A Big Foot watches over Sabas Nieves

Sabas Nieves is one of the most popular trails up the Avila. Over the last few years, it has also been the target of frequent controversy, mainly related to how to take make correct use of it without causing undue grief to the area’s residents.

I am a frequent visitor to Sabas Nieves; during certain periods, I have become almost an addict. Having now made evident the origin of the probable subjective nature of my comments, I’ll refrain from excusing myself.

The atmosphere between neighbors and mountain climbers has boiled over frequently. It has recently come to the point where the neighbors were close to putting up barriers to limit access to the area. On top of this, having taken to heart the application of theoretical models which call for the imposing of tariffs by the state for all types of public services and rights of access, they almost started collecting toll charges.

A solid protest by users of the trails, based basically on the menacing reality of numbers (i.e. votes), handed neighbors an initial defeat. Licking their wounds, they had to retreat to their lairs and try to hatch new strategies.

Having done so, they have now renewed their attack. This time around, they have developed a plan whereby they offer the mountain climbers the alternative of parking their vehicles under the Plaza Francia (still Altamira to some of us old-timers) and be transported in modern, comfortable buses up to the base of the mountain, enjoying ecological videos and expected to sing merry praises about the advantages of such a generous solution. But, lo and behold, the initial cost of this solution is estimated to be in the order of Bs. 20 million!!

The mountaineers, on the other hand, having discovered that there are resources at hand for a “solution”, a currently analyzing the possibility of requesting the expropriation of the property of some of the neighbors in order to expand parking facilities around the entrance to Sabas Nieves.

Evidently, among the users of the trails, there are all kinds of poorly educated, disrespectful people that create all types of grief for the neighbors. However, there are shameless creatures present in all types of associations, in the best of families and even among the neighbors of Sabas Nieves.

The solution to this type of problem should normally be developed in an environment of better education and with the creation of social pressure that, through a system of punishment and stimulus, generate corrective measures. The type of solution that the Venezuelan society is bandying around in the case of Sabas Nieves, i.e., throwing money at anything that moves, must be rejected totally and absolutely it we are to have any chance of nudging the country towards a better future.

On the mountain, there are signs indicating that it is forbidden to travel the paths without a shirt and other appropriate items of dress on. As far as the shirt is concerned, this regulation seems evident since it reduces the possibility of getting sweat rubbed on you by some gasping co-mountaineer. It is also esthetically more appeasing in many cases.

Many mountaineering colleagues ignore these prohibitions and do not wear shirts. In a misguided show of solidarity, the majority of us don’t protest vehemently enough. I am sure that if Venezuelans in general begin exacting better behavior of our brethren, we would find immediate solutions to a great many of our ills. Among those, the ones festering at Sabas Nieves.

Mountaineers and Friends, it behooves us to avoid that other colleagues park badly and bother the neighbors Sabas Nieves. Maybe, then, the neighbors of Sabas Nieves can in turn keep some few exaggerated and overly sensitized neighbors from promoting extreme solutions. Maybe then, copeyanos, masistas and other such creatures will avoid and censure acts of corruption by adecos, copeyanos, masistas and other such creatures.

In the meantime, please save yourselves the buses. When I go up the Avila through Sabas Nieves early in the morning, I do so a bit for the physical exercise and mostly for the spiritual tranquility if offers that in turn helps me struggle through the daily hassles of a large city. Under no circumstances am I going to undergo the torture of an ecological bus with a suicidal driver careening from Altamira to Sabas Nieves, return trip!