"Venezuela's Desert Coastline" Estado Falcón by atufft

The coastline of Estado Falcon is a vast region about halfway between the cities of Maracaibo and Valencia. Travelers through the area will either arrive at the airport at Punto Fijo, or by automobile as we did. The Desert landscape of Falcon is one of Venezuela's many unique habitats. During the drive from Valencia through to Maracaibo, we found a few villages and isolated homes of peasant Venezuelans who raised chickens or grew crops in the meager and sandy soil. The Paraguana Peninsula is the most distinctive feature of the Falcon coastline to those examining a general map of Venezuela. The Dutch island of Aruba is only 27 km off shore, with Bonaire and Curaçao slightly further away.

Colonial Village of Coro

Punta Figo, the largest city in Falcon, and site of a major oil refinery complex, is actually quite a ways off the main highway between Valencia and Maracaibo, but Coro is an easy stop and a pleasant colonial village with cobbled streets. The narrow land just north of Coro has an area of dunes and empty beaches, which on another trip, we had camped and took photos off.