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Bookmark & shareA Top Day in Caracas
As the cathedral bells toll , I'm having coffee atop the Plaza Catedral Hotel. It's an inspiring start to the day: the rooftop restaurant overlooks the tropical trees that canopy Plaza Bolívar, the city's historic core. I descend for a stroll through the plaza, where an impromptu quartet is playing guarachas . I join the onlookers to groove to these incredible musicians.
Later a carrito (a cross between a bus and a taxi) carries me up Av Urdaneta to Plaza Candelaria. Inside the plaza's 18th-century church, I revere the shrine to Dr José Gregorio Hernández, Venezuela's 'saint in a suit', and continue down to another kind of shrine: Doña Agapita's house of cachapas . The sweet corn pancakes are whipped up by the boys behind the counter. Mine is folded over a slab of white cheese, accompanied by a papaya shake.
A quick metro ride takes me to the Universidad Central de Venezuela, where I meet Ricardo, an environmental studies major. Ricardo guides me through the university's botanical gardens, then shows me around the campus, pointing out the sculptures and murals scattered around the grounds. Later, we join the slackers relaxing on the lawn of the so-called Tierra de Nadie (No Man's Land).
The tour concluded, I hop back on the metro, emerging on Plaza de Francia to meet Altamira resident, Teresa, and her pals in front of the signature fountain/obelisk. Tonight's dinner is at a little place in Los Palos Grandes specialising in Chinese-Peruvian cuisine, where I have chupe , an Inca-style seafood soup. Afterwards we're beamed up to the Altamira Suites hotel's rooftop bar for martinis with panoramic views of the city. Everyone wants to go dancing, so we cab it over to El Maní Es Así in Sabana Grande. Tonight Alfredo Naranjo and his combo are putting down some irresistible polyrhythms, and we manage to slither onto the packed dance floor. We wrap up the evening at the nearby Moulin Rouge club, first checking out the alternative bands in the main room, then chilling out in the adjacent DJ lounge.
Author: Daniel Schechter
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