đŽLa paz del mar tiene un costo.đ
De tantas veces que deseaba que me llegara algĂșn mensaje o llamada y me dijeran âÂĄprepĂĄrate que nos vamos a la playa ya!â, por fin me llegĂł el sĂĄbado. Una amiga y su novio nos invitaron, a mi esposo y a mĂ, a Chichiriviche y nos regresarĂamos el domingo. El pequeño detalle era que tomarĂamos el Ășltimo bus (a las 5 pm) para ir y aĂșn no habĂa llegado el novio de mi amiga, que venĂa llegando de Caracas; por suerte nos esperaron y emprendimos el viaje. Yo calculaba que tardarĂamos poco mĂĄs de hora y media en llegar, nunca habĂa ido a este lado de la costa oriental de FalcĂłn pero ya habĂa escuchado que de Tucacas hacia allĂĄ eran como 15-20 minutos aproximadamente. ÂĄEstaba completamente equivocada! Ese tiempo estimado era de dĂa, y nosotros estĂĄbamos llegando de noche, ÂĄtardamos casi una hora en terminar de llegar! Como el bus tenĂa los vidrios negros y no encendĂa las luces internas, tampoco habĂa alumbrado en la autopista, asĂ que no podĂa ver porquĂ© iba tan lento despuĂ©s de su parada en Tucacas. Ya eran casi las 8 de las noche, la ansiedad y la incertidumbre me tenĂan al borde de la locura. Por suerte, podĂamos saber por don Ăbamos por el Google Maps. ÂĄAh! Otra cosa que no les mencionĂ©: Ă©ramos los Ășnicos en el bus despuĂ©s de la parada en Tucacas. Por fin cuando se podĂa ver algunas luces a lo lejos, supimos que estĂĄbamos llegando.
So many times I wished that I would get a message or a call and they would tell me "get ready, we are going to the beach now!", finally Saturday came. A friend and her boyfriend invited my husband and me to Chichiriviche and we would return on Sunday. The small detail was that we would take the last bus (at 5 pm) to go and my friend's boyfriend, who was arriving from Caracas, had not yet arrived; luckily they waited for us and we started the trip. I had never been to this side of the eastern coast of Falcon but I had already heard that from Tucacas to there it was about 15-20 minutes approximately. I was completely wrong! That estimated time was during the day, and we were arriving at night, it took us almost an hour to get there! As the bus had black windows and did not turn on the internal lights, there was no lighting on the highway either, so I could not see why it was going so slow after its stop in Tucacas. It was almost 8 o'clock at night, anxiety and uncertainty had me on the verge of madness. Luckily, we could find out where we were going by Google Maps. Ah! Another thing I didn't mention: we were the only ones on the bus after the stop in Tucacas. Finally when we could see some lights in the distance, we knew we were arriving.
Finalmente llegamos sanos y salvos, yo tenĂa ganas de tirarme y besar el suelo. A primera vista, todo estaba muy alumbrado, limpio y con mucha policĂa por todos lados. Todos los comercios estaban aĂșn laborando, asĂ que fuimos a comprar provisiones para la cena y el dĂa siguiente. El chico del apartahotel (hotel apartamento) nos estaba indicando dĂłnde quedaba porque tampoco sabĂamos dĂłnde estaba, menos mal que la gente era amable y nos iban indicando tambiĂ©n por dĂłnde debĂamos ir. Pero luego, nos dimos cuenta de lo lejos que quedaba el sitio, ya estaba mĂĄs sola la zona. Por fin llegamos y empezamos a hacer el recorrido de nuestro lugar de hospedaje. De inmediato nos dimos cuenta de que el lugar necesitaba mucho mantenimiento, estaba muy limpio y ordenado, pero habĂa botes de agua, uno de los baños no tenĂa luz, la nevera no cerraba del todo, el aire acondicionado tambiĂ©n botaba un poco de agua, no habĂa wi-fi, algunos tomacorrientes no funcionaban y tampoco nos habĂan dejado gas para cocinar. Llamamos de nuevo al encargado y nos trajo una bombona y un trapeador, no solucionaba todo, pero ya solo pensĂĄbamos en relajarnos y cenar. Ya luego de cenar, preparamos las respectivas bebidas espirituosas, pusimos mĂșsica, nos cambiamos y nos fuimos a la piscina. Al principio, estĂĄbamos âalgo tranquilosâ, pero al cabo de un rato, nos dimos cuenta de que Ă©ramos los Ășnicos hospedĂĄndonos en el lugar, asĂ que pusimos la mĂșsica a todo lo que daba. Aunque (no podĂa faltar) la alegrĂa no durĂł mucho, porque al momento de entrar a la piscina, vimos que ya se nos habĂan adelantado los dueños autĂ©nticos del sitio: ranitas; resulta que hay muchĂsimas por todas partes y quizĂĄs algunas se quisieron unir a la fiesta que estĂĄbamos por comenzar.
We finally arrived safe and sound, I felt like throwing myself down and kissing the ground. At first glance, everything was brightly lit, clean and with lots of police everywhere. All the stores were still working, so we went to buy supplies for dinner and the next day. The guy at the aparthotel (apartment hotel) was showing us where it was because we didn't know where it was either, thank goodness the people were nice and were also showing us where we should go. But then, we realized how far away the place was, the area was already more lonely. We finally arrived and began to make our way to our place of lodging. We immediately realized that the place needed a lot of maintenance, it was very clean and tidy, but there were water leaks, one of the bathrooms had no light, the refrigerator did not close completely, the air conditioning was leaking a little water, there was no wi-fi, some outlets did not work and they had not left us any gas for cooking. We called the manager again and he brought us a gas cylinder and a mop, it didn't solve everything, but we were only thinking about relaxing and having dinner. After dinner, we prepared the respective spirits drinks, put on some music, changed and went to the pool. At first, we were "a bit quiet", but after a while, we realized that we were the only ones staying at the place, so we turned the music up to full blast. Although (we couldn't miss it) the joy didn't last long, because when we entered the pool, we saw that we had already been overtaken by the real owners of the place: little frogs; it turns out that there are lots of them everywhere and maybe some of them wanted to join the party we were about to start.
Ya despuĂ©s de todo eso, decidimos que mĂĄs nada nos iba a arruinar la noche y empezamos a disfrutar en serio. El frĂo ya nos estaba diciendo que nos regresĂĄramos al apartamento, asĂ que subimos, igual ya iba a ser media noche. Tomamos una ducha cada quien, preparamos unos snaks para continuar la velada hasta que se nos hizo las 2 de la madrugada.
After all that, we decided that nothing else was going to ruin our night and we started to really enjoy ourselves. The cold was already telling us to go back to the apartment, so we went upstairs, even though it was already midnight. We took a shower each, prepared some snacks to continue the evening until it was 2 am.
El domingo, bien temprano empezamos a hacer el desayuno, que por cierto no les he contado, durante todo el viaje mantuvimos nuestros estĂłmagos con hamburguesas. Ya era hora de irnos a la playa, el dueño del apartamento ya nos habĂa advertido que, por ser temporada baja, los lancheros iban a estar al acecho, que tuviĂ©ramos algo de cuidado. Compramos algunas bebidas y nos dirigimos al malecĂłn, no habĂamos terminado de poner los pies en el sitio, que ya estaban todos los lancheros y vendedores cayĂ©ndonos en cima. Luego de espantar a algunos intensos y de caminar tanto, decidimos regresarnos y tomar la lancha con un señor, se veĂa mĂĄs confiable y dejaba que le pagĂĄramos el viaje de regreso, ademĂĄs de escoger entre cuĂĄl Cayo querĂamos ir (los demĂĄs colocaban un precio a cada Cayo). Todos coincidimos en que Cayo Sal serĂa nuestro destino y enseguida partimos. Me habĂan comendado que el Cayo era algo distinto (por no decir que feo y solitario), pero esos comentarios los dejĂ© que se ahogaran porque que espectĂĄculo de isla, estaba bellĂsima. Lo Ășnico malo eran las plagas y la intensidad de los vendedores, pero nos deshicimos de ambos, corriendo a lanzarnos al agua; estaba templada y con un oleaje casi imperceptible, como una caricia. PasĂ© el playeo exprĂ©s mĂĄs rico que he tenido y que tambiĂ©n necesitaba tanto.
On Sunday, very early we started making breakfast, which by the way I haven't told you about, during the whole trip we kept our stomachs full of hamburgers. It was time to go to the beach, the owner of the apartment had already warned us that, being low season, the boatmen were going to be on the prowl, so we had to be careful. We bought some drinks and headed to the boardwalk, we had not finished putting our feet on the site, all the boatmen and vendors were already falling over us. After scaring off a few intense people and walking so much, we decided to go back and take the boat with a gentleman, he looked more reliable and let us pay him for the return trip, besides choosing which key we wanted to go to (the others put a price for each key). We all agreed that Cayo Sal would be our destination and we left immediately. I had been told that the key was something different (not to say that it was ugly and lonely), but I let those comments drown because what a spectacle of an island, it was beautiful. The only bad thing was the pests and the intensity of the vendors, but we got rid of both, running to jump into the water; it was warm and with an almost imperceptible swell, like a caress. I had the most delicious express beaching I've ever had, and I also needed it so much.
Antes de irnos, la amable Sra. Ana (alquila sillas y toldos), nos habĂa contado que la parte de atrĂĄs de la isla era muy bonita, aunque habĂa que atravesar mucha plaga y el agua tenĂa piedritas al fondo, asĂ que habĂa que ir calzados si querĂamos bañarnos ahĂ. Primero fueron Frany y su novio, luego nosotros y lamento no haberme llevado el celular para tomar fotos, si ya les habĂa dicho que la primera vista del cayo era hermoso, esta parte era sublime. El agua estaba sĂșper calentita, cristalina, se veĂan pequeños pececitos, y el ruido de la gente quedaba en el olvido, era naturaleza pura. En ese corto momento sentĂ que me transportĂ© al lugar de paz que tanto anhelaba, lo Ășnico que podĂa oĂr eran las aves, el viento y el sonido del inmenso mar; era como vivir un sueño del cual no me importarĂa nunca despertar. Ya cuando me tocĂł volver a la realidad, regresamos al otro lado de la isla, no sin antes recoger algunas conchitas y un caracol.
Before leaving, the kind Mrs. Ana (she rents chairs and awnings), had told us that the back of the island was very nice, although we had to go through a lot of pests and the water had pebbles at the bottom, so we had to wear shoes if we wanted to swim there. First Frany and her boyfriend went, then us and I regret not having taken my cell phone to take pictures, if I had already told you that the first view of the cay was beautiful, this part was sublime. The water was super warm, crystal clear, you could see little fish, and the noise of the people was forgotten, it was pure nature. In that short moment I felt that I was transported to the place of peace that I longed for, the only thing I could hear were the birds, the wind and the sound of the immense sea; it was like living a dream from which I would never care to wake up. When it was my turn to come back to reality, we returned to the other side of the island, but not before picking up some shells and a snail.
La lancha nos buscĂł mĂĄs que puntual, aunque tuvimos inconvenientes con el pago: era en dĂłlares sĂ o sĂ. Le Ăbamos a pagar una parte por transacciĂłn bancaria y lo demĂĄs en efectivo, pero nos estaban cobrando la transacciĂłn exageradamente por encima del dĂłlar paralelo. Luego de mediar un rato, llegamos a un acuerdo y nos regresamos al apartamento, ya Ăbamos sobre la hora para regresar; menos mal que estaban varios buses en la parada y preguntamos cuĂĄnto tenĂamos para tomar uno, tenĂamos al menos media hora de chance. Corrimos literalmente hasta el apartamento para bañarnos, recoger nuestras cosas, cocinar algo porque no habĂamos almorzado, y nos regresamos corriendo a la parada. No sĂ© cĂłmo hicimos todo eso tan rĂĄpido, pero lo logramos. Aunque despuĂ©s el chofer se detuvo a cargar combustible en medio de la nada, bajo el sol inclemente, ya todos los pasajeros estĂĄbamos que nos querĂamos lanzar pero no habĂa dĂłnde. Ya de nuevo en la carretera pude entender por quĂ© la noche anterior el bus iba lento, habĂan baches por todos lados y habĂa que esquivarlos. Ya estando en la parada de Tucacas, pude echar una pequeña siesta hasta Puerto Cabello.
The boat picked us up more than punctually, although we had problems with the payment: it was in dollars, no matter what. We were going to pay a part by bank transaction and the rest in cash, but they were charging us an exaggerated amount above the parallel dollar. After mediating for a while, we reached an agreement and went back to the apartment, it was about time to return; luckily there were several buses at the bus stop and we asked how much we had to take one, we had at least half an hour of chance. We literally ran back to the apartment to take a bath, pick up our things, cook something because we had not had lunch, and we ran back to the bus stop. I don't know how we did all that so fast, but we made it. Although later the driver stopped to refuel in the middle of nowhere, under the blazing sun, all the passengers wanted to jump in but there was nowhere to go. Back on the road again I could understand why the bus was going slow the night before, there were potholes everywhere and we had to avoid them. Once we were at the Tucacas stop, I was able to take a little nap until Puerto Cabello.
Sinceramente, la experiencia exprĂ©s no me agradĂł del todo, aunque estar en el Cayo es un tema completamente distinto, eso momento lo amĂ© infinito. En lo personal, no volverĂa a Chichiriviche (al menos no de pasajero), y mucho menos me volverĂa a quedar esos apartamentos (ni el nombre supe); sigo casada con Tucacas y sus playas, lo siento por los amantes de âChichiâ, sĂ© que puedo parecer presuntuosa, pero no. QuizĂĄs habrĂa que darle una segunda oportunidad, pero no creo, muchos lancheros intentaron estafarnos y otros nos veĂan como si fuĂ©ramos sus presas; aunque el del apartamento se ofreciĂł a llevarnos, no nos habĂamos decido ir a algĂșn Cayo hasta que vimos lo lejos que quedaba la orilla de la playa. Tal vez Tucacas sea un poco mĂĄs costoso en cuanto a hospedaje, pero es mejor y mĂĄs prĂĄctico ya que todo queda cerca, y tampoco hace falta pagar una lancha para poderte bañar en la playa, ademĂĄs de que no van a estar cobrando una locura los dĂłlares.
Honestly, the express experience did not please me at all, although being in the Cayo is a completely different matter, that moment I loved it infinitely. Personally, I would not go back to Chichiriviche (at least not as a passenger), and much less I would stay again in those apartments (I didn't even know the name); I am still married to Tucacas and its beaches, sorry for the lovers of "Chichi", I know I may seem presumptuous, but I'm not. Maybe we should give it a second chance, but I don't think so, many boatmen tried to swindle us and others saw us as if we were their prey; although the guy from the apartment offered to take us, we had not decided to go to a Cayo until we saw how far away the shore of the beach was. Maybe Tucacas is a little more expensive in terms of lodging, but it is better and more practical since everything is close by, and you don't have to pay for a boat to be able to swim at the beach, plus they won't be charging a crazy amount of dollars.
Thank you for coming here and reading me. | Gracias llegar hasta aquĂ y leerme.
Fotos tomadas desde un Redmi 10C & Samsung J3 (Photos taken from a Redmi 10C & Samsung J3) | Edited with (Editado con) + GIF Pixlr X
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Muy buen post.
Un saludo desde MĂ©xico.
Nice photos & a beer.