I woke up this morning because it was too cold. The air condition was old and did not have any regulation at all. It was either on or off. I decided for on and covered myself as best as the bed linen of the hotel room allowed. The air condition was blowing towards the bed and in the morning I woke up because it was too cold. How is this for a change? I expected this to happen in the mountains of the Andes or in the far south of Chile or Argentina.
I spend almost up to midday in my room in order to maximize the time I could work to upload. I checked out and went to the bus terminal around the corner to go first to the capital of the island of Margarita La Asuncion. At the time of the pirates in the 16th century the location of La Asuncion a little bit back in the countryside on a hilltop with distant views to the sea made sense. Today with Porlamar being ten times as big, with port and airport and all the hotels and the better infrastructure the city would have been the more logic choice but history had been respected and the capital is still where it was found 400 years ago.
La Asuncion is small and well preserved with all the historical buildings within easy walking distance. I had to consider this now as I was walking with my backpack. The church, the palace and the castle, I did my tour and had still plenty of time to continue more to the north to one of the beaches. I asked for the right bus and had to go down to the coast again to catch the bus towards the north, Playa El Agua. The bus service is excellent with a bus coming every five to ten minutes maximum and at a price of a Xerox, 20 Bolivares.
The drive in total was about one hour and from the bus stop Playa El Agua to the beach was another 20 minute walk. The promenade was about 3 km long and had several hotels open and working and several construction sites for future hotels and commercial areas. Each hotel had an equivalent part on the beach with spacious sun beds and hotel service. There were no smaller hotels or posadas and very little commercial infrastructure. The whole beach was laid out to receive hotel guests and day users from the main city Porlamar. The beach itself was beautiful, spacious and together with the line of palm trees this beach made it just into the category of a small paradise.
It is not high season and I am trying as well to avoid the weekends and therefore an almost empty beach is more attractive than a crowded beach or more photogenic. The ocean was what you would expect from a Caribbean beach, turquoise, light blue and in the distance dark blue with waves breaking onto a sandy beach and with several palm trees offering you some shade. I left my backpack close to a car security man and walk straight to the water to take a refreshing bath. I am becoming more and more attracted to take a bath unlike I was used to in Natal.
Please click on “View Album” to see pictures in a Google+ Album.
For a small understanding of the island of Margarita, I have included a Google Earth map. The red pins mark the locations I have stopped and taken pictures.
Please click on map to enlarge!!!
Please click on “View Album” to see pictures in a Google+ Album.