Last Christmas, I spent a few days on the Venezuelan archipelago of Los Roques. It's a gorgeous place - but it's got some serious environmental problems, ranging from overfishing to waste disposal. I've written about the trip for Plenty:
The island was flawless: a sliver of bone-white sand blazing in the Caribbean sun. The sky was clear and cloudless, the water a startlingly vivid blue. Apart from a pair of brown pelicans bobbing lazily nearby, we were entirely alone: sole tenants of a picture-perfect slice of paradise.The lure of this kind of desert-island fantasy is the unique selling point of Los Roques, a cluster of tiny islands about 80 miles off the Venezuelan coast. For us, the park delivered on its promise: we snorkeled and basked in the sun until finally, with the shadows lengthening, a fishing boat arrived to take us back to Gran Roque, the archipelago’s only inhabited island.
As the boat skipped over the water, our guide pointed out silver clouds of jumping fish and dark, hazy disks - "Tortugas!" - gliding beneath the crystal-clear water. Approaching Gran Roque, though, we noticed a bitter, acrid smell. Tucked behind a headland, out of sight of most tourists, a thick cloud of filthy black smog was rising: Islanders had piled a week's worth of garbage into a huge heap and, with no other way to dispose of the trash, had simply set it ablaze.
Read the rest over here.
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