Participants will board four-wheel-drive vehicles at the harbor and proceed along the coast past the towns of Macuto and Caraballeda to Los Caracas. There the paved road ends and a rugged dirt road ascends the mountains and descends into the valleys that form the coast as far as Cabo Codera. The trip goes past the fishing villages of Osma, Oripoto, Todasana, and La Sabana. La Sabana is a quaint village inhabited exclusively by fishermen, local farmers and their families. The ride to La Sabana lasts over two hours, and during that time you will see the rugged coast formed by ravines that drop into the ocean, and rocks that come out of the sea. You will also ford rivers and witness the forest of the coastal range. There will be time for swimming in the ocean at La Sabana and in a natural river pool where water cascades from the mountains… (p. 95)
Our first stop was at a beach about an hour drive from the ship. We stopped and stretched for a while and then continued. The roads curved up the mountains (the stretch of mountains along the coast of Venezuela is called the Coaster Corridor) and as we climbed we saw firsthand the effects of the damage from the landslides from 1999 and 2003. We stopped at another beach and swam for two hours, where most of the people body surfed. The river with the mountain waterfall was our next stop to wash the sand off. It was quite beautiful.
After about a half hour at the falls we headed for lunch at a place called Hotel-Rest. Egua. At the end of lunch we headed to a rural village to see the Museo de la Verdad (the Museum of Truth). The curator was a heavy set man in a cloth robe who resembled Jesus. The museum was filled with carvings, by the man, with political meanings. At the end of his spiel he then asked for money as we exited the shack/building. The villagers outside put on a drum performance while little kids danced. We then headed back to the ship in La Guaira with a short stop at a McDonald’s on the way.
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