Published via Ecency

My friends and I went on a road trip to Mérida from our city and this is what we did on day 1

We left as early as possible from San Cristóbal, Táchira state. Which is about 4 or 5 hours from the city of Mérida. The initial idea was to return the next day, but when we arrived in Mérida we had a car accident and decided to stay one more day.

I used to come here often a couple of years ago. I studied here on weekends and I know we're almost there when we pass through the tunnels and I start to see the mountains full of cacti 🌵 . This is a bit strange for being in the Andes, but I love the contrast it makes with the mountains.

Upon reaching the city, after the car was repaired, we ate at a restaurant that closed many years ago in our city and is still here.

We rushed to visit the main market, which is a must-stop if you come to Mérida. I really like that this market is colorful both outside and inside. Here they sell a bit of everything: clothes, traditional sweets, souvenirs and it has a floor of typical food from the city. It is like condensing their traditions into a market and you will always find something ideal.

We had a very typical shake from this market called El Levantón Andino. It contains liquid milk, powdered milk, chicken egg, beef eye, dry liqueur, malt, sugar, 3 cereals, papaya, strawberry and maybe a couple of other things. The taste, if you ask, is like a strawberry milkshake with liqueur.

Yep, this is the beef eye.

I was very excited to get to the market because there are always these traditional rag dolls and I wanted to take one to my little niece. In this market I always go a little crazy because there are many types of souvenirs, from sweets to wooden colors and incredible wooden toys that stole my heart, handmade by a Merida artist.

alt