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Gary Saavedra used to hitch a ride from Chitré, his hometown that had no or almost no waves, to Playa Venao, which was his paradise.

When I went there, there was practically nothing in Venao, no electricity, no hotels, no markets, and of course, no crowds. The waves were their paradise and the days were spent in the water, enjoying that perfect beach break.

Paradises change, or at least this one did, with its good things and its bad things.

This is how Gary tells it:

“Playa Venao has always been a mystical beach

In recent years it has started to develop and, like any place where this happens, it is filled with people, there are more crowds, there is much more infrastructure, many more places to stay, it has grown too much.

There is already a small village of people living there because there are people who work in hotels, cabins, hostels... So it has been developing and obviously it is not the same as before, when we were camping without electricity; there are all kinds of developments now.

It has its pros and cons, but it is part of a place where before there were only people in the summer and now there are always people, it has become a tourist place; obviously aimed more at the world of surfing, but there are also tourists of all kinds, and Playa Venao has already become a tourist destination.

The good thing, like all development, I think is that people in the area have opportunities to work and grow depending on tourism. There are many people from the surrounding towns who work in the area and the bad thing is what is known: pollution, garbage, etc.

But I think that if there is a balance between both things, as in any place that develops, it can grow in an orderly manner."

 

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