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

beached again

We went to the beach again today, this time by "Por Puesto", a kind of local bus service, which is actually a pickup truck with wooden benches in the back. Yesterday we tried to go too but it started to piss down with rain just as we left Rio Caribe, and didn't stop for hours. We got as far as the path to the beach, hoping it would stop, and then told the driver to take us back! It cost 20,000 bolivars for the journey since we kind of hired the vehicle. But today we did it for 4,800 there and back...living and learning once again.

We saw a couple of curious things on the beach. The first was a pelican that kind of surfed into the beach and then sat on the shore. I didn't think it was very well, but we left it be. Then some kids came and started picking it up and taking photos with it, then they carted it off with them when they left, poor thing. Later though an older dude came waling past with a pelican in a sack, its heading poking out and looking around, seemingly not very alarmed by its situation. Maybe they were going to nurse it back to health. Or maybe they were off to make pelican stew.

The other thing we saw was a fishing boat anchor just beyond the surf, then the young sailors jumped out and swam ashore. They then proceeded to collect some eight or so huge barrels of fuel on the shore, they roped them together and swam them out through the surf to their boat... a pit stop with a difference!

Other than that we just lay soaking up the sun and playing the odd game of Frisbee,

boat trip

Today we hired a boat and headed out along the coast with another couple from San Sebastian in the Basque Country. The scenery is beautiful; ragged mountain hills, covered in thick jungle greenery reach straight down to the sea while flocks of pelicans fly overhead. The boat ride was quite exciting due to the small size of the boat and the seeminlgy large size of the caribbean rollers. The first beach we stopped at was Pui Pui, a beautiful stretch of palm backed sand with enough surf for a bit of body-surfing to pass the time. After a few hours we then back tracked to Medina, a more popular beach, again very beautiful with tall palms, mountain hills and a much more scerene sea. Nice.

From Rio Caribe an...

Rio Caribe and a hot mud bath

We've ben in Rio Caribe for a few days now, but unfortunately Leah came down with a nasty fever, aches and a bad headache so we've been holed up in our posada. Thankfuly Villa Antilada is a fantastic place and the people running it have been great to us - taking us to the doctor, helping to get a blood test (we thought it might be Malaria...) and even sorting out food and stuff.

Today we went with Emillio (one of the managers) and his girlfriend Sarai to the Agua Sanas thermal springs and had a good dunking in mud and sulphorous pools. It was a cool experience and a realy nice place to relax, set at the base of a plain that spreads out after you pass the imediate hills that front the sea. It's a terrain of cocao and fruit plantations amongst a jungle set in the hills.

From Rio Caribe an...