San Fernando de Apure

San Fernando was founded on 28 February 1788 on the orders of Fernando Miyares y González, governor of the newly formed Province of Barinas, in a ceremony witnessed by about 200 indigenous people. A main square, now Plaza Bolívar, was marked out and a cross set where the church would stand. Its position on the Apure gave it importance in controlling the plains, and in its early trade it exported heron feathers, used for pens, and animal hides. Alexander von Humboldt stayed for a few days in March 1800.

In the independence war the plains of Apure were the territory of José Antonio Páez, whose lancers won the battle of Las Queseras del Medio in the state in 1819. During the Federal War, on 21 June 1859, much of the town was burned. By the early 20th century San Fernando was a busy river port, with factories for pasta, canned food and candles and a trade in heron feathers and alligator skins shipped to Europe; the Barbarito Palace was built by the port in this period. The trade declined as demand fell and railways and roads replaced river navigation.

A catastrophic flood in 1916 led to the opening of a diversion canal in 1917, and the María Nieves bridge across the Apure opened in 1961. The cathedral was consecrated in 1969, the diocese was created in 1974, and universities arrived from 1976; the city now has many schools and several universities.

San Fernando is the main river town of the southern plains, and the plains' culture shapes its identity. Joropo, played on harp or bandola, cuatro and maracas, is danced at events across the city and especially in its outer districts, and singers keep up the contrapunteo, the improvised duel of verses. Coleo, in which riders chase a bull and topple it by the tail, is the city's signature sport, with national and regional tournaments held at the Vuelvan Caras arena in the fairground on the west side.

The river is part of local life and pride. San Fernando is the starting point of long-distance river events that finish in Ciudad Guayana; one of them follows a route of about 2,000 kilometres along the Apure, the Orinoco and other rivers of the plains and Guayana.

Lifestyles differ by age and district: many older residents keep traditional llanero customs, while young people in the city lean towards the styles of Caracas and North America. The plains' oral tradition of ghost stories, such as La Sayona and El Silbón, and the novel "Doña Bárbara", set in Apure, are part of the shared culture. The Juan Lovera School of Plastic Arts, founded in 1964, trains local artists.

The municipality of San Fernando had about 165,000 people at the 2011 census. The built-up area spreads across both banks of the Apure and has merged with the satellite town of Biruaca to the west and the parish of El Recreo to the east. The ground is so damp that buildings of more than five storeys are not permitted, giving the city a flat, low skyline.

As the state capital, the city lives from government, education, health care, banking and commerce, serving a wide area of cattle ranches and river villages. Several universities have campuses here, among them UNELLEZ, the national experimental university of the western plains, and the Simón Rodríguez university.

The national crisis has hit hard: fuel shortages stop trucks and tractors, power cuts are long, and many young people have left. The presence of armed groups and smugglers shapes life near the Colombian border, far to the west. Days begin early, before the heat, and slow down at midday.

Beef is the centre of the llanero table. Carne en vara is beef skewered on stakes around an open fire and roasted slowly. Pisillo is shredded, salted and sun-dried meat or fish, fried with garlic and sweet peppers, and it is also made with chigüire, the capybara, whose meat is traditionally eaten during Lent and Holy Week.

The plains produce much of Venezuela's cheese, and soft fresh cheeses such as queso de mano, a stretched curd cheese, are eaten with cachapas, sweet fresh-corn pancakes. The Apure and the other rivers supply fish, fried or stewed.

The everyday national dishes — arepas, empanadas and pabellón criollo, the plate of shredded beef, black beans, rice and fried plantain — are found everywhere. Coffee is drunk strong and black through the day, and sweets are made from milk and papelón, the raw cane sugar of the region, which also makes papelón con limón, a sweet lemon drink.