Venezuela revives highest cable car in the world

By Vivian Sequera
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

Five years after the longest and highest cable car system in the world closed down because of a broken cable, the first two legs of the tram system in Sierra Nevada National Park are back in operation.

The third stage should be running again in a few months. And visitors will be able to reach the final terminal nearly three miles above sea level on Pico Espejo (Mirror Peak) within a year.

The system extends 7.8 miles across breathtaking scenery in the Venezuelan Andes. Sightseers glide hundreds of feet above green forest, lonely streams, gaping canyons and sheer rock faces up to windswept plains above the timber line.

The magnificent hush and presence of nature is such that you have the sense if you shouted, the noise would be muffled and almost soundless.

Temperatures dip as you rise through fog and clouds so thick that children are tempted to reach out the window to grab them. Stations are painted bright yellow, blue and red -- the colors of Venezuela's national flag -- so the cable car operators don't lose them in the mist.

T-shirts and shorts are enough clothing in the sunny weather at the base station. But riders tend to pull on cotton sweaters and light jackets by the second station, when the thermometer may fall to 50 degrees. At the top, it's even cooler.

The ride starts in the mile-high city of Merida, 420 miles southwest of the capital, Caracas, and ends at Pico Espejo. At 15,720 feet, it's higher than Switzerland's Matterhorn.

Begun in 1957 under dictator Marcos Perez Jimenez and finished two years after he was deposed in 1958, the tram closed in 1991 and seemed abandoned. Last year, the state and national governments revived plans to reopen it.

The French firm Creissels SA began the reconstruction last April. "It was destroyed, but we recovered it," said Jose Rodolfo Davila, general manager of the project.

The first two stages, totaling 4.2 miles and going halfway up the mountain, opened in August after work costing $2.5 million.

An additional $4.2 million is budgeted for the rest of the line. The third stage is planned to reopen in early 1997, the final leg by next fall.

On clear days, passengers traveling the third stage will be able to see the highest point in Venezuela, Bolivar Peak, which soars up 16,273 feet. You will also be able to spy the old mule trail to Los Nevados, a village that tourists often visit.

On the fourth leg, you can see Timoncito's Glacier and the line of Andean peaks fading west into the neighboring South American nation of Colombia.

"Many people have been calling . . . and you have to arrive early in the morning to buy tickets," said Elizabeth Quintero at the regional tourism office.

Tourism Minister Hermann Luis Soriano expects 40,000 people to ride the tram by year's end and 160,000 next year, allowing the government to recoup its investment in two years.

Four cars are operating now, heading up from Merida between 7 a.m. and 1 p.m.

Eight cars will run when the entire route is open. Each car holds about 30 passengers and will make about 30 daily round trips, carrying a total 7,200 passengers.

Tickets are priced at about 2,500 bolivars ($5) per station, or about $20 a person to get to the top and back. The full ascent takes about an hour.

The cable car isn't the only Merida attraction. There's also the Coromoto ice cream parlor, which makes 636 flavors, including such tastes as beer, corn and fish.