A very special greeting to the whole community. I hope you had a wonderful weekend and that your week has started with the best possible energy, so that you achieve all your goals. Today I want to tell you about the first station of the iconic tourist site of Merida, Venezuela. The Mérida Mukumbarí Cable Car System.

Despite being Merideña, to go up to the Cable Car and know its 5 stations, has been one of those dreams that I have not been able to make reality, for one reason or another, I have only managed to know the Barinitas Station, station of which I am pleased to share some photos and give you a small tour of its modern facilities, but first I want to tell you a little about the system in general.

Merida's cable car system is the highest in the world, with a height of 4,765 meters above sea level and the second longest with 12.5 km, as merideños is something we know by heart since we were children. Also, according to the information found on site and on this website it was inaugurated in 1960, but was closed in 2008 for remodeling.

I remember that at this time, before it was closed, I used to visit Barinitas station a lot with my friends, after school, but back then nothing was like it is today. It was reopened in 2016 and closed again in 2020. Wow, that's a lot of years without being open to the public, isn't it?

In mid 2022 they reopened their doors, but only four stations were enabled. In March of this year, we learned that it is now fully functional and visitors can now have the full experience. I felt that this would be the great opportunity to live this adventure, so in one of our family outings we decided to visit the new facilities of the Barinitas Station, to spend a different day and find out a little about the price of the tickets and if our son could go up too.

The cost for Venezuelans is 20 $ and 40 $ for foreigners. Parking 2 $ and if you want VIP seats with other services included for two people the cost is 50 $. Honestly, the price is a bit expensive, at least for us, but the experience is worth it. Unfortunately, our son can only ascend up to the 3rd station, you know the higher the altitude, the harder it is to get oxygen, so it is not recommended for small children and pregnant women to ascend to the last station. So once again, I will stay with the desire to climb because we definitely want to live the experience as a family and of course we want to enjoy it to the fullest, maybe we will try again next year. Now yes, welcome to the Barinitas Station of the Mérida Cable Car.

Barinitas Station of the Mérida Cable Car System.

Upon entering the station my eyes were immediately dazzled, it is a huge structure, imposing and with a lot of character, its architectural design is avant-garde, very modern and ultimately beautiful. It is an open place, with an undulating roof, which lets in all the natural light, through a beautiful skylight, which forms architectural lines that I loved.

Being in that place is even a little overwhelming, but in a positive way, because its spaces are very wide, its walls are very high and silver predominates throughout the structure, thanks to a coating in what looks like some kind of aluminum, and on site you can enjoy everything. The entrance, strategically, begins with a series of mini stores, where you can find clothing and equipment coats, beautiful blankets, sweaters, hats and gloves. Gastronomic products, handicrafts and works of art.

_{My son admiring the beautiful station roof.}

After the series of stores we went out to the main hall, here we found an exhibition of cars, a playground for children and we have the ticket booths to buy tickets to ascend to the other stations, I must say that enjoying the Barinitas station is completely free. Next to the ticket booths are located a series of ATMs.

_{Ticket sales offices.}

This area is a very wide open space, so visitors can walk comfortably through its facilities, as we are in high season, there were many people in place, but the design of the facilities can meet this demand of people.

_{Elegant roof with curved and undulating shapes. Fascinating}

Next, we have the restroom area. Something I liked is that everything is perfectly identified in Spanish and English. In addition, the bathrooms are spacious and comfortable, the sink area is separated from the toilets and I loved that there is an area for changing diapers and for people with special conditions.

On the left side we found a food fair, with different gastronomic options, for all tastes and according to the different economic possibilities of the visitors, I saw some options that looked delicious and accessible. I loved the design of the outdoor terrace furniture.

_{Food fair, with modern and comfortable design furniture.}

Next to the food fair, we have a small park, with some animals that represent the fauna of the Andean mountain range such as the condor and the spectacled bear, here we also find the bust of the liberator.

At the front we have the engine room, where the access to the cabins is located. This area is covered with glass walls, which allows visitors to have a full view of this area. The cabins are quite large and look very comfortable. All the people who ascend will be able to have a complete view of the incredible mountains of the Sierra Nevada.

Of course, from here you can see the whole series of pulleys and machinery, this is really a marvelous work, where the work of different engineering departments is combined, among them civil, mechanical, electrical and geological. In front of the cabins, there are some offices and a medical attention area. And behind them we have access to a viewpoint, which was undoubtedly my favorite area of this station.

_{Entrance to the cable car cabins}

From the viewpoint we have a wonderful view of the Sierra Nevada, we can see the embarkation and disembarkation of the cable car cabins and observe part of the city of Merida, as the community of Chama and San Jacinto. This viewpoint has an elongated space, with aluminum and glass railings, where we find a series of benches built in concrete and a telescope, which allows us to observe the route of the cabins to the second station and I could even focus on its structure and from what I could visualize is a very interesting architectural work. Being in the viewpoint is incredible, the air current envelops you and with such a sunny day it was very good to cool off a little with this natural breeze.

_{Walls built on the Mérida terrace to support the Barinitas Station.}

_{Group of visitors returning to Barinitas Station.}

Undoubtedly this structure is a great work, we can see huge piles giving support to this station, large columns some rectangular others circular, I can not imagine all the work involved in building something like this, by the way Barinitas Station is located 1,541.46 meters above sea level and has an area of 7,510.03 m2 according to the digital magazine Arquitectura Panamericana where you can also see some plans of the place.

This is one of the most modern and biggest structures that we can find in Merida, in the Barinitas station we can enjoy a nice day in front of our majestic snow-capped mountains. If you come to Merida, this is a must stop, even if you can not climb the Barinitas Station will give you an incredible experience like the one we lived this day.

We really enjoyed the time we spent in this majestic structure, it is fun and being at the lookout point is just phenomenal. This is the beginning of a great adventure, which will culminate at any moment.

I bid you farewell wishing you the greatest of blessings and with some pictures of its facades, which maintain the same concept of its interior.

_{Main facade}

_{Lateral Facade}

I hope that my publication has been to your liking, I will be sharing buildings of my region that call my attention. In the following page I found information about it.