Sunday, October 22, 1995 - Isla Margarita, Venezuela

Another beautiful, calm day. We relaxed and enjoyed. Paddled over to the Coast Guard building and saw that there was a little beachlet next to it where we can land our Royaks tomorrow. Then we paddled along the coast by the town. This being Sunday, hundreds of people were playing in the water or relaxing on the beach. We came to an especially attractive stretch of beach southwest of town. Roy pulled in to the beach to go for a swim, but I continued on until I was close to the point with the angel sculpture. There was a covered walkway that went up to it, and I was hoping I could go up there, but after I landed, I saw that there were several armed guards at the entrance to the walkway, so I figured they were to keep people out. There's an expensive development of Mediterranean-style houses on the hilltop. Only one has been finished, but it looks really nice. The walkway is part of the development, and the development is obviously exclusive. I swam for a while in the delightful water. Then Roy came paddling up. We both swam a while, and then got out of the water to walk around. When we got close to the walkway, I was delighted to see a sign that said "Public Access". Another sign explained that there are no private beaches in Venezuela; by law, all beaches and coastal areas must be open to the public. I don't know what in the world the armed guards were doing there; we walked right past them with no problem. This was the loveliest walkway we've ever seen. It was very substantially built; it must have cost a fortune. It was shaded and breezy and comfortably cool. There were plants and benches at intervals. The walkway went up the hill to the statue and down the other side. The view of the ocean was spectacular. We read on a sign that this statue had been placed there by The Hills development in 1993 to replace the original statue that had been destroyed by a storm in 1989. That must have been quite a storm! The statue was high above the water and was quite large and solid. When we returned to the beach, we bought ice cream from a vendor and then followed a path to the road. The sidewalk was wide and wellpaved. Obviously, a great deal of money had been put into this development. There was a guarded gate and nicely landscaped grounds. We returned to the boat before dark, feeling relaxed and happy. A strange thing happened at supper. Last night, when I cooked the chicken we had bought at the supermarket, it stayed pink. I was afraid it was spoiled and not edible, but Roy said it tasted delicious, so I ate a little of it. Tonight, it was pink again, but again it tasted delicious. However, it didn't quite taste like chicken. It had no bones or skin. Suddenly, it dawned on me that it tasted like ham! That would explain the pink color. It looked like ham, it tasted like ham, it had the texture of ham. Yet the package had clearly said, "Muslos de Pollo" (chicken thighs). Weird. But I enjoyed the meal a lot more when I realized I was eating ham and not pink chicken.