Sunday, February 17, 2008

Hills and Burgers: My Life in Caracas

Alright, alright, settle down! So I’m sorry I haven’t updated in a while, but moving to Caracas wasn’t exactly easy or free of problems, you know! But, everything is going really well now. The apartment is lovely, the city is exciting, the food is amazing, and there are hills here. Hills! The last hill I rode was the wheelchair ramp up to the Shedd Aquarium entrance. Pathetic, but that’s what counts as a hill in Chicago. Caracas is a bit different.


First things first: I had a crash. I went out for a cycle with Amy last Sunday and got sideswiped by a longboarder who carved right in front of me. I hit the curb and went over the bars. I was grand, but I got road rash on my shoulder, elbow, hip, knee and foot. I hit my head too, but of course I was wearing my helmet so I was okay. No photos, I’m afraid, but I do have a photo of what I put on the road rash when I got home: duoderm. It’s some kind of “second skin” that keeps a wound clean and moist and helps it heal really quickly. It worked great; I recommend it for anyone with road or track rash. Also, it’s made out of fruit pectin, so essentially you’re using a Fruit Roll-Up as a bandage.


Anyway, the hills here are a blast. We live on the northside of the city (g’wan de northside, wha’?!), and it only takes a couple of blocks going north before you’re going up some fairly steep inclines.

The Cote Mil, which is a big road that runs east-west on the very northen edge of the city, 1000 meters above sea level, closes down on Sunday morning for a ciclovia. The ride up there is tough, but then you get to experience a beautiful ride along the edge of the city, half way up the Avila, looking down over Caracas. We had a great ride up there this morning, and saw a lot of roadies and mountain bikers along the way. I still haven’t really figured out a good weekday ride, because the traffic is mad hectic around here during the week, but I need to get cycling everyday, because the food here is too, too good…


I'm going to be as big as a house if I keep eating these street burgers!

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

what is that burger, some find of Caracas Kuma's? happy riding, enjoy the hills and weather.

Anonymous said...

Looks amazing, are you and Amy going to do any MTB riding out there?

Simon said...

Gavin, that's a burger from a cart on the street. It was amazing. Steakburger with ham, a fried egg, tomato, cheese, crisps, mayonnaise, ketchup, hot sauce, mustard and lettuce. $1.50. Incredible.

Greg! What is up? I don't know if we are going to do much mountain biking, I'm not sure if there are places to rent bikes. But, I'm going to try.