Camping on Playa Pui Pui – Peninsula de Paria, Venezuela

From Caripe we follow a the asphalt trail to the beach paradise of Playa PuiPui.

The road is mostly good, but as anywhere along coastal Venezuela, you need to take great care riding your motorbike here! There are potholes and obstacles – especially hardly visible speed bumps – along the way, but most dangerous of all, in some places there are sections of the road edges that have fallen away and formed deep pits. These appear often without any warning! Do not drive close to the edge of the road!!!

The ride takes us through beautiful tropical hills and turns a bit wet later on, but there’s some fresh strawberries and cream available on the way to brighten up the mood.

Unfortunately the evening we arrive at PuiPui, the place is packed with xmas holiday makers. Every man and his dog seems to be here; oh and their women also. All campers with big 4x4s and more than most with large stereo systems blaring out loud music while the owners get drunk on beer and spirits.

The beach itself is gorgeous, but this is not the right time to be here.

We do inquire at the little village at the end of the beach about accommodation, but it’s much more expensive than average (I mean from 300BF upward for two people) and it’s all fully booked. The bungalows on the other side of the beach start at 700BF for a double.

Propaganda on the way to PuiPui…

Thus we opt for a camping spot on the soft grass between the palm trees, and this is free. (Note: there are not any decent camping facilities here.) There are a couple of places at the village which sell beer and water. While we pitch our tents, a soldier appears from the night sporting a large assault rifle. We talk a bit and he seems ok; apparently here just to keep the place safe. It’s a bit reassuring to us, since we’re a bit nervous about camping up here at the Venezuelan coast for the first time… but then again, can we trust him?…

Well, the answer is he didn’t slaughter nor rob us during the night, so he was ok. But still we are not comfortable staying here with the place being so packed and all this racket going, so the next day we move on.