Barlovento, Venezuela

During Spanish colonization of the Americas, Barlovento was developed as estate owners founded cacao haciendas.

The culture of African and Spanish inhabitants has merged into the "drum dancing", Barlovento's typical Afro-Venezuelan celebration.

Other events include the Entierro de la Sardina (Burial of the Sardine) and Day of the Dead.

[citation needed] Barlovento lies near the coast of Venezuela which forms the northern aspect of South America.

It is formed by deposits from the rivers from the Serranía del Interior mountains in the central region of the Cordillera de la Costa.

[8] In 1924, the Barlovento and Paria regions grew eighty percent of Venezuela's 20,000 ton cocoa export.

[10] Towns in the region include Caucagua, Capaya, Río Chico, El Guapo, Higuerote, Panaquire, Tapipa, El Clavo, Curiepe, Birongo, Tacarigua de Brión, San José de Barlovento and Cúpira.

These include the Bicentenario Intercommunal Avenue, San José-Río Chico, and the Troncal ninth which passes through the municipalities of Andrés Bello, Páez, Brión, Broz and Pedro Gual.

From the 1500s, the people of Barlovento, plantation owners and their African slaves, developed an avidity for the feast of San Juan.

Despite the objections of Bishop Mariano Marti to these "ridiculous and earthly diversions" when he visited the region in 1784, the festival continued to gain in popularity.[1]: p.

34  The date of the feast, June 25, aligned with the harvesting of the cocoa bean crop, the onset of the wet season and the summer solstice.

The cuisine incorporates local products such as grains, tubers, bananas, fish, seafood, and lapa.

It is from the African culture and consists of a banana muffin prepared with cassava, coconut, papelón and anise.

In Higuerote, artisans produce in wood the birds of the canals and lagoons of Barlovento, including coro-coras, and herons.

Its beaches include Los Totumos, Paparo, La Cangrejera, Chirere, Puerto Francés, Machurucuto, and Playa Pintada.