Islands in the sun

This blog entry is very late. But at the end of July Novio and I went to visit his grandma in Margarita Island for 10 days. Margarita Island is THE holiday spot in Venezuela. Last year I asked my university class to imagine that they were ANYWHERE in the world, and to write me a postcard from there telling me about the weather, what they did on their holidays etc. etc. Two things impressed me: firstly, that most of the students actually cut out card to postcard size and either drew a postcard or printed images from the internet to make it a more authentic piece of writing; secondly, that in a class of around 30 students, nearly half of them chose to imagine that (and remember that they were given the freedom of the WHOLE WORLD) they were on Margarita Island. And not only that, they all did the same thing: "The weather was lovely In the morning they went to the beach and in the afternoon to the Sambil and Señor Frogs."

The Sambil is a shopping centre and Venezuelans LOVE shopping centres. The first thing people ask you when you say you've been to Margarita is "did you go to the Sambil?" Last year a student asked me to help him with a presentation that he had to do about English culture. His first question was "which are the biggest shopping centres in London". They are considered to be relatively safe places, but I'm not sure what the attraction is above and beyond that. Señor Frogs is a disco/bar which seems to have achieved nation-wide fame. Sadly I never went, and now it has been closed down because too many people got killed there so I can only imagine what delights this place held.

Anyway, given that these seemed to be the commonly agreed highlights of a holiday in Margarita, I did not have overly high expectations for the trip. I am pleased to report however, that I was wrong. Margarita is lovely.

The beaches are wonderful. We are really lucky in that Novio's grandma lives right on the beach and every morning I went out for a run before it got too hot. There is nothing like running along a beautiful sandy, palm-lined beach early in the morning when the only people are other runners, groups doing yoga, and the odd couple on an early morning stroll. Not only is that beach lovely, the whole island has wonderful beaches.

Margarita also has castles. One at Pampatar and one at La Asunción, with a really interesting tour (in Spanish). *Interesting titbit of information gleaned from tour: Margarita is in the state of Nueva Esparta (New Sparta), which is thus named because during the Venezuelan War of Independence the people of Margarita put up a heroic effort against the Spanish, reminiscent of the Spartans, and when the Spanish were approaching they rounded up all the hats in the area and put them on the numerous cacti, so that as the Spanish drew closer they saw what appeared to be an immense army of sombrero-wearing Margariteños ready to defend their island, and promptly withdrew (or at least slightly delayed their attack). I'm not sure how accurate this story is, but I like it.

We also went on a day trip to the much smaller and uninhabited island of Cubagua, which lies between Margarita and the mainland. This is the island where the Spanish built their first city in Latin America, Nueva Cadiz. However, in 1541 an underwater earthquake and resulting tsunami caused half of the island, and most of the city, to fall into the sea. Today, you can still see the ruins of the city, although Novio's aunts, who went several years ago, and went with us this time, said that the ruins are much more ruined now than last time they went so I don't know how much longer they will be there. There is also a lagoon with mud in it, which is alleged to have therapeutic properties. I smothered myself in it without hesitation of course, although afterwards remembered that I had also read about natural oil springs on theisland, and it was suspiciously black and...well, oily. I felt like one of those pelicans you see Greenpeace trying to help on the news after an oil spill.

We were lucky enough to go to Cubagua with a

fisherman friend of Novio's aunt who took us in his boat. There was a nerve-wracking

moment on the way back as we saw the Margarita Express Ferry (a BIG boat), steaming towards us. Apparently in these situations it is the always the fishing boat that gives way as the ferries pay no notice to them, and as the fisherman accelerated as much as possible we all gritted our teeth until we were well and truly out of the path of the ferry and its wake which would easily have capsized our boat. On the way back we went for a tour through La Restinga, an area where Margarita Island is effectively divided in two, apart from a thin strip of sand joining the two parts. The whole area is full of mangroves with pearls growing on their funny roots. The sunset was spectacular.

I have to say though, that I think the highlight of Margarita for me is its capital, La Asunción. It is a small town with an old crumbling church, a leafy Plaza Bolívar with a lovely trinket shop and café and interesting streets to wander through, where we found a house where they sell pan de leche, a photo studio with walls plastered with hundreds of old photos of Venezuela, the oldest bridge in Venezuela and a fantastic bakery.

The sunset at Juan Griego is supposed to be one of the best in Venezuela, and the boulevard beside the beach at Pedro Gonzalez has lovely restaurants. I had what was possibly the best empanada I've ever eaten in El Tirano, and saw huge wooden boats being made in La Manzanita.

I did go to the Sambil, I have to admit, but it was definitely not a highlight of my trip.