Best Roadhouse This Side of Austin - Irish American News

June 2008 IRISH AMERICAN NEWS 37Irish DiasporaBy Charles BradyAn Irish Maverick on Margarita Island“Ah, the Tropics again!” Thewords of J.G. Ballard echo in myhead as I step off the aircraft and theheat hits me. This is not a dead heatbut an invigorating one. Boy, is itthat. It’s a heat that explodes primalmemories in the man who is steppingfrom the plane.Ballard, probably Britain’s greatestliving writer, spoke these wordsto his fellow writer Brian Aldiss ashe stepped from one life into anotherwhen returning to Shanghai, wherehe had spent his first fifteen years.He was there to try to recapture thememories that had led to him writinghis extraordinary 1984 novel“Empire of the Sun”. Yet his exclamationabout returning to the Tropicsrings no less true for the fact that Iam stepping onto Margarita Island,many years after Ballard’s return toAsia and thousands of miles fromthere. It is no different, for all ofthat. When film director John Boormansettled in County Wicklow, thegarden of Ireland, in the early ‘70s,he said: “When a man discovers anouter landscape that is perfectly atease with his inner landscape, thenhe knows he has come home.” That’show I feel here.Here I am, a continent away, completingthe last leg of a journey thathas taken me from Galway to Dublin,from there to Paris and on, finally toVenezuela. If you look at the map,Margarita Island seems almost tofloat off the coastline of Venezuela,serene and calm. Despite being officiallypart of the South Americancountry it has a real feel of theCaribbean about it. It also boasts itsown assembly and its own Governor.And—of course—as happens whereverone goes on this planet, there areIrish mavericks to be found.Conor Johnston is a good-lookingyoung guy of twenty-five who makesme, at twice his age, wonder whatthe Devil I’ve been doing with mylife. Boundless energy, a true likingfor his work and a real love of thiscountry that he finds himself workingin. Where did I go wrong?He comes from the County Galwaytown of Ballinasloe, born toparents who are both schoolteachers.He left school at the age of sixteen,which didn’t go down well with hisparents, although as far as I can seeit didn’t do him a bit of harm.“I began working with a publishingcompany”, Conor tells me.“They were advertising sales and itwasn’t long before I discovered Ihad an affinity with selling anythingthat I believed in my heart to be agood property. Then I had a luckybreak at twenty, when I found myselftaken up by an estate agent inStrokestown. He wanted an overseasproperty section within the businessand I was recruited to start it. As itturned out I was pretty successfuland suddenly I felt that I had reallyfound my niche.”This could all sound self-aggrandising.But I’m watching thisguy with the cynical eye of a hackwho has done this for ’way too longand all I can see is the enthusiasmand open-faced honesty of a hardworkingand ambitious man whogenuinely loves his work.Before we continue our chat, I aminvited to take a motor-launch ridethrough Margarita Island’s awesomelagoons. Initially reluctant as I wantto continue with my notes, it is notime at all before I am really glad tohave accepted. This is the high pointof my trip and once again it is almostimpossible to remove the hand of JGBallard from this experience. It islike a return to the steaming junglesand water-landscapes that he capturedso perfectly in “The DrownedWorld” and one can see why theSpanish who discovered Venezuelagave it that name, “little Venice”.Cruising through this drowned worldwe all become children once more.Even the bewildering canals thatreach out from these vast and primitivepools almost call the visitor tofollow where they flow.This almost spiritual landscape issomething that cannot be touched bythe government of any country andhere it is only fair to say that I havePRS Realtors10450 S. Western Avenue, ChicagoConveniently located in Beverly.to ask Conor about the country’sleader, Chavez. An ex -paratrooper,Hugo Chavez swept into power onthe back of a landslide victory inthe 1998 presidential election. Ican’t speak for the rest of Venezuela,(incidentally the fourth biggestoil-producing nation) but Margaritaseems a very relaxed and quiet island,with warm, friendly and physicallybeautiful people who make the visitorfeel that he or she has always beenhere. Back to Chavez and his, shallwe say, unorthodox form of government?I watch in amazement as thepetrol tank of a jeep is filled for theequivalent of one American dollar,as people pay 50 cents for a packageof cigarettes and yet have to see theessentials of this world like “TheSimpsons” being barred from its 11am slot on the grounds of corruptingthe family unit, while being replacedby “Baywatch”. Go figure.Still, it makes it good for the investorhere. As Conor goes on withhis story: “I eventually set up myown company in partnership withMichael Costello, an Irish builderbased in Turkey. There was formedCostello International Estates Ltd.We were developing small projectsin Turkey and Poland. Then, twelvemonths ago I sold my shareholdingback to the company as I was opposedto being too focussed on thesetwo markets. I was looking for mynext project when I was approachedby The Right Move Abroad.“I’ve enjoyed the travel side overthe past five years. I’ve been toMoscow where we were interestedin targeting the new oil wealth there.I’ve also been to Slovakia and particularlylike Italy, which I fell inlove with after a school trip there.I’ve been in Lebanon, which wasn’twork-related, although I must tellyou that I get back to Ireland andBallinasloe as often as I can manageit.” Ah, spoken like a true Irishman.Surrounded by lots of dusky SouthAmerican beauties but always with alittle grá for home. Hmmm…So here he is now, on an islandparadise that Columbus discoveredin 1498 (did that man ever sit still,by the way?) and with some mouthwateringproperties on hand: the773-233-4700Margaret CorbettMulti-Million Dollar ProducerNow Serving theEntire Chicagolandand Suburan Areas.latest of several developments is ElAgua Suites, with 52 apartments, aswell as double suites and 46 singlesuites. There’s a recreational areawith swimming pool, lobby bar,green areas and solarium and pricesstart from $79,688 (€50,656) Conor’senthusiasm can be quite infectious,but if you’re interested you canalways check it out at the numberbelow. It’s a duty free island withjust 0.5% sales tax and 2.5% buyingtax. Conor: “If capital growthand guaranteed rental income werenot enough to entice purchasingproperty, investors benefit from thevirtual absence of property relatedtaxes and costs.”For me, though, it’s down to thesheer beauty of the island and it’speople. And getting back home toIreland from the sun, sand and hospitalityI was puzzled at why Americansdon’t seem to be seeing this place,while their neighbours the Canadiansare the second-biggest investors. Asit happened, I ran into a Canadianfriend in my local several days laterand was telling him of my enchantmentwith the place. Interestingly, hesaid in that quiet way that the best ofCanadians have: “I think it may bebecause we approach South Americawith no preconceptions while theAmericans, with the best will in theworld, do have them”. Kind of interestingtake on things, I thought.If you’re interested, you can emailThe Right Move Abroad at sales@therightmoveabroad.ie or check outtheir website at www.therightmoveabroad.ie.