Hi everybody,
Today I want to tell you about one of the most beautiful places I’ve ever seen in my life.
Los Roques National Park is an archipelago that belongs to Venezuela and is about 160km from Caracas. In general, you go by plane because it is the fastest way, and the trip lasts about 40 minutes. It is a protected area of more than 300 islands around a 40 square km lagoon.
Since I was little, I have always had a beach life. My dad used to be on the beach from a young age because he used to do underwater fishing and since I can remember, on every vacation or almost everyone, we would go to the beach. We went to all the typical places: la Guaira, Morrocoy, la Ciénaga, Mochima, Margarita, etc. But we had never been to Los Roques.
In March 2012 I went for the first time. It was already the time when I was traveling without my parents. I took the cheapest package (because going to Los Roques, for Venezuelans, is very expensive) and we stayed in a super horrible hotel. The food was delicious, but the hotel was horrible.
I visited the typical Madrisquí and Francisquí keys, which are the closest and the ones that are usually included in the packages.
Then I took the tour that they give you through several keys that are a little further away, in which I also visited the turtle reserve. There is a key where you can see turtles, but you must be quiet and calm. If you arrive in the boat with reggaeton at full volume and jumping from the boat, it is obvious that you are not going to see a single fish.
I also went to Cayo de Agua which is among the most beautiful keys. Everyone who goes to Los Roques wants to go to this key since it has the particularity that a part of it is sometimes covered with water. It’s a bit far and if there’s a lot of wind or the sea is choppy, they don’t take you because it’s dangerous.
As it is a protected area, tourists are required to put all their garbage in a bag and return with it to Gran Roque to dispose it of there. Building is prohibited in the keys and there is no garbage collection service. In addition, it is forbidden to take sand or shells or anything that belongs to the park’s ecosystem.
From the visit I did in 2012 I must highlight two bad things. The first is that the turtle “reserve” does not take proper care of these species. Tourists are allowed to grab the turtles from the tanks and take photos with them. This seems like an atrocity to me. I understand that tourists are ignorant, for the most part, and do not know the damage they do to the species by touching them, but I do not understand how the people of the reserve, who are supposed to know what they are doing, allow the protected species to be touched. In our hands we have sunscreen and other substances that are toxic for these species.
The second thing is that, even though it is forbidden to take shells and things from the keys, many people take them. The first time I was there, as soon as I got to Gran Roque, I reported several people who came on the boat with me, and the National Guard forced them to throw all the shells back into the water.
In April 2016 I returned to Los Roques. This time I stayed at the Tsunami inn, which is beautiful and the service unbeatable. We did Madrisquí and Francisquí and then a tour of several keys that ended at the Rabusquí Lagoon, where you can see giant starfish.
Here I must highlight another bad thing. Starfish can’t stay out of the water for even a second because they die. This is something that should be controlled by the person who takes you to the Lagoon. When I went, I snorkeled to see them, I didn’t touch them or take them out of the water. But there were a couple of people who took out a star to take a photo and killed it. How do you know? Because when the starfish dies, it floats. I arrived at Gran Roque hysterical denouncing the boatman with everyone, because you can imagine what happens if each tourist kills a starfish to take his picture. The next day several people approached me to ask me what had happened to the starfish because it seems that the boatman had a big problem. I hope he had it, especially since the people of this archipelago live from tourism and live from Los Roques being a National Park and a protected area.
In Gran Roque, you can also go up to the lighthouse and walk around the Island, it is small but nice and quiet. All the streets are made of sand and at night, there is practically no lighting.
Fortunately, it has not become overcrowded because the constructions are very controlled, because everything is very expensive and not many people can afford to go to Los Roques. I say fortunately because human beings are very destructive and unconscious exploitation always kills everything.
In short, Los Roques is a place to fall in love with the beach, nature, tranquility, white sand and crystal clear waters. I have not yet seen any other beach that is similar to what I have seen in Los Roques and it is always my point of comparison.
For me, being there is like being in another world, a world where time stands still and worries go away. The only concern is the sunscreen because you get a quick burn; for the rest, it’s like floating in a Bob Marley song.
