His route is now known as the Stevenson Trail (officially the Grande Randonnée 70), though mountain bikes have replaced donkeys as the most popular form of transport.
The fire, called the Cerro Grande fire after the mountain where it started, was set a week ago by the National Park Service in the northwest corner of Bandelier National Monument to clear brush but flared out of control over the weekend.
Rancho Grande was located at a mountain pass in a branch of the Andes known as the Venezuelan Coastal Range, which was an important migration route for butterflies, and the station proved very lucrative in the study of insects.
And, that he shall be forever remembered, it is proposed to build a stone arch across the great mountain highway at mesa grande, upon which shall be inscribed his name and his sacrifice.
The town's main beach, Playa Grande, has a magnificent backdrop of mountains and rainforest, and was a cool place to spend a day; we also caught a lift with local fishermen to the nearby secluded beach of Playa Cepe, but the 40-minute rollercoaster ride over huge waves proved just a little too exhilarating.
The Moche built another city, Pampa Grande on the Lambayeque river nearer the mountains, where it was thought the water source would be more reliable and controllable, but even that was disused within a 100 years due to El Niño floods.
In South Costa Rica, Buenos Aires (10) and Potrero Grande (12) are isolated from other sample localities by the Fila Costeña mountain range which parallels the coast.
Dirt paths skirt through rainforest and along the shoreline, leading to Ilha Grande's postcard-perfect beaches, past colonial ruins and up to the steep mountain slope of 982m-high Pico do Papagaio, which affords 360-degree views over the island.
The mercado grande bustles with trade; hefty women flog tuna and sailfish, limes and mountains of chillies and okra, swigging palm wine from old Sagres bottles.
The west face of Siula Grande had never been scaled before, largely because it was not, strictly speaking, a mountain.
