Over the long weekend (President's Day) we traveled with a group of Embassy employees to visit Choroni, a small colonial town on the Caribbean coast of Venezuela a few hours west of Caracas. We left about 7:30 am from the Embassy parking lot on a mini-bus that seated about 18 passengers and headed first through the tangled maze that is Caracas and then into the country side of the adjoining state of Aragua (pronounced like the letter “r” and “agua” Spanish for water). Caracas traffic, even at 7:30 am on a Saturday morning is insane. We started by climbing a steep hill to the top of the hill above the Embassy. Then, we headed down the narrow streets, clinging to the hillside, while smaller cars, motorcycles and scooters weaved in and out, until we got to the valley behind our neighborhood. We then got on the freeway and fought our way through traffic until we were out of the city. Even once we were outside the city there was still heavy traffic. Venezuelan drivers approach driving competitively, and they all act as though they are the only driver on the road and everyone will yield to them. They do not stop at stop signs or at traffic lights. You just make sure the coast is clear and run the light or sign. And by “make sure the coast is clear” I mean that you can clear the intersection without being hit. Barely. Most of the time there is so much traffic that the intersection is grid locked and you just push your way through the intersection. You dive right up to the car crossing in front of you and play chicken until one car yields and lets the other slip through. While you are doing this, motorcycles and scooters are zipping around you in every direction without even slowing down. Out on the highway, the “Mario Andretti” in everyone comes out. The cars all jockey for position on the highway, weaving, passing, drafting and at times, driving offensively to prevent others from getting into a better position. Big 18 wheel tricks are lumbering along like obstacles to be avoided in this video game. Don't get me wrong, the trucks drive aggressively , but the cars are much more nimble. The trucks just speed along as the cars dodge in and out. There are not many motorcycles in the rural areas between towns, since the vast majority of motorcycles are small 250cc bikes or scooters useful for city driving only.
From Caracas we headed, first, south of the city and then west through the Central Aragua Valley. As we headed into the mountains south of the city, the vegetation changed from the tropical variety in Caracas into pine forests at the higher elevations. As we came down on the southern slope, the landscape became more arid. Although Aragusomewhat mountainous, it is the northern fringe of the arid llanos (plains) of Central Venezuela. As we traveled west through Aragua, we passed sugar cane fields and banana plantations, a large rum distillery and some light industrial areas. Poverty seems more abundant in the country side. Gone completely were the expensive high rise apartments of Caracas, replaced by the shanty towns (called “Ranchos”) that cling to the hillsides. In areas where it was flat, the shanty towns took on the appearance of scores of tin shacks arranged in rows like the stalls of a vast and very dilapidated flea market.
Maracay, the capital of Aragua, is the military center of Venezuela. It not a very impressive town. It is flat, dusty and industrial. Judging from the graffiti, it is also strongly pro-Chavez. “Por Ahora” is the new catch phrase of the Chavistas. It means “for now” and is a reference to the recent constitutional referendum that Chavez lost. Back in the 1990's when Chavez led a failed coup against the government (before he was elected president) he declared that his coup had failed “for now.” Of course, several years later he was elected president. Now, having failed in his bid to gain the ability to become president for life and to consolidate all power in his hands, his followers are declaring that the setback is “por ahora”.
In Maracay we headed north into Henri Pittier National Park. Unfortunately, on this trip we really did not get to see much off the park, we only drove through it. It was enough, however to completely stir my desire to return to explore the park much more extensively. We headed into the rugged mountains up a very narrow and winding road that, at times felt like it was literally glued onto the side of the steep mountains. As we climbed higher and higher, the vegetation changed into tropical jungle, a cloud forest, so called because it is so high it is in the clouds. In this area, the clouds are almost constant as a result of the warm wet air from the Caribbean Sea being forced up on over the mountains into the cool air at the high elevations. You can actually see the clouds form ass the air moves up and spills over the mountain top to the other side. The jungle here is full of Bamboo, in addition to the native trees including ferns, palms, vines and cocoa (more about that later). We came down the northern slope into a valley that follows the Choroni River and through a number of illegal settlements in the jungle. As we got closer to the coast more and more of the settlements appeared until it seemed like every 300 meters there was a small stand that sold beer and Pepsi. Finally we got to the colonial town of Choroni with its narrow streets and pastel buildings built in the colonial style typical of the Caribbean in the 1600's and 1700's. The town of Choroni was set back from the sea about one km to protect against pirate raids. Set back in the jungle, the pirates could not bring their large cannons to bear on the town and would have to row ashore and march through the jungle to attack, leaving themselves vulnerable to the towns defenses. The port (Puerto Columbia) is really just a beach, a sandy spot in the very rocky, treacherous coast.
About a half km east of Puerto Columbia is Playa Grande, another beach, one that is very popular on the weekends. It was packed when we went there. They rent tents for 20 Bs.F. which is about $4-10 (depending on the exchange rate) and people sleep in the tents in the grove of coconut palms that buffers the beach from the jungle. It was a nice beach, with big waves. Ice cold beers went for 3 Bs.F. Which is less than a dollar. Ice cream, on the other hand was about 10 Bs.F. The terrain in this area is fascinating. At the coast, the vegetation is arid, almost desert. Tall cactus and plants that resemble agave dominate the rocky landscape. Less than 100 meters back from the beach, however, the vegetation becomes more lush and tropical and within a kilometer you are in the jungle. We would sit at the beach in the sun, watching a dark clouds enveloped the mountains on either side. Behind us there was a light shower late in the afternoon, but overhead on the beach there was never even a cloud.
After our Saturday afternoon at Playa Grande, we ate a fantastic dinner at a restaurant called “Bambu”. We dined on Ceviche, Tuna Croquettes, (atun) Octopus, (pulpo) and Mahi-mahi (dorado). For desert we were treated to Cocoa Punch, a mildly alcoholic beverage made from the cocoa bean. We stayed at a Posada called Pio Poco which must be Spanish for “there is no water”. Each night the water went out. In the morning the toilet would not flush, and there was no shower, or even water to wash your face. Breakfast the next morning was over 1.5 hours late, which, when compounded by operating on Venezuelan time, meant that we did not even get out for our second day's adventures until about 11:00 am.
Our group of about 14 headed out in a launch with an outboard motor, through the rugged sea, braving swells that were at least 6-7 feet, along the rocky coast for about 2-3 km east to a beach and town called Playa Chuao (pronounced “choo-ou”). This area was wonderful, and not at all crowded since it can only be accessed by boat. All of the cars, trucks and motorcycles were brought by the same type of launch we rode in on. About 10 km up the valley from the beach (playa), in the center
of a large cocoa plantation is the town of Chuao, where the descendants of the African slaves brought to work the cocoa plantation in the 1700's now operate a collective that produces some of the best cocoa in the world. The cocoa beans grow on short trees that require constant shade. The fruit is huge, about the size of a football, and is full of beans about the size of pecans that are coated with the slimy meat of the fruit. The meat, although very slimy, has a very tangy, citrus taste. The beans are dried, roasted and then ground into a bitter powder which when mixed with sugar, butter or cream and other ingredients, becomes the beloved chocolate. The roasted beans taste like bitter chocolate. We bought some of the unprocessed cocoa to try our hand at making chocolate. I'll let you know how it turns out.
From there it was back to the beach where we rented some chairs and umbrellas in front of a little shack that was a bar and restaurant. Normally I would be wary of such a small establishment out of concern that I would acquire yet another nasty gastrointestinal malady, but our guide assured us that this restaurant served very fresh fish. Indeed, when the proprietor brought the fish out for our inspection it was quite fresh, not surprising given that the sea was 30 meters away. Our guide was right, the fish was delicious. We lunched on snapper rolled in salt and deep fried, fried plantains, rice and a delicious carrot slaw. The beers were ice cold, cheap (less that a dollar each) and plentiful. The sea was clear, about 80 degrees f and there were only small waves. The breeze was very pleasant, although the temperature was about 90 degrees f. After a wonderful afternoon at the beach, we went back on the harrowing trip by boat to the relative hustle and bustle of Puerto Columbia and Choroni.
We ate diner at our Posada, which was so-so. Had I not had two truly excellent dining experiences in a row I probably would have been more satisfied with Pio Pico. But after the two great meals, this one was...well, lame. After diner we alternated between a drink made from lime juice, sugar and the local Everclear (pure alcohol made from sugar cane, which one of the Venezuelans in our group told us is what homeless people drink) and strong Venezuelan coffee and talked about politics. One of the cool things about this life is that the people you meet are truly experts in foreign cultures, history and politics. These guys were actually in Panama during Noriega's rule, and in Nicaragua in the 80's when the Contras were fighting the Sandanistas. They know from first hand experience about events that I only read about. Suffice to say it was fascinating conversation.
On Monday, we returned to Playa Grande, which was like a different place without the crowds, and spent to morning relaxing at the beach. We left at 1:00 pm, made a brief stop in the jungle, and headed back to Caracas.
One final note about our trip. In Venezuela they eat “arepas” like Americans eat bread, or Mexicans eat tortillas. In fact, arepas are like a cross between corn bread and a tortilla. It is a round corn meal loaf, shaped like a flattened hamburger bun which can be stuffed with a wide variety of foods from ham, to eggs to cheese to pickled octopus. They are like stuffed sandwiches. And delicious. I had arepas every day on the trip and I am a convert. I had ham and cheese arepas, scrambled egg arepas, arepas with fried eggs, with fresh cheese, and the aforementioned “pulpo”. Yum. Arepas are something that should be introduced to the U.S.
The travel agent just called. We are working on putting together a trip to either Aruba or to Auyan Tepui in March. Personally, I would prefer Auyan Tepui. I'll let you know how it goes.
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