* "Negra Hipolita" Park *

There is more to come with this post, but here is a sneak peak!

Two of my friends came withe me to the "Negra Hipolita" park. This park is large and lovely, right in the heart of Valencia! There is a highway and other busy streets surrounding it, but there are enough trees and bamboo in the park to block out most of the cars and city noise.


My friends were kind enough to take some photos with me so I could write about the park.

There is a circular platform near one end of the park where we found these statues: Simon Bolivar (the victor of Venezuela's independence from Spain) and his mentor, Fernando Penalver (pictured below).

Simon Bolivar's statue is pictured below. I never thought of him as a short man, but my friend      assured me that in fact he was quite short!

I know that it is usually frowned upon to feed wild animals, but these squirrels have the freedom to run about and climb the trees wherever the like, in or out of the park. They do not have to depend on humans to feed them as there are plenty of nut-bearing trees in Valencia from which they could find food if they choose.

One of my friends and I were more than happy to hold out some crackers for this shy little squirrel to nibble. The squirrel would grab a piece with her tiny mouth, then skitter away into the branches a little way off to eat it. She returned to us two or three more times for some more, then ran up to the higher branches once she decided she'd had enough. We hope to see her or one of the other squirrels again tomorrow!

Venezuelan squirrels have a very noticeable copper color on their stomachs and tails. Sometimes the whole tail is copper colored, and sometimes there is a large stripe of copper while the rest of the tail is a very dark brown or black.



This was the little squirrel's first taste of crackers from us. She came up so quickly that my friend was barely able to catch her in the photo! You can see the stripe of orange on her tail if you look carefully.



I was amazed at the size of the trees! I'm not sure how I've missed it during the other trips I've made to this park, but these trees are every bit as big around as the Sequoias in California! They are not as tall, but still beautiful, with very wide spread branches as well.