Richard didn't show. The driver Lief's friend had recommended evidently didn't understand Lief's Spanish over the broken cell connection, so we went down to the front desk of the hotel to ask for help. How to get from Caracas to Rio Chico?

A hotel taxi would cost us 180,000 bolivars (that is, about $90). "What would a non-hotel taxi cost us?" we asked. The friendly woman behind the counter didn't seem to mind the question and offered to call an outside cab company. Ten minutes later, a street cab arrived...the driver asking for but 100,000 bolivars to carry us the two-and-a-half hours to the beach. Half a day late, we were on our way.

The route to the coast at Rio Chico is traversed two-thirds of the way by highway in good condition, the final third by paved road, relatively pot hole-free. The mountainsides we traveled were lush and green.

For some reason, Rio Chico (in the state called Miranda) isn't covered in the two guidebooks to this country we brought with us, even though its beaches are some of the nearest to the capital. Our specific destination, an oceanside resort called Isla de Oro, was built in the late 1970s by the then-president of the country who needed a getaway where he could spend time with his mistress (so the story goes). Rather than creating an intimate love nest, this president thought big and undertook to erect a series of five 12-story towers and a handful of small cabanas just back from the beach...plus three pools, four tennis courts, bars, restaurants, and other trimmings of a mega-resort. Three of the five towers were built...and most of the more than 200 units were awarded to friends and family of the lovers. In other words, financially, the thing was a disaster.

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First Published: Aug 07, 2005