JoAnn: Playa y Selva

Posted 01:05 AM, July 25, 2006, by jaczecho

On Sunday, I went on a little excursion to see some of the sights outside of Malabo. We headed for Luba, a city about a tenth of the size of Malabo, about an hour south of here. People with houses next to the highway sell bananas, caracoles (snails) and carne de bosque (forest food=monkeys, antelope, porcupine, squirrels).

We ventured into the jungle to pick some fruit from the cacao trees...

After a forty-five minute journey through the jungle, we arrived at the Playa de Arena Blanca, the white sand beach. Some people paddled out in these boats made of hollowed-out trees.

The beach was a very international place to be. I met a Chinese family, a pair of Brits, and swam with an Egyptian guy for a couple minutes.

There were lots of Guineanos, too, although, I was surprised there weren't more locals there on such a nice Sunday afternoon.

We left the beach, and continued another fifteen minutes south to Luba. The Spanish colonial buildings are much better preserved in Luba than in Malabo, and it's quite a bit cleaner, too. There is a canal that runs parallel to main road, so it feels a little bit like a Spanish Venice. In Africa.

Sunday was a day of celebration in Luba--these women were dancing in the street:

Malabo has its charms, but getting outside of the city showed me just how beautiful Bioko Island is. Unfortunately, the new highway will certainly mean more people at the beach and in Luba. I hope both stay clean and lovely.