Back in Cumaná

In the end we spent just about ten days in Rio Caribe, partly due to Leah being ill for some of them but mostly due to Posada Villa Antillana being so nice and our reluctance to be running around all over the place! Don't get me wrong though, we didn't spend all the time sitting around in the hostel watching films in the comfortable lounge area or hanging in the hammocks enjoying the peaceful shaded garden, no sir, trips R us...

Aside from the already mentioned boat trip and day at Playa Loero we also headed off to San Juan de las Galdonas to try and see some baby giant sea turtles being born. This town is about as far East as the coastal roads on the North will take you and the drive is a dramatic ride up and over the mountains that reach down to the sea all along the coast. We had arranged to stay as Posada Tres Caravlas through our friends at Villa Atillana, with the promise of a trip out to visit the biologists who man the Sea Turtle program.

The posada itself sits up above the beach and has fantastic views of the bay, however it's a bit run down and the heavy rains meant plenty of dripping ceilings! When I thought the sky had cleared a bit I persuaded Leah that we should take a walk along the beach, though she protested that it would rain again soon. "Nah", I assured her, "it's cleared up now..." We had been walking for half an hour or so when the clouds moved back in and the rain started to come down again. I didn't mind so much as it was a lovely walk none the less, but we arrived back at the Posada very bedraggled, with only a change of clothes each to last us the night. Oops.

From Rio Caribe an...

When we had dried up a bit and changed we headed out with Eduardo (the guy running the posada) to a beach where the sea turtle program is being run. Unfortunately for us there were no hatchlings to be seen at that time and the plan didn't appear to be to wait around until they popped their heads out of the sand, which was a great shame as we would have been happy to hang out for a while to catch a glimpse of the little things making for the sea...oh well. Instead we took a walk along the beach and back and then headed back towards San Juan. Before leaving though I bought a T-Shirt with a cool turtle print on it; been there, missed it, got the T Shirt.

On the way back to Rio Caribe the next day we stopped off at the Bucare chocolate factory and did a tour which involved plenty of chocolate tasting and a good bit of knowledge consuming also - long winded process, chocolate making, but worth it! If you're lucky when we get back there'll be some of the chocolate flavoured rum left to try...

Once back in Rio Caribe our plan was then to head inland to Caripe and visit the cave called Guacharo, Venezuelas largest, but timing conspired otherwise and we ended up back here in Cumanà - we're planning to visit the cave next week before we head off to the final and most exciting part of our time here; los Roques!

Yesterday we headed off for a day trip to the National Park Mochima, an hours journey from Cumanà. It's a beautiful area off clear waters and green islands and we spent the day on a tiny beach lounging and paddling as we so desired. Nice.

From Cumaná