Turner County herald. (Hurley, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-19??, 1911-03-30

AII world, yet a gentleman sent
out by a department of the
United States government to collect
information recently arrived just in
tlme, by running, to make connections
with the train for Caracas, and de-
parting went out with the same speed.
In response to the question as to his
object In neglecting commercial con-
dltions of this port he said he was
told to "avoid La Guaira, because no
man could endure its heat; it was pes
tilential'' Many people live in La
'Guaira all their lives, and know a
number who are not dead yet The
poetry former American consul once
dropped into" entitled "Adios to thee.
La Guaira,' is yet a famous text of
those who do not really know the
place, and may be 1t was worse when
Consul Bird "fopped his wings" about
Its "ca]Ies" and "pulperias.
1t Is common among commercial
travellers, especially from the United
States, to rant and rave at La Guairas S
climate and conditions. But the eli
mate of La Guaira is fully as agree
able AZ one finds at any port of the
same latitude. They speak from a
days experience: / write from over a
years continuous residence, and 1t is
misrepresented. 1t is an enervating
climate for northern man II he stays
too long, but 1t is delicious at times,
and rarely severe
With market Offering a surprising
variety of fruits and vegetables, many
OF them not usually found in tropical
ports; with delicious fresh fish daily,
and other commodities not formerly
to be had, life is not altogether un-
pleasant, as many seem to think.
Situated at the base and on the
jagged edges of cliffs Of high, rugged
mountains which rise almost directly
from the breaking surf of the Carib-
bean Sea to an elevation Of from 1000
to 5000 feet, It's location is extremely
picturesque The town is divided into
three or four villages, of which La
Guafra proper is the center; stretch
ing along the narrow shelf at the base
of the hills for distance of four or
five miles, encompassing Maiquetia on
the west and the Venezuelan, Baden
Baden, yclept Macuto. on the east.
II 1t were "Out West" 1t would surely
be nicknamed "Stringtown," but it
gives homes and employment to ten
or twelve thousand souls.
The towns OF La Guaira and Mai
quetia differ but little from other
Spanish towns, with cobblestone-
payed streets. opening out at unex-
pected corners into cool-looking parks
as surprising and welcome as oases
In desert. The streets are fianked
by brick or adobe succeed houses of
one or two stories; the front rooms
frequently serving as shops. stores, or
'pulperias' for the sale of fruits,
vegetables, matches. beer, wines,
liquors, and highly colored cottons
and alparagatas, the rear rooms and
second stories being the living rooms
of the families.
La Guaira is the principal port of
northern Venezuela, and the port of
ingress and egress for the capital
Caracas, the Paris of South Amer
lea" with which it is connected with
a wonderfully scenic and picturesque
railway. 1t enjoys a large import and
export trade, with an average of 20
ships engaged in international COM
merce making it a port of call month
ly, while the coastwise sailing craft,
many with this as their home port,
are lnnumerable. 1t Is a dull day in
deed in La Guaira harbor that finds
less than is or 20 small sloops and
schooners loading or unloading cargo
from the coast towns or the adjacent
islands.
The approach from the sea is pic
turesque in the extreme. and the sight
AS one steams into the harbor (or
out Of it) is one not soon to be for
gotten. 1t gives curious inter
mingling idea of the villages along the
italian shores of the Mediterranean
and OF the Hopi cliff dwellers.
The streets wind and weave up the
gullies from the seashore. and narrow
trails and stairways zigzag along the
steep hillsides to where little white
washed huts break the monotony Of
the red iron stain of the barren
declivities
The old story of narrow streets of
medieval Spanish towns repeats It,
self here. Laid out in the centuries
of turmoil and strife. all was with
view to defense; but in La Guaira the
old story is slightly accentuated.
There is one boulevard reaching from
Maiquetia through La Guaira to Ma
cuto, and all the rest are just "calles,"
or passageways. The wider of these
Is about twelve feet across and there
are several too narrow for three peo-
pie to walk abreast without humping
against doorsteps and the omnipres
ent projecting iron. barred windows.
The cobblestone pavements are the
work of a period when the memory
of man runneth not to thA contrary"