Saturday, October 28, 1995 - Isla Margarita, Venezuela

What a stroke of luck we had! We were supposed to return the jeep at ten this morning, so we got up at five to give us a few more hours to drive around. The jeep started right up. We needed gas, so we drove to the station across from McDonald's. Roy filled the tank and then tried to start the engine. Dead as a doornail. Couldn't have happened at a better place. We were on a downward slant, so we had no difficulty pushing it out of the way. Roy stayed with the jeep while I rode the bus downtown. (The public phones here don't take coins; you have to have a prepaid card. Of course, we don't have one.) Got to the car-rental place a little before eight. It was closed. Eight o'clock came and went, and so did eight-thirty. I was beginning to wonder if they opened on Saturday, but finally they came to life. The manager spoke enough English to comprehend what I was telling him. He and an employee put another battery in the trunk of a car and drove me back to the jeep. After they installed the battery and tightened the alternator belt, the jeep started right up. To compensate us for the inconvenience, the manager gave us another day for free! Wow, two days' jeep rental for $30! The map showed a road going up into the mountains near La Asuncion, so we drove there and actually managed to find the road. It went up, up, up. Came to big trees, such as banyan. After several miles, we came to the entrance to the National Park. The entrance fee was only 100 Bolivares each, about fifty cents! There was a really nice picnic area near the entrance, so we strolled around it. They've done an excellent job of making an attractive area, with paths and steps and rock walls and picnic shelters. Each shelter has its own fireplace, table, and benches. There's a terrific view, too. We drove to the top of the mountain. Only the telecommunications towers were higher. We were at 950 meters, or a little over 3000 feet. The air was so refreshingly cool! And what a view! We could see almost the entire island. Had a great view of Pampatar and Porlamar and Juan Griego and way out to sea. It was delightful! When we left there, we visited the old fort in La Asuncion. It had been built in 1682, and was quite similar to the one in Pampatar. Roy wanted to see the airport, so we went there next. It was small, as international airports go, but seemed to be well-equipped. Then we drove down a side road to Playa del Yaque, where wind- surfers abound. There were hundreds of them out on the water in the channel between Isla Margarita and Isla de Coche. From there, we drove to San Juan Bautista and Fuentidue¤o, hoping to find another road into the mountains. We saw the ancient spring, but the road ended without going up the mountain. This is an election year, so the politicians are out in force. We met a very enthusiastic parade of blaring loudspeakers and cheering people. Came to a village where a lot of people were standing around. We wondered what was going on. When we got closer, we saw a dead horse lying by the side of the road. It looked like a young, healthy horse, so we assumed it had been hit by a vehicle. We overshot our turn to La Asuncion and had to double back. It was getting dark by the time we got there, and we missed the turn to the wide highway we'd been on last night. Went several miles out in the country before we realized our mistake and turned around. We were glad we had headlights that worked. When we came to the amusement park, the rides were operating and were all lit up. There's a very large ferris wheel that we would have liked to take a ride on, but it was getting late, so we figured we'd better head for home.