If you are a beach lover like me, this place is a gem with its heavenly and pristine beaches with no soul in sight, flour-like sand that your feet happily sink into, turquoise waters that you cannot resist submerging into… yes, that’s what Los Roques is all about.

Los Roques is located about 40 minutes north of Caracas by plane – and that plane ride… oh what a ride that was… We were packed in an 8-seater plane with cracked windows and loosen bolts and an engine so loud you could not hear your own horrified exclamations. I could not help but wonder if we’d get there in one piece. But once I saw a preview of what awaits, my heart started beating faster with excitement.

After landing safely on the island, I was just speechless… I didn’t even care about the crashed old plane that welcomed us in the tiny “airport,” which consisted of a single strip, not even a mile long, and a what-seemed-to-be the control “tower” was mounted on top of a truck. There are no words to describe the beauty and tranquility of this place.

The Gran Roque is the main island where all accommodations are located. There is not a single car on the island, other than a golf car that collects the garbage. One can walk the entire island in a matter of hours. There are some adorable little bars right on the water that make the best margaritas I’ve ever tasted. There is an old lighthouse from where the view is even more heavenly and the sun melts into the ocean before your very eyes.

Each morning a boat would picks us up and drop us off at one of the many breathtaking islands surrounding Gran Rogue. Many days we were by ourselves, other times the beach was “overpopulated” with two-three couples appearing on the horizon. There are precious little sandbars which at sunset almost disappear and you are stranded there with your umbrella hoping for the boat to get you before you’re completely submerged under water (it sounds crazy, but it was quite the adventure).

We stayed in a beautiful posada, La Terraza, whose hosts were nothing less of amazing and the staff always carried itself with a big smile (as if there is anything to frown upon, were you to live in that paradise). Food was mainly different types of fish caught daily – we ate in our posada every night for two incredible weeks and never got tired of the food. The chef is simply incredible and he created great menus each night. During the day they kindly prepped a cooler for us with goodies for the hot beach days that certainly kept us well fed throughout.

It is quite the discrepancy I saw from mainland to this beautiful paradise – the former is chaotic with people rushing back and forth, some consider it even dangerous, while the latter is simply the epitome of tranquility. We are considering another trip soon to this hidden gem to release our tension and get away from modern civilization.

09 Jan This entry was published on January 9, 2013 at 9:44 pm. It’s filed under Travel and tagged beaches, breathtaking, Cayo de Aqua, heavenly, travel, turquoise, Venezuela. Bookmark the permalink. Follow any comments here with the RSS feed for this post.