One hundred years ago, the surroundings of Montalbán (Carabobo, Venezuela) are composed of large properties in the hands of a few landowners. As time went by, these properties changed owners and their surface was divided into smaller and smaller portions, atomizing in such a way that, nowadays, you can find properties of several dozens of hectares, even small plots of a few square meters... The conditions of these lands can be varied, but a great part of them is being destined to sowing or to the breeding of animals such as horses, goats and cows. Also, it is common to find some plots in a situation of abandonment and not a few of them still preserve small wooded areas which reflect how the vegetation was here at the beginning of the last century when the exploitation of the land had not been done yet in depth.
Cien años atrás los alrededores de Montalbán (Carabobo, Venezuela) estaban conformados por grandes propiedades en manos de algunos pocos terratenientes. Con el paso del tiempo estas propiedades fueron cambiando de dueños y su superficie se fue dividiendo en porciones cada vez más pequeñas, atomizándose de manera tal que, hoy por hoy se pueden hallar propiedades de varias docenas de hectáreas, hasta pequeñas parcelas de pocos metros cuadrados... Las condiciones de estos terrenos puede ser variada, pero gran parte de ellos está siendo destinada a la siembra o a la cría de animales como caballos, cabras y vacas. También es común encontrar algún lote en situación de abandono y no pocos siguen conservando pequeñas áreas boscosas las cuales reflejan como eran la vegetación aquí a principios del siglo pasado cuando la explotación de las tierras no se había realizado aún a profundidad.
“El Bosque” (The Forest) and "Los Cerritos" (The Little Hills) were the names of two ranches whose lands occupied a large percentage of the valley southeast of what is now the urban area of the municipality of Montalbán and were adjacent to each other... Nowadays both names are used by the townspeople to refer to the spaces formerly occupied by those big ranches, being now -as I said previously- a bunch of smaller properties... You get here by leaving the town at the northern end of Miranda Avenue and taking the paved road that goes to the town of Aguirre, from which you can take the so-called “Camino Real” or one of the secondary roads whose free use can often defend the mood of some of the owners of the land...
"El Bosque" y "Los Cerritos" eran los nombres de sendos ranchos cuyas tierras ocupaban un gran porcentaje del valle al sureste de lo que hoy es el área urbana del municipio Montalbán y eran adyacentes uno del otro... Hoy en día ambos nombres son usados por los habitantes del pueblo para referirse a los espacios antes ocupados por esos grandes ranchos, siendo ahora -como dije previamente- un montón de propiedades más pequeñas... Se llega aquí saliendo del pueblo por el extremo norte de la Av. Miranda y tomando la carretera asfaltada que va hacia el poblado de Aguirre, desde la cual se pueden tomar el llamado "Camino Real" o alguno de los caminos secundarios cuyo uso libre con frecuencia puede defender el humor de algunos de los dueños de los terrenos...
The road is flat for most of the way and the landscapes are purely rural on both sides of the road, although fantastic natural scenery of the mountain ranges can be seen in the distance... Among the interesting things to be found is an old thoroughbred stud farm whose current ownership is as uncertain as that of much land here. In fact, it is not surprising that in the streets of the town you hear stories of fights between the current owners of these lands, who are disputing the ownership and exploitation after the previous owners unexpectedly left Venezuela... I am simply: “A crazy guy with camera in hand” going around without knowing too much about these messes, I try to use the roads when they are open and avoid passing by when it is known that the land disputes have flared up.... I'm used to this, it happens in many rural areas here!.... So to come here if you are an outsider, or better is to inform yourself before in the streets of the village about how the relations of the different “owners” are going at that time. The good thing about this, is that literally anyone can inform you because in Montalbán everything is known and there is nothing hidden... hahaha :))
El camino es plano durante casi todo el recorrido y los paisajes son netamente rurales a lado y lado del mismo, aunque se pueden observar paisajes naturales fantásticos de las cordilleras montañosas a lo lejos... Entre las cosas interesantes que se hallan está un viejo haras de cría de caballos purasangre cuya propiedad actual es tan incierta como la de muchas tierras aquí. De hecho, no es de extrañar que en las calles del pueblo se escuchen historias relativas a trifulcas entre los actuales encargados de esas tierras, quienes se disputan la tenencia y explotación después de que los anteriores dueños dejaron Venezuela de manera inesperada... Yo soy simplemente: "Un tipo loco con cámara en mano" yendo por allí sin enterarme demasiado sobre estos líos, procuro usar los caminos cuando están abiertos y evito pasar por aquí cuando se sabe que las disputas por las tierras se han recrudecido... ¡Estoy acostumbrado a esto, sucede en muchos espacios rurales aquí!... Así que para venir aquí si se es una persona foránea, o mejor es informarse antes en lasa calles del pueblo sobre como van las relaciones de los distintos "dueños" en ese momento. Lo bueno de esto, es que literalmente cualquier persona podrá informarte pues en Montalbán todo se sabe y no han nada oculto... hahaha :))
I did this tour on my bicycle and in the morning hours, a little after 7:30 AM. In those hours the early sunlight is quite kind and allows me to take very diverse photographs of the landscape. The light and temperature of the whites varies in a delightful way depending on which direction you look. It is also common to find some birds and horses in the pastures. All this adds up to a relaxing and rich photographic journey, besides being a delightful way to exercise in a gentle way without subjecting myself to excessive efforts related to slopes or passes through bad roads. The roads, some of them dirt and some of them asphalted, are in quite good condition.
Hice este recorrido en bicicleta y en las horas de la mañana, un poco después de las 7:30 AM. En esas horas las luces tempranas del sol son bastante bondadosas y me permiten realizar fotografías del paisaje muy diversas. La luz y la temperatura de los blancos varía de manera encantadora según en que dirección se mire. Además es frecuente encontrar algunas aves y caballos en los pastizales. Todo esto suma elementos para un relajante y rico recorrido fotográfico, además de ser una manera deliciosa de ejercitarme de manera suave sin someterme a esfuerzos excesivos relacionados con pendientes o pasos por caminos en mal estado. Los caminos en parte de tierra y asfaltados en otras partes, están en bastante buen estado.
At the end of the road the vegetation becomes a little denser and you can see a couple of old houses which belonged to the once great ranches that were in these places... If you follow the trail to the end of the area called “Los Cerritos”, you will reach one of the inter-communal roads that connects Montalbán with a town called Bejuma. This route serves to return to the town and thus close the circuit of this ride.
Al final del camino la vegetación se hace un poco más densa y se pueden observar un par de viejas casas las cuales pertenecían a los otrora grandes ranchos que había en estos lugares... Sí se sigue el sendero hasta el final del área llamada "Los Cerritos", se llega una de las carreteras inter-comunales que conecta Montalbán con un pueblo llamado Bejuma. Esta ruta sirve para volver al pueblo y cerrar así el circuito de este paseo.
Thank you very much for your visit and appreciation on my work!
Muchas gracias por pasar y apreciar my trabajo!
ADDITIONAL TECHNICAL NOTE: Photographs captured with my Nikon D7000 DSLR camera in RAW format, then processed in Adobe Camera RAW for adjustments regarding light, sharpening, contrast and depth... They were then exported to JGP format on which minor modifications such as straightening and adding watermarks were carried out using PhotoScape 3.6.3.
NOTA TÉCNICA ADICIONAL: Fotografias capturadas con mi cámara DSLR Nikon D7000 en formato RAW, procesadas posteriormente en Adobe Camera RAW para ajustes relativos a luz, afilado, contraste y profundidad... Luego fueron exportadas a formato JGP sobre el cual se llevaron a cabo modificaciones menores como enderezado y agregado de marcas de agua usando PhotoScape 3.6.3.
"We make photographs to understand what our lives mean to ourselves." - Ralph Hattersley.
"Hacemos fotografías para comprender lo que nuestras vidas significan para nosotros mismos." - Ralph Hattersley.
Lens: Sigma 18-200mm f3.5-6.3 II DC OS HSM
Lente: Sigma 18-200mm f3.5-6.3 II DC OS HSM
Travel Digest #2463.
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Hiya, @lauramica here, just swinging by to let you know that this post made it into our Honorable Mentions in Your post has been manually curated by the @worldmappin team. If you like what we're doing, please drop by to check out all the rest of today's great posts and consider supporting other authors like yourself and us so we can keep the project going!Hello @worldmappin team and @lauramica friend!... Thank you for selecting and appreciating my work, it is always an honor to be here with you!...🙏
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What a lovely atmosphere! thanks for sharing with us :)
!discovery 30
Glad you liked it @delilhavores friend!... Thanks a lot for supporting and appreciating!
This post is really amazing. I love your pictures, the landscapes are magnificent and those horses are incredibly adorable 😍
They are adorable animals, you are right!... It is a pleasure to photograph them!... Thank you very much for your appreciation of my work @alecaltab friend!!
I totally agree, they are perfect like fashion models 😁
You're welcome, it's really a pleasure!
You have managed to capture the moments of this trip very well, the pictures you shared are truly beautiful and extraordinary, my brother ♥️🙏
Thanks @riyat friend...
You're welcome, keep up the good work 💪
What a stunning view, I saw two very beautiful birds ❤️
;) Yes!... two green parrots! hehehe :)) Thanks for appreciating it @suarlex friend!
You're welcome my friend I really like it ❤️
I am sorry to hear of disputes over this almost magical-looking place of peace ... but you bring a peaceful spirit that belongs in such a place as witness!
Hi @deeanndmathews friend, thanks a lot for your visit and appreciating my article... Yes, I hope my "peaceful spirit" will always keep me out of trouble with these guys here!... :))
It must be so nice to walk around the area with that kind of scenery and the landscape. But I was wondering why they left what looks like a field filled with corn to be that dry.
!PIZZA !LUV !VSC
Thanks friend for your opinion... Ah!... Some farmers leave the corn plants there after harvesting the cobs, they do this so that they dry completely and then they pass the harrow with the tractor and make them convert into nutrients for the soil... ;)
@jlinaresp, you're rewarding 7 replies from this discussion thread.