Venezuela's best colonial architectural wonders are in Coro, the capital of Falcón State and the oldest city west of Venezuela. The city is a bus ride away from the capital, Caracas. The name "Coro" is believed to stand for an indigenous word for "wind," although it is also an allusion to the city's turbulent history at the hands of Spanish colonists, who founded the city as Santa Ana de Coro in 1527, and the Germans, who used the city as a 16th century base in an attempt to colonize South America. Coro's La Vela port was the first to witness the raising of Venezuela's tricolor flag.
Since 1993, Coro and its port are in UNESCO's World Heritage Sites catalog for their urban landscape that reflects cross-cultural influences. All over the city center we find hundreds of traditional buildings bear the unmistakable imprints of 18th and 19th century Dutch or Spanish Mudéjar (Islamic) style. There are also interesting Catholic churches and an old Jewish cemetery. In 2005, however, Coro was included in the list of World Heritage Sites in Danger since the city's innumerable structures are vulnerable to heavy rainfall.
On the northeast, in between Coro and its port, is the five-mile stretch of Los Medanos de Coro, a band of sand dunes that form the only desert in Venezuela. One hour north from the dunes is the Paraguaná Peninsula, world famous for its beaches and windsurfing. Another hour towards south directs to La Sierra de Coro or Sierra de San Luis, popular for unspoiled mountains, wildlife, and refreshing cool climate. Driving west heads to Urumaco, the most fossil-rich zone in northern South America, where the remains of the world's largest turtle, Venezuela's 15,000-year-old humans, and 14,000-year-old petroglyphs can be found.
