Apart from its exceptionally fresh climate the Caripe valley is also famous for the great cueva, or Guàcharo grotto. (57) In a country so given to the marvelous, a cave that gives birth to a river, and is inhabited by thousands of nocturnal birds whose fat is used for preparing the food in the monastery, becomes an unending topic of discussions and arguments. Hardly has a foreigner disembarked at Cumanà than he hears such talk about the Araya eye stones, the Arenas father who breast-fed his child, and the Guàcharo grotto said to be several leagues long, that he soon gets fed up. A keen interest in nature is maintained everywhere where society has no life, or lives in sad monotony, and things are seen in simple ways that do not stimulate curiosity.