Day Two in Caracas

Before I continue: Some pictures from my second full day in Caracas

Up the teleferico to the top of "El Avila" with Caracas at the bottom!

The Caribbean from the top. Me, up in the clouds.

Caracas from a tower in Parque Central. A violin student and "escort" in a studio.

San Agustin nucleo intermediate string rehearsal

Today I ventured up Mount Avila on the teleferico. This is a cable car which climbs the mountains north of Caracas. It used to go down toward the sea on the other side but there was an awful landslide which killed many and took out the cable car on that side. I called my taxi driver from Monday and he took me to the base. I bought my ticket and waited on line with several school groups on field trips. My ride up was with two teleferico workers. It was a striking ride up, gradually getting colder and cloudier. It was neat going through clouds as I saw the terrain and flora changing from tropical to almost alpine. At the top there is a nice park, restaurant, snack booths, etc. You can see to the Caribbean to the north and great views of the city Caracas in the valley below. There is still the Humboldt Hotel there but it is closed.

Here it is:

There are nice descriptions of the flora and fauna in the park, very informative!

The name had recently been changed to reflect the original Indian name. It's now known as "Narairarepan", I have no idea what it means, though!

I taxied back into downtown Caracas to the Parque Central complex. I encountered two violin players, young HS age, with their escort/bodyguard. They had been flown into town for their lessons. I guess they are very good players and will someday soon be in the top orchestras. The escort was in charge of making sure they got to and from the airport and the lessons. I introduced myself and after some conversation they invited me to follow them to the studio. The state provides the teacher with the apartment in which they teach. Asking some questions I found out that this teacher has 40-plus students and that's his job, plus playing in an orchestra. He has a nice studio and a secretary. There was a nice view of Caracas from the studio.

The escort took me back up to Fesnojiv headquarters and I asked them for help finding the San Agustin Nucleo where I understood there was a rehearsal that afternoon. I got there and talked with some of the staff before the rehearsal. I was able to watch the middle school age strings. I helped them tune and enjoyed their rehearsal. Very impressive to me, playing Beethoven #1 and a Corelli Concerto grosso. I got to interact a bit, film, ask questions and had a good time!
Thanks to their director Ms. Tupac Amarie Rivas.

Here's a video of the Beethoven: