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July 2000- What a month! This was my fourth trip out of town for the month and another great one at that. I had trouble rounding people up to go to Choroni with me since the Venezuelan elections were happening on this same weekend, so it just ended up being Jerome and myself. Jerome is a friend of Tom's who had been travelling through South America for the past seven months and had finally made his way to Venezuela. Since Jerome had already had his fill of jungles and mountains I chose to take him to one of the beautiful beaches of Venezuela. We left my apartment at 8:30 in the morning and stopped in Maracay for gas and breakfast before continuing on to the beach. The drive through the mountains started well and we stopped on a few occasions to take pictures of the city below. Further along towards the peak of the mountain the clouds became thick and visibility was severely limited. Fortunately this did not last long and by the time we arrived in Choroni the sky was clear again. We parked the car and inquired about availability and prices at several posadas before deciding on a basic room on the south side of Puerto Columbia. Jerome was a bit surprised at the prices that rooms commanded in Venezuela, which is far more expensive than Columbia, Bolivia, and Ecuador in nearly all regards. |
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From the posada we walked down to the coast and immediately started bartering for a boat ride to one of the nearby beaches. We ended up paying 20,000 Bolivars (US $30) to get to Chuao. I had not been to this beach before but Tom had told me that it was nice. Unfortunately foul weather dampened our spirits (pun intended) as it started raining shortly after we arrived. Jerome and I spent our time at a beachfront bar just relaxing and later explored the nearby village. A local boy who pointed out interesting things to see accompanied us. The most notable were the crabs, there were hundreds of them of varying breed. These included very small (about the size of a pencil eraser) crabs with one large claw as big as the crab's body (presumably for fighting and digging) and another small claw the size of one of their legs (for food collection). Further on there were larger crabs (the size of a fist) that varied in color from blue to opaque. The one thing that all of these crustaceans had in common were that they were very shy. After taking a few pictures with the local children we went back to the beach and just walked along the coast. There were some excellent rock formations at the West End of the bay. The structures were dipping into the ocean at a 70-degree angle, but in some areas there would be folding past vertical and then back to 70 degrees again in an S shape. Most of the rock was partially melted siltstone with some large quartz intrusions. |
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The boat came to pick us up at 5:00 PM to return to Choroni. Once back in town we went to the posada and relaxed for a while before eating. For dinner we went to Mangos, the restaurant that I have typically gone to in the past when I am in Choroni. As with the last time, our meal was prepared by Jamie, the lovely cook at Mangos. Also like last time, I made a vain effort to hit on her and got a commitment for the beach for the following day. The law stated that no alcohol could be sold on Saturday night because of the elections that were taking place on Sunday morning. As a result of this the usually vibrant nightlife of Puerto Colombia was nonexistent. After hanging out for a while in the plaza on the coast we went back to the posada. Jerome and I both read for a while but were asleep well before midnight. Sunday morning we were not scheduled to meet Jamie until 10:00 AM but we were awoken at 7:30 by honking horns and crowing roosters. The two of us decided to skip breakfast and instead walked to Playa Grande. I must say that Playa Grande appeared much nicer than the last time that I was in Choroni. I attribute this to less people on the beach and the beautiful weather we had on Sunday morning. After walking down the length of the beach, Jerome took a swim before we went back to the posada. Once back we checked out of our room and bought some food for the day while waiting for Jamie. We waited until 10:45 but she never showed up. Stood up again! |
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Once I picked up the pieces of my broken heart Jerome and I hiked to Playa El Diaro. This is the only beach on the West Side of Choroni and is typically not very crowded due to its isolated location. After a short 40-minute walk under the hot sun we arrived at the beach and scrambled over some rocks in order to get to a section of sand off the main beach. We had this area all to ourselves for the entire day. The only other residents we had to share the beach with were two iguanas sunning themselves on the rocks. It was a perfect day with a cloudless sky above the clear, blue ocean. We alternated between swimming in the warm water and sitting under a shade tree reading and talking. The two of us also played some paddleball and explored the rocks to break up the monotony of the day. At 3:30 PM Jerome and I decided that we had been exposed to the sun for long enough so we hiked back to the town cemetery where the car was parked. I was discouraged by the amount of trash that I witnessed on the "unknown trail", but I picked up what I could carry back to the car. Once at the car Jerome and I did not waste any time before heading back to Caracas. The elections proved to be a blessing yet again and we encountered only superficial traffic on the road home. This allowed me to travel 140 kph the whole way without having to employ any of my trademark driving moves. We were back at my apartment with plenty of time to shower and go to dinner before watching the preliminary election results on the evening news. |
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