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March 2000- I left for the beach with Daniel, Michelle, and Michelle's father at 7:00 AM on a bright Sunday morning. Michelle's father had come in the night before from Houston. He found a supersaver flight online and decided on a whim to come to Venezuela for a few days. We were going to Caracolito, a beach east of Caracas near Higuerote. Although the highway between Caracas and Puerto La Cruz was still damaged from the floods (Note: The road has since been fixed) we made good time and got to the coast before 9:00 AM. Traffic was pretty light, which was lucky since we were travelling on a two-lane road. Once arriving at the beach we parked the car and carried our things to the shore. There were people lying on the beach in front of the parking lot but we elected to take a boat further up the coast to a cleaner, more secluded spot. My friends and I have gotten in the habit of taking boats to remote beaches lately; this typically limits the loud, obnoxious music and general riff-raff that you encounter at the more populated destinations. After waiting more than 45 minutes for enough people to fill the boat Michelle was starting to doubt whether the waiting was really worth the inconvenience. We ate empanadas (stuffed cornmeal pockets) and chatted to pass the time and ended up paying the proprietor of the boat double (still only US $8 roundtrip) to take us to the other beach before the vessel was full. As it happened we were still lying in the sand by 10:00 in the morning. The spot where we ended up was a narrow bay with a large house out on the point. The location was small, clean, and deserted by Venezuelan standards, which suited me just fine. |
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The water was as cool and clear as the sky above us; it was a gorgeous day. We just played in the water and lounged in the sand in typical beach fashion. I brought along some snacks and drinks but still solicited the products of the local ice cream vendor. Worth noting about Venezuela is that no matter where you are, there is always a vendor with a Tio Rico cart. At around 1:00 in the afternoon Daniel and I went to do some exploring on the rocks up the coast from the beach. He explained to me that he had been to this spot before with his brother and they were worth seeing. We left Michelle and her father at the beach and climbed over the jagged rocks and then down through a small cave. We came out on the other side in a cove with two small cliffs (about 15 ft. high) separated by a narrow channel. The plan was to jump off one of the cliffs into the ocean. We jumped off a few times and took some pictures to document our courage. Daniel said that he felt like one of those cliff divers in Tahiti. While that was a bit of a stretch, if he hadn't have been with me or done it first I never would have jumped in. The jump did not look very safe from above, or down below for that matter. It took me a while to muster up the courage to jump even after seeing Daniel's success. You had to time your leap just right, when the waves were coming in. The problem was that when it was calm you could see everything (including the rough rocks below) but the water wasn't deep enough. When a wave brought in more water you could jump, the sea foam blocked the rocks from view. After the first time we jumped in a couple of guys and a girl came through the cave. Much to the astonishment of Daniel and I, the girl jumped off the cliff! Needless to say I was very impressed. I really didn't think that she was going to do it, she didn't even want to jump over the crack in the rocks that you had to cross to get to the ledge. |
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After meeting up with the Michelle and her father again we lounged around for another two hours before rounding up our things and taking a boat back to where the car was parked. We were heading back rather early for a day trip, but Daniel had to go into the office that evening and wanted to get home. Even with our early exit we were still all burnt to a crisp. I drove Daniel's Celica home since he had a few drinks during the day and wanted to be rested when he got back to Caracas. With the exception of the car the return trip home was not very noteworthy. I scared all of the occupants (except Daniel) fairly early on, but everyone else fell asleep within an hour of leaving the beach so my driving must not have been too offensive. We ran into some traffic on the narrow two-lane road but once we hit the highway the road cleared up and we made good time. From there we separated and I cleaned up from the weekend while Daniel went to work and Michelle and her father went out to dinner. (Note: I have been back to this beach twice since this first trip and have found that the boats to Caracolito are unreliable. Be prepared to spend the day near the parking lot and the thumping car stereos as it might prove necessary.) |
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