Araya Peninsula

By Lorraine Caputo

Below heavy fortress stones tumbling to the sea, the salina turns rose in the light of late morn. The surrounding hills are ochre, burnt-orange, rime-white and brushed with thorn trees and cacti.

Since before the arrival of the Dutch and Spanish, the parched flats near the town of Araya have been an important source of salt and, to this day, more than 1000 tons of it are extracted daily. A stone fortress, Castillo de Santiago, was built by the Spaniards to protect the salinas. At the time of construction, it was the most expensive project undertaken in the colonies.

Located in the far east of Venezuela, the Araya Peninsula is embraced on one side by the indigo-aquamarine Caribbean Sea and on the other by the deep blue-green Gulf of Cariaco. The Peninsula offers a stunning desert landscape view; the salt flats changing colors throughout the day as the setting sun casts long, deep shadows over the hallucination-like scene.

Manicuares on the Gulf-side of the Peninsula is renowned for its pottery. It was here that Cruz Salmerón Acosta, one of Venezuela’s most famous poets, died of leprosy in 1929. His verses capture the haunting beauty of the region and his home is now a museum. This southern shore of the Araya Peninsula is dotted with small fishing villages that are easily visited by public or private boats. One of these hamlets, Merito, is home to a beachside hostel run by the local high school’s tourism studies program.

The Mediterranean climate makes for pleasurable days spent walking through hills of glimmering, polychrome stone scaled by herds of goats. Hours can be whiled away painting this land and seascape in watercolor or words, or swimming in salt-dense waters beneath a starlit sky. This is a land Christopher Columbus acclaimed as hermosa (beautiful)—and those who explore the little-visited Araya Peninsula will surely agree.