Culture! — 2 years ago
The second island we visited on the 2005 cruise… When we first disembarked, we were a little disappointed because it seemed like the only things to do were to walk around the thatch-roofed shops in Guamache (which were nice, but I wanted to get away from all the other cruise ship passengers and not spend a ton of money), or sit on the tiny beach-esque area within odor distance of the cruise ship. We eventually gave into the sales pitch of a crazy guy wearing lots of gold chains, and signed up for the “Taste of Margarita” sightseeing van tour. It actually turned out to be a great decision – the real beauty of Margarita is far away from the cruise ship terminal.
Margarita is very much a part of Venezuela – lots of local flavor. We visited the fishing village of Juan Griego, the wide, wonderful, sandy Playa Manzanillo (deep tans and thongs galore!), breathtaking vistas, and a huge cathedral in Asuncion. We drove thru checkpoints (guards with rifles! whoa! not something you see on your average cruise vacation), and saw about a million stores with big banners advertising Polar Ice. Definitely one of the most interesting (and outside of Guamache, least-touristy) islands I’ve been to.
