Carlos Raul Villanueva Park

In the last days of Christmas I made a visit to Carlos Raul Villanueva Park, located in the north of Maracay. It is one of the few areas of the city where we can still enjoy a green space at the foot of the mountain.

Initially this whole area was part of the Hotel Maracay inaugurated in 1957 and was part of its extensive golf course.

On the day of my visit there were some very kind caretakers, among them a gentleman of about seventy years of age who preserves a great vitality, a golden memory, and is a great conversationalist. From the beginning he was very pleased to share all the knowledge he had about the park and told me that if we had time he could tell me some of his story. Of course I did, I told him and he began his story...

He told me that he had been at the site since before the park existed, when that area was still part of the Maracay Hotel. Then, in the mid seventies, a group of people requested a portion of the land and formed the Country Club of Maracay, in that space they built some works for recreational purposes, such as a swimming pool, tennis courts, stables and other facilities. The Club operated at that time as a private institution and reserved the right of admission to its facilities.

It was in the first decade of this century when the Country Club's activities ceased and the new park, which is open to the general public, was created.

In the park area we can find several well-defined zones. One of the most attractive is the swimming pool, which offers its services from Tuesday to Sunday from 8 am to 5 pm, it has a lifeguard, and during the week they offer swimming lessons. Around the pool there are several cafes where the public can get a variety of food. At the time of my visit the entrance fee was five dollars per person.

After the pool there is a large green area where there is a soccer field, this is fully integrated into the rest of the environment in which you can see many trees. This area in the north of the city is the one that has resisted the most the advance of deforestation. Since my arrival in Maracay, a little more than forty years ago, I have seen with sadness how the green spaces have been disappearing. Here there is still a good example of why for a long time Maracay was called the Garden City of Venezuela.

In the eastern part of the park I found several structures that caught my attention. The first is the stable, which is in full activity, where a good number of horses are housed and maintained. The caretaker of the area told me that most of them are used for the sport of bullfighting, an activity that, like bullfighting, has its defenders and detractors. There are many of us who think that these are forms of animal abuse.

After the stables there is the arena for the bullfighting of the bulls and a small square for the bullfights of the calves, the bulls in their infantile stage. These two areas looked quite abandoned, no one could tell me if they were still in operation.

In the whole area near the main entrance there are a number of establishments selling food. The truth is that I was impressed to see that number of establishments, especially because the area is a bit far from the city, with access roads in pretty bad condition, and with little public transportation. On the day of my visit, late Saturday afternoon, those establishments had a large number of customers. Perhaps part of the attraction is being in a distant place where the hustle and bustle of the city does not reach.

Another issue that made me curious was the hours. Theoretically the park closes to the public at 5 pm. But the caretaker told me that this was not exactly the case, the hours can be extended until the wee hours of the morning due to the numerous food stores that can be reached by passing through the entrance of the park.

This extended schedule has several advantages for nature and photography lovers. It allows you to go in the late afternoon, which is highly recommended in a city with a hot climate like Maracay. This must be one of the few parks where you can walk around watching the sunset, a great moment to get excellent photographs.

Another detail that caught my attention was to see relief structures on the ceiling of the entrance hall. Those shapes are a tribute to the designs of the time of Villanueva, a great architect who renewed the construction of public and private buildings in Venezuela. In many of his designs he used these "clouds" as decorative elements.

Carlos Raúl Villanueva Park is a very pleasant place to spend a good time. If you are visiting our city try to visit it, you will surely like it.

Thanks for your time.

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