SANTA ANA DE CORO

SANTA ANA DE CORO: SATURDAY, DECEMBER 2
Though a State Capital, Santa Ana de Coro is small and manageable. Spaniards founded the town in 1527. It is a safe clean joyful place - no warnings against robbers, muggers, drug addicts, homosexuals or degenerates. You can relax and walk the historic quarter in the evening. Search here in vain for the splendours of Oaxa or Cusco. Coro is on a humbler, more intimate scale. Even the cathedral is little bigger than a parish church. Yet if perfection is simplicity and immaculate proportions, then Coro is a jewel. Sad that Coro is on UNESCO list of World Heritage Sites in danger...

WORLD HERITAGE FRAUD

CARUPANO: WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 29
Carupano is on the coast. Guide books describe it as a splendid colonial town, a World Heritage Site. What earns a city the accolade of World Heritage Site? Who decides? Do politics or money play their part?
The church in Carupano has been ruined by restoration - imagine a Bad B movie tart-up. A few houses are good. The rest is a mess. And there are no cafes where I can sit outside and drink a beer. A sign advertises a possada with pool and Internet. The pool is empty. Internet doesn't connect. Owner and guests are German. I am too tired to move.