Last Saturday I went up the mountain with my nephew and his friend Cary. It was around 10:00 AM when we had been walking for an hour and we made a stop at the house of Mrs. Maíta, whom I met that day, however, Cary and my nephew already know her because they climb quite often on that trail, located in Guatire, Miranda State, which is a town that is 2 hours away from my current residence.

The trail up there is quite friendly, although you have to cross about 4 streams. Cary and my nephew did not hesitate to get their feet wet from the beginning, on the other hand I was dodging the water and walked over the rocks, I did not want to get my shoes wet, they were the only ones I took with me and with those I had to return to Caracas that afternoon, at least those were my plans, because I had to work on Sunday at 08:00 AM. That was an unplanned trip for me, I only went to visit my mother, but suddenly I felt like going with them.

Then I met Maíta, who is very popular in this area. She lives alone with her dogs, but many people always come by to visit her and leave food, gifts or spend some time with her. She is very hospitable and attentive, she apologized for not having coffee to offer us, although if she had known I was going there, I would have taken her.

She was kind enough to let me photograph her house, her bonfire and the chicken coop, only on the condition that she also went out.

She was selling grapefruit, cambur and cocoa. I promised him that on the way down I would buy cocoa from him since we wanted to climb as lightly as possible.

At Maíta's house, there was José, also known to Cary and my nephew from his various mountain climbs. He joined us, along with Rita, one of Maíta's dogs, and in a couple of hours we were quite close to the waterfall we intended to visit. Jose is a mountaineer and claims to know every trail on that mountain, he is also well known in those parts, so Cary and my nephew trusted him, a very nice man and he gave me a good vibe.

Suddenly, another character appeared on the scene. A man with a sharp machete cutting through the forest. José greeted him and before we knew it, the man had already joined the ride, he said that we were not far away, although the road ahead was a little dangerous and we had to take care of every step, something that was totally true.

The man with the machete, José and the dog were ahead of us, but not far behind, and so we walked for about 25 minutes.

Cary and my nephew stopped for a moment to take some pictures and I was in the middle waiting for them. Suddenly Jose shouts "Here we are ".

I stayed waiting for Cary and my nephew, who ask me for José and I told them he just shouted that we arrived but I don't see him anymore, we got a little closer and we could only see a dark road full of huge stones, Cary got very nervous and started shouting "José, José ", my nephew did the same but we didn't hear anything else, he didn't answer.

Cary suggested to go back without wasting time, I told her that maybe she was exaggerating, but she said that I could not trust a stranger with a sharp machete in his hand and even less if we shouted several times and did not receive any answer, he was not to be trusted, that part made me think and with a hurried pace we started to go back.

Cary kept saying how suspicious he thought the man was.

How could Jose have done this to us? Those kind of jokes are not funny. Did Jose disappear? " said Cary.

My nephew joked a little and said "Did Jose exist?

With nervous laughter, we continued our march and suddenly the man with the machete came after us.

Frightened, we muttered: "Hurry up, here he comes and José is not there ".

I told them to grab stones, just in case. As hard as we tried to speed up our pace, the man with the machete caught up with us in an instant and asked us if we didn't want to take a bath and that José was waiting for us.

I was quite reassured to hear his gentle and calm voice, we only said that we turned back because we did not know that road and because we shouted and did not receive an answer. Cary asked him many questions trying to decipher the man's intentions, he was telling us about his sowing of beans and suddenly he answered his phone, we were already arriving to a much more open part and he told us that just there he had a signal, which made Cary more nervous, seeing him talking on the phone destabilized her more, however, it calmed me down, I heard him say "come tomorrow morning, it is very late now ". I told Cary to calm down, that the man was not talking in code or anything suspicious.

We take another fork and arrive at another ranch.

Cary, my nephew and the man with the machete, who was still following our steps, greeted the owner, and we stopped for a moment to rest. There were beautiful flowers and a nice view. My nephew and I were relaxed and took some pictures, but Cary was very nervous and just said she wanted to leave.

My nephew proposed taking the path to the waterfall from there because it was easier to do it from below, but Cary flatly refused, claiming that the machete man would know where we would be.

I think Cary was a bit paranoid, but I don't entirely blame her, the situation raised doubts and if there's one thing I trust a woman's sixth sense, not always, but this time it seemed appropriate.

We continued our descent and, fortunately, we no longer saw the man with the machete. My nephew was upset, as he said that his plans to bathe in the waterfall had been frustrated. He suggested going to a river that was much lower down, but Cary said he would think about it on the way, as he didn't feel like anything anymore and just wanted to feel safe.

Suddenly, much further down, at a fork in the road, José appeared with his dog Rita. He told us that he bathed in the big waterfall for a while and took a shortcut to go down, he made fun of us for being suspicious.

Cary relaxed when he saw Jose, although he said he would no longer trust him, we walked together for a while until we came to another fork in the road. My nephew, Cary and I took a detour to a small waterfall that they know quite well and Jose continued on his way with the dog.

We had a great time at the waterfall, we were already relaxed, including Cary, we bathed, talked, had a snack, took pictures and enjoyed a good time.

We hesitated whether or not to stop by Maíta's house because we really just wanted to go home, but we remembered that she had put the cocoa aside for me and I didn't want to make her look bad. We promised that we would just get the cocoa and that was it, but Maíta waited for us with food and coffee and it was impossible to refuse, it would have been rude to do so.

She told us that while we were up there they brought her some food and she likes to share, so I feel indebted to her and soon I will bring her something again or I will send it to her with my nephew, he goes quite often.

On the way down I photographed some little houses that I did not detail on the way up.

I was quite tired but very relaxed. My nephew and Cary were ahead of me, or rather, I was leaving their space for them to talk.

Finally, we arrived safe and sound at the point of the end, or the beginning.

My nephew and I arrived home at 07:00 PM. Cary took a bus to his.

At that time I could no longer return to Caracas by public transport, I had to get up early on Sunday to be at work at 08:00 AM, the good thing is that I spent another night with my mother and remembering a great ride, despite the scares.

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Thank you for accompanying me.

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_{Photos of my property.}

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