Cabo de Vela Overview

By Lorraine Caputo

North of the Manaure-Uribia crossroads, the highway continues to parallel the coal railway northward, to the turn-off for Cabo de la Vela and eventually passing the Parque Eólico and ending at Puerto Bolívar. The way is rough; low clearance vehicles will have a difficult time. From the turn-off for Cabo de la Vela, a well-worn track cuts 17 kilometers across the desert to the coastal hamlet. Several arroyos, or creeks, have to be crossed.

Cabo de la Vela is on a bay. Along the south shore, a road edges the waterfront. On the right side are mostly cane-slat buildings serving as restaurants, shops and hostels. On the seaside of the strip are enramadas that are rented out for hanging a hammock or pitching a tent. Behind here are other streets where locals live. The beach road continues to the desert, then curves westward giving access to inns along the north coast of the bay and ending at El Faro.

(Altitude: 3 m / 10 ft, Population: 1500, City Code: 5)