20-22/12/2011 - Quaint Coro

Mercifully, the music on the return bus to Maracay was a little more subdued. I had a cheap breakfast from a stall in the Maracay bus terminal (2 empanadas and a juice for about 75p) and after a bit of inter-city bus hopping, I arrived in Coro – a small chilled-out city with a lot of restored colonial architecture. I found a posada near the heart of the historic centre and was disappointed to learn that it wasn't possible to go sandboarding because there had been too much rain. I had primarily come to Coro because of the nearby national park which is full of sand dunes and had really wanted to have a go at sandboarding, but alas it seemed it wasn't to be. The posada was a bit quiet at the moment so in the evening I headed out to an italian restaurant and got chatting to the young waiter working there who was studying english at university. He recommended some places in the area and, as seems to be the custom, offered to introduce me to some chicas if I hung around until the weekend. I told him that unfortunately I would be heading off before then, and that I didn't really trust his choice of women (earlier he had told me that previously he'd been involved in an online relationship with a married woman from Mexico).

The next morning I headed to the sand dunes and went for a hefty 3 hike through this mini desert, doing my best to get lost along the way. Away from the entrance to the park, the dunes were completely deserted and I had great fun walking along and listening to some spanish lessons on my ipod. In the afternoon I did the obligatory walk around the historic part of the town as well as a quick stop in the, somewhat unimpressive, modern art gallery. As I ate lunch in a square just off one of the main streets, I saw the locals pointing at something in a tree and looked up to see a sloth clambering along the trunk. Can't get away from the wildlife here.

Arriving back at the hostel, I learned that sandboarding was back on the menu so without further ado I grabbed a board and we headed back to the dunes. As is usual with such activities, once we'd climbed to the top of one of the dunes, it seemed much higher and steeper from the top than from the bottom. Having waxed up my board to make it more slippery and reminded myself that sand was indeed nice and soft for when I inevitably fell, I jumped on my board and plunged down the dune. The experience was quite close to snowboarding (which I've tried once) and I didn't find my skateboarding skills particularly useful as I slipped and slid down the slope. I was assured by Eric, the French hostel owner, that there was indeed a way to break and stop, but for now I resigned myself to the kamikaze technique which didn't permit breaking. Me and another German guy also staying at the hostel had a great couple of hours on the dunes, enjoying a bit of friendly Anglo-German rivalry to spice things up. Back at the hostel, exhausted from constantly climbing up the dunes, we had a well deserved beer and chatted about future travelling plans with another traveller - Francis from Hong Kong who had just arrived from Columbia. Me and Francis went and grabbed dinner in a nearby restaurant where I enjoyed my first proper salad in Venezuela! Altogether a pretty great day.

The next morning, after a chat with 3 German girls who'd just arrived from Merida to spend Christmas in Coro, I left Coro and headed towards Merida where I planned to spend Christmas. The girls had spent 2 months in Merida volunteering and learning spanish and had now set off to travel round south america for a couple of months (sound familiar?). After they had made me some recommendations of places to visit Merida, I headed off into the rainy morning. Arriving at the bus terminal, I found that the only direct bus to Merida this evening was already full so I had to go half way to the metropolis of Maracaibo (Venezuela's second largest city and the countries oil hub) where I mooched around near the bus terminal (trying some “Chinese food” and sweets made out of condensed milk) until my night bus left for Merida.