Friday the 8th February we rode the famous Teleférico. Leaving at 8 am we boarded the cablecar with lots of other, mostly Venezuelan tourists. Stopping at four intermediate stations before ending at just under 5000 meters. From there it is possible, with experience and equipment, to hike the nine hours it takes to reach Pico Bolivar.We decided to give it a miss… especially since just walking a few meters seemed to induce dizziness.

The cablecar climb is done in less than an hour, therefore it becomes a bit of a shock to your body to find far less oxygen than expected. The views were spectacular and worthy of a few photos before heading down to the 4th station where we stopped to take a (gentle) stroll. We walked slowly but steadily up the path to approximately 4200m to find two official looking race organisers. We managed to speak to them in spanglish to find that we were in the middle of Venuzuela´s premier Duathlon. The runners started at the bottom of the cablecar (just outside our bedroom window!) and ran up and over the mountain. A vertical climb of over 3000m and then down to Los Nevados. The next day they jump on mountain bikes and cycle back. We decided that we could have easily taken part in the race but as we were going to Los Llanos the next day we thought we would give the Venuzuelan duathlon champion a chance to win.