Barquisimeto

Barquisimeto is the capital of Lara state and one of Venezuela's largest cities, set on a semi-arid plain in the country's centre-west. It is widely known as the "Capital Musical de Venezuela" — the musical capital of Venezuela — a reputation built on a long tradition of choral music, the cuatro and the regional golpe larense, and a strong presence within the country's youth-orchestra movement.

The city's spiritual life centres on the Divina Pastora, one of the most venerated Marian devotions in Venezuela. Each January the image is carried in procession from the nearby town of Santa Rosa into Barquisimeto, an event regarded as one of the largest Marian processions in the Americas and the defining date in the city's calendar.

Barquisimeto is also a practical base for the Lara landscapes around it: the dry hills and sierra that the state shares with neighbouring Falcón, and the cooler highland towns to the south such as Cubiro and Sanare, which offer a green, mountainous contrast to the city's warm, semi-arid setting.