked the most and I am in love with them. The walk took almost 3 and a half hours and those who arrived last took 4 hours to reach the waterfall. My friend ose was very kind and with all the patience he waited for us and even lent his shoulder and hands to help us get there. The trail is marked and not lost but it is always good to take an expert guide like my friend so that we are more relaxed during the tour.

That day we were not only going with my group, but also with two other groups that were very happy and made us have fun with their ideas.

How about this well? This is where I truly say and reaffirm that God does exist.

The water is super cold, it barely gives you a chance to touch it a bit, but the guys did take their dip and threw themselves from the highest rock, unfortunately all that was left on video. The well is deep and the water is transparent, but I insist, it is very cold. We were only there for about an hour and we started our way back as the weather was freezing us.

I am very grateful to God for allowing me to make this hike or excursion to the beautiful Cerro El Avila, it has been years since he gave me the opportunity to return, since I moved to the Guatire area I completely forgot what this was. I invite you to do an activity like this from time to time.

But it is important to take into account:

-Planning your route -Passenger preferably accompanied -Keep to the known route and avoid paths you don't know -Carrying your phone with enough battery -Start the activity at a prudent time -Follow the recommendations to climb the mountain.

Now we want to investigate how is the way of the Spaniards, for those who do not know is an old route where they entered Caracas from La Guaira, in fact it is called "Puerta Caracas", that tour I have done twice in my life and is very exciting.

Thank you CERRO El AVILA for giving me, my family and friends all this beautiful energy that I feel today and for making me feel alive.

---

---

_{Pictures taken with my Hyundai e510 cell phone camera}