As you know, we spent the New Year in Mérida, Venezuela. It’s a mountainous town located in the Venezuelan Andes. We had heard a lot about its tourism and it’s supposed to be one of the better developed areas in the country. The Mérida airport is closed, so we flew into Vigía, which is about a 2 hour drive away.

The entire town is surrounded by mountains (sort of like Caracas) and apparently the snowy season is in June and July. This was the only mountain – Pico Bolívar – that had snow and I was told it keeps it year round.

There are numerous public spaces/parks – another similarity to Caracas and an abundance of greenery.

The town’s main attraction is the world’s longest and highest cable car system, which lucky for me is currently under repair. You can tell that a lot of the town’s tourism was based on this because there are about 50 hotels, like the one you see above, within a 1 minute walking distance of the entrance.

During the day, the weather was very nice and sometimes even hot. But, every night the sky was completely clouded and it became a freezing – well by my standards – 40-50 degrees Fahrenheit.

Happy New Year!

I don’t know if it’s because Christmas and New Year’s landed on weekends, but for some reason I feel like 2012 snuck up on me. These pictures are the views I woke up to on January 1st after a quiet night in Merida. Our vacation is still in full effect, but I wanted to share this beautiful blue sky before I get sucked back into normal life.

By the way, I committed the ultimate photography mistake and forgot my camera charger, so these pictures are courtesy of my iPod.

I think I’ve made it obvious that I’m not a big fan of Venezuelan cuisine. But, from time to time I do like to eat the national dish – pabellón criollo. The dish consists of white rice, black beans, shredded beef or chicken, and sliced sweet plantains.

There are other variations of the dish – sometimes they put a fried egg right in the middle – but, my personal favorite is with sliced avocadoes. I think the trick is finding a place that prepares it with a lot of flavor and is willing to make slight adjustments based on your preferences. According to some Venezuelans, you cannot say you’ve visited here without trying this dish

Here’s what I happened while I was neglecting my blog:

Halloween:

I had a big ol’ bag of candy special ordered from the states, and boy was it worth it. I’m still nibbling on Reese’s Peanut Butter cups.

My little guy turned 4:

Overall, great time had by all. And yes, there were cupcakes involved.

Sunday stroll:

Took a lovely Sunday stroll with the kiddos at our favorite park. Although no sugar was involved, it ended up being the perfect ending to our day.

I should’ve reviewed this restaurant a long time ago considering we’ve been going there since we first arrived in Caracas back in 2009. I love Italian food and while there’s an abundance of restaurants around, it took me a while to find one that was to my liking. Panini offers your garden variety pasta, meat and fish dishes al italiano. They also offer some great carpaccio appetizers. This picture of the outdoor area is my favorite place to sit. I have an aversion to air-conditioning anyway, but this area is covered and less noisy than the main room. Before telling you more about the food, I have to say that the service at this place is fantastic. The waiters know us and we always feel like we’re getting first class treatment. Only caveat is that they tend to get really busy around lunchtime and the wait time for your dish can be up to 45 minutes.

This last time we were there, I ordered lomito a la plancha con salsa de miel y vinagre balsamico (grilled steak with a balsamic vinegar and honey sauce). My sides were sautéed vegetables and mashed sweet potatoes. Delicious and very filling. My usual dish is called del Bosque which is pasta – your choice of linguine or penne – with chunks of fresh mozarella, tomatoes and basil. Also very good.

My favorite drink to order at Panini is a limonada frappé con grenadina (frozen lemonade with grenadine syrup). I’ve tried this at several other restaurants and they tend to be too sweet. Panini has the perfect blend which makes for a very refreshing drink while enjoying Caracas weather.

So, if you ever find yourself in Caracas…call me and we’ll head on over to Panini