The Humboldt Hotel sits on top of Mount Avila, which separates the valley of Caracas from the Caribbean. Ideally, one would be able to take the cable car from the city, go up to the hotel, and descend down the other side to the seashore. But the cables have been broken since the late seventies, their heavy wires dangling silently against the cliffs. The Avila is a national forest sprinkled with waterfalls and guarded by mounted rangers whose most pressing problem, apart from seasonal fires, is a lack of horses to mount.