Finally went to the beach last weekend, and now, after 3 days of being back in Mérida, I'm getting nostalgic. The experience was pretty unforgettable.
Last Thursday, March 24, three friends and I departed Mérida around 7 PM for el estado Falcón, the state on the northern coast of Venezuela. Of all the Venezuelan states, Falcón is the state that offers the most variety in terms of landscape. We bussed straight to the capital city of Coro, and had quite the experience on the way. The bus was stopped 4 times by various police and military officers. At all hours of the morning, we were forced to wake up to a military officer who would walk through the aisles of the bus, assault rifle dangling around his neck, and demand that we show him our passports. At one of the checkpoints we had to get off the bus and wait in line for our luggage to be searched. Because of these stops, what should have been a 10 or so hour bus ride ended up taking 13 hours.
Finally, around 8 AM we arrived in Coro. The sun is much hotter up toward the coast, and the air was very dry, but it was nice to finally have reached our destination. Our first stop on the weekend trip was los Médanos de Coro. Los Médanos is a national park located right on the northern border of the city. The park is incredibly unique- "médanos" in Spanish means dune or sandbank- the national park is like a miniature Sahara Desert near the northern coast of Venezuela.
Great scenery and awesome weather.
After touring the Médanos it was time to hit the playa, so we caught a bus from Coro to Adícora which was about an hour north on the Península Paranaguá. The bus dropped us off in what appeared to be the middle of nowhere, but we found out from some of the locals at a nearby bar that the beach was only a walk away.
After a quick walk down the street this is what we ran into.
Immediately after settling in under a sun shelter, I was approached by a rather large black woman (or "gordita" as they are called here) shouting "A la orden!" ("at your service") at me. At first I thought she was there to tell us we need to pay to use the shelter, so I asked "cuanto cuesta?" and she told me "50 bolivares." I simply said "ok." Wrong answer. She wasn't offering sun shelters, but massages. She put her hands on my shoulders and forcefully shoved me down in the sand. She was strong. There was pretty much no turning back at that point- wouldn't let me get a word in, but instead proceeded to tell me how tense my back was. At first it was nice and relaxing, but more and more sand slowly began to collect on her hands and soon she was exfoliating the skin on my back. Next, she proceeded to crack my neck about 5 different ways, and shove me flat on my stomach in the sand to continue cracking every one of my vertebra. I slowly but surely rose after she finished and paid the 50 BFs (about the equivalent of $10- not at all worth it). Good story, I suppose.
Anyways after we relaxed on the beach a while, swam a bit, and drank a few beers, we decided to grab some dinner and figure out where we could camp. Every single person we asked told us not to camp here, that it is dangerous, and being "gringos" we present an even easier target. One lady told us she would go into a posada and ask the price so that we wouldn't get ripped off (they take advantage of the gringos here when they find the chance). We told her we preferred to find a place to camp so to avoid paying, and she kindly offered up her backyard. We jumped on the opportunity and next thing we know were in the back of her pickup truck on the way to her house. Her name is Liliana, and she was very hospitable. Unfortunately the power was out this particular night at their house (which happens quite a bit in all areas of Venezuela, and here at home often leaves us eating by candlelight), but she made us soup and chatted with us all night.
Porch where we pitched the tent.
The next day, rather than heading straight for the beach, Liliana wanted to give us a tour of the rest of the Península Paranaguá. We rode in the back of her pickup along the coast for a good hour or so, stopping here and there to take pictures. Our final destination ended up being a salt processing plant that had been shut down for the season, but luckily someone was there to let us in and give us a quick tour of the place along with a giant bag of salt.
Awesome mural inside the salt plant.
Salt refinery machine of some sort (in the background are huge salt mounds yet to be processed).
Liliana was such a great host- she knows the area so well, and would frequently stop to explain where exactly we were and the importance of the sites we were seeing. It was really interesting to hear her perspective on everything that we saw- a lot of the sites were industrial factories or agricultural areas like this one. Being a "chavista" (supporter of El Presidente Chávez), her thoughts were very different from the majority of what I hear in Mérida, and learning about the political and social situation here in Venezuela has been one of my favorite parts of this trip.
After deciding that we wanted to see another part of the coast, we took a bus back to Coro and were immediately on another bus to Tucacas. Tucacas is a beach that resides in the Parque Nacional Morrocoy. Upon arrival, we were greeted with many "hello!"'s and "gringo!"'s, but that's pretty typical these days. We got to the national park beach to find that it was incredibly crowded. One of the park rangers told us that although it was crowded at the time, it would be okay to camp because most people leave during the night. He also told us that obeying the "PROHIBIDO ACAMPAR" signs was optional ("prohibited to camp"). Perfect. We went back into town quickly, bought some rum, food, and water, and headed back to pitch the tent. After mostly everyone had settled down to get some rest my friend Tiffany and I went over to a group of Venezuelans sitting on the beach and singing for everyone to hear. After staying up way too late and chatting and singing with them, we decided to get some rest before what is known to be the biggest day for playa parties... Sunday (believe it or not).
Woke up bright and early aroun 6:30 AM to Venezuelans blasting reggae music from their radios and cracking beers for breakfast. Quite the Sunday ritual. Spent the entire day in and out of the ocean water, on the beach, and chatting with our new friends. Turned out that they were from the city where we had to go to buy a bus ticket, so we got a ride back with them from the beach.
Liliana y yo
After deciding that we wanted to see another part of the coast, we took a bus back to Coro and were immediately on another bus to Tucacas. Tucacas is a beach that resides in the Parque Nacional Morrocoy. Upon arrival, we were greeted with many "hello!"'s and "gringo!"'s, but that's pretty typical these days. We got to the national park beach to find that it was incredibly crowded. One of the park rangers told us that although it was crowded at the time, it would be okay to camp because most people leave during the night. He also told us that obeying the "PROHIBIDO ACAMPAR" signs was optional ("prohibited to camp"). Perfect. We went back into town quickly, bought some rum, food, and water, and headed back to pitch the tent. After mostly everyone had settled down to get some rest my friend Tiffany and I went over to a group of Venezuelans sitting on the beach and singing for everyone to hear. After staying up way too late and chatting and singing with them, we decided to get some rest before what is known to be the biggest day for playa parties... Sunday (believe it or not).
Woke up bright and early aroun 6:30 AM to Venezuelans blasting reggae music from their radios and cracking beers for breakfast. Quite the Sunday ritual. Spent the entire day in and out of the ocean water, on the beach, and chatting with our new friends. Turned out that they were from the city where we had to go to buy a bus ticket, so we got a ride back with them from the beach.
Great crew.
All in all, great trip. Got to see a lot of the country that I wouldn't have typically had we not met any Venezuelans.
Can't believe I've got just about a month left here in this awesome country. As our spring break approaches we are beginning to plan a lot more for the Roraima trip and it's looking like it will be the trip of a lifetime. In case you've heard of the book "The Lost World," it is written based on Mt. Roraima.
That's all I have for now. Hoping to get to la playa again this next weekend. The H1N1 scare has calmed down a bit, but the Venezuelan students are still out of classes this week. Just read in the newspaper that they will commence again on Monday, no questions asked. That's good for them because this semester has already lasted something like 5 or 6 months with all of the cancellations that they have. La vida venezolana.
Bueno, es todo que tengo para ustedes. Que les vayan bien.
Ciao,
Travis
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