The Turimiquire mountain massif covers 3 states, Anzoátegui, Monagas and Sucre. Located in the Coastal Mountain Range of Venezuela, it has an extension of 540,000 hectares. Turimiquire means Throne of Gods, in the Cumanagota language, it really is a throne of gods when you enter the majesty of its mountains.
We start our tour from Cumana, Sucre State, we take the south road for about 45 minutes to a town called Tataracual, there we leave the vehicle to cross a suspension bridge and continue on foot for an hour, a dirt road and stones, bordering the Manzanares River, and then continue along the Tataracual River to the house of a coffee producer, where we spend the night.
It is 4:00 am, we prepare to leave at 5:30 am, we are ready to continue our way to the village known as Monte Oscuro, our estimated hike is 10 hours.
Shortly after our departure we meet a group of students, coming down the mountain to go to school and one waiting to join the group, some of them take up to 2 hours to get to school, notice that one of them carries his shoes in his hands and goes barefoot to avoid getting them dirty.
We are crossing the Tataracual River, shallow waters during the dry season, when the rainy season arrives all these rocks are submerged in the river.
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It is 10:00 am, we continue climbing and make our first stop at La Bandera hill, there we have breakfast, there is an impressive view, from here we can see the city of Cumaná, the Araya Peninsula and Margarita Island.
It is time to continue, as you will see the roads are very narrow, only mules and donkeys can pass, when we meet producers that go down we have to move aside so that the animals can pass without problems.
We continue going deeper and deeper into the mountain between ascents and descents of hills, in the distance we see the house where we will arrive, we still have about 2 hours to go.
We found on the way a cave with a subway river, we took the opportunity to drink cold, natural and crystalline water, we still have to climb another mountain, we had to walk because the animals slip on the road, until we reach a hill and ride again.
We arrived at 4:30 pm, the animals were released to eat and rest, the next day the journey continues.
Where we arrived there is an earthen patio where the coffee is put to dry after harvesting, here we have the producer's wife removing the trash from the coffee, then they fill the sacks that will come down from the mountain for sale.
We stayed talking and drinking the coffee that they roast themselves, now to have dinner and rest, there is no time to bathe, the night caught us. We meet by the light of a campfire to plan the inspections of the coffee producers.
It is 8:00 pm to sleep, we prepare the hammocks and cots (rustic beds of sticks and carton, usually without mattress), we have to get up early to start the inspections. I always take my camping hammock, I just need a place to hang it and that's it, I don't like those beds.
Impossible to sleep, the cold is coming through the hammock, to urinate you have to leave the house, there is no bathroom, everything is closed without light, dirt floor, there are no cell phones with flashlights to illuminate, you can't see anything, we are in New Moon. When is it going to be dawn?
4:30 am, finally, I hear noise in the kitchen, someone is up. I wake up to the aroma of freshly brewed coffee and stick to the stove to warm up, it's too cold.
This first part of my visit to Turimiquire, I had written it a few weeks ago, I had the photos ready in a Compact Disk but the PC damaged the disk, luckily I found them in a HD of a damaged laptop.
For the second part, I will show you a very funny anecdote, the coffee plants in bloom and with fruits, a week of sharing with the coffee farmers.
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The photos were taken by me
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What an interesting journey, it looks like an adventurous trip and I love the mountains 😍