Galipán In The Clouds

Galipán is a small town on top of the mountains overlooking Caracas. You can hire a driver to take you up the steep roads in a four-wheel drive vehicle. The driver can be arranged by one of the restaurants. Our driver was arranged by a chocolate shop. Most of the roads are paved but it's easier letting a local take you since they know the little one lane roads around where we needed to go. We ended up going on a beautiful day since the clouds passed around us but also gave us clear views every now and then.

We stopped at an overlook on the way up to take in an amazing view of Caracas. 1450 meters is 4757 feet. Caracas elevation is 900 meters (2952 feet). I couldn't find exact info but I think we went up to about 2000 meters (6561 feet) when we were at the highest areas.

The top of the mountain has a little tourist area of shops and restaurants. There's a part of the road on the ridge where you can look over Caracas and then see the ocean on the other side of the road.

 

The remodeling of the Hotel Humboldt has it closed until who knows when. It was first opened in 1957 and last opened in 1989. The latest restoration started in 2012 and it's supposed to be done this year. It's 2140 meters up on the peak and it's visible from Caracas as a prominent feature of the mountains.

We had a reservation for chocolate tasting at Picacho Chocolates. It's a family business in a house with an amazing view where they make handcrafted chocolates. It was too delicious to waste time taking pictures of the chocolates or even their little store so I only have pics of the house. It's well worth the trip to hear about the goblins and enjoy a bunch of tasty artisanal chocolate creations.

Our driver took us to lunch after we had our chocolate desserts. I think our priorities are in the proper order. Casa Pakea was literally dining in the clouds. We enjoyed a multicourse meal of Basque cuisine goodness.

had to get a picture since we were a little closer to the moon ;-)