The highest peak near Mérida is Pico Bolívar, at 4,978 metres. That is so high that even though Venezuela is a tropical country, the very top is sometimes covered in snow. Local children sometimes ride a cable car to a height where they can throw their first snowball.
The cable car going up Pico Espejo is one of the highest and longest in the world. It climbs from the warm valley at the city of Mérida to a chilly platform near the top, more than 4,700 metres above the sea. You go from a place where T-shirts are normal to a place where you need a winter coat - in about 20 minutes.
Farmers in the Mérida region grow potatoes, strawberries and herbs on the slopes. The cold mountain air and the strong sunlight make the strawberries especially sweet. There is even an ice-cream shop in town that is famous for inventing more than 800 different flavours.
Because of the altitude, the weather in Mérida is cool all year - much cooler than in the rest of Venezuela. People wear jumpers in the evenings even when, only a few hours' drive away, families are swimming at the beach in shorts.