San Nicolas and Arikok National Park

Charlie's Bar in San Nicolas has been operating since 1942 with it's main clientele being the workers at the Lagos oil refinery. Charlie's is now being run by the third generation. It has built a reputation for its eclectic decor and has become somewhat of a pilgrimage for tourists.

Charlie's is decorated by collections of just about everything imaginable. Food was good and maybe a little overpriced but the beer was cold and it was good to sit after our 12 km hike in the Arikok National Park.

Hmmm. Interesting graffiti on a building in San Nicolas. It looks like a mullah and underneath it says in Spanish "it is possible"

Arikok National Park.

Our day trip with Karen and Richard started with a 4 hour hike through the Arikok Natinal Park. We started by climbing the highest peak, Sero Jamanota, which is 617 feet. This provided us with a great view of the island. In Arikok, there are several old mine shafts from the gold mining days.

Can you see the two troupials on the cactus. This is the national bird of Venezuela. Troupials are beautiful orange and black birds and are part of the Oriole family. These two are in the Candle Cactus (steno cereus griseus).
I never realized how many different types of cactus there are. I love the Internet to look up information and wanted to use the proper names for the cactus in the photos I posted. I came across a great website; www.cactiguide.com. Check it out! You'll be amazed.

Commonly known as Turks Cap, this is the Melocactus macracantthos. Very cool plant. When in bloom the top is covered in red flowers and it resembles a Turkish fez. The Turks and Caicos island were named after the cactus amd you can see it depicted on their flag.

This is a flower on the well known Prickley Pear cactus.

Nope, not a cactus. This is an aloe plant in bloom.

Lizard on a fence surrounding a mine shaft hole. He has a yellow throat that he blows out. But I didn't get a photo. What type of lizard is this ... Give me a minute. Gotta check in Wiki...

This photo is borrowed from the Internet. It took me a while, but I finally found this guy. He is called Anolis Lineatus, or is more commonly known as a striped anole. I couldn't find any information on the purpose of the throat. The only thing I can think of is that it looks like a leaf and maybe they use it to disguise themselves from their predators.
After our climb we headed down to the coast to the Fontein Caves. These are a natural formation dating back some 85 million years. Inside we see drawings from the Amerindians.