Venezuela beer tasting

It is that time of year again, when Michael Stein-Ross calls the few and brave into action. Beer Club. One night to taste all of the beers this fine country has to offer. Many think the beer club partakes in this yearly ritual as an excuse to merely drink beer... lots of beer. But this is not the case. MSR knows that we are performing a vital public service. Tens of people each year want to know which Venezuelan beers are good solid choices to drink and which are best left alone. Without beer clubs civic duty- these people would be hazardously bereft of information. And we don't even get paid to do this!

Many of you are interested in the history of the Venezuelan beer tasting and have asked for the past year's links (thanks mom- I owe you). We must know our history if we are to not repeat the mistakes of the past. (You are probably asking why we continue to drink each beer from VZ each year if we are avoiding the past: simple- beer club doesn't read much)

But for the rest of you that might be interested:

Click here for the ever amazing Fino Cambur

or

here for the adventurewithisom take.

In any case we once more went into the drink and performed admirably. Future generations will sing our praises. Enjoy... we did.

Camel hat = go time. Litwiller was ready.

Authors note: Graham was not partaking merely helping serve and laughing at all of the big kids who were clearly making bad decisions. 

Notes were taken.

As always we are hopeful for sponsors. Nadjib figured that if Brahma put some shekels into the world cup then they could clearly throw some our way. You here me Brahma?

And this my friends is the eye of the tiger. or my friends Tim has just been told that he must drink another Polar zero. Nadjib is seen stage left escaping before he too is told.

The final four and a happy commandante.

and just when you think we had used up all of our shady decisions- we ended with one more: "I bet I can keep my arm in the ice water longer than you."

Its better than drinking Polar Zero

Does anyone realize how hard this is for me?

I had the great fortune to get to help out with Wilder's softball team this fall. Lisa and I took turns every other morning practice to go and help Coach Kartechner. The group of girls were fantastic and so fun to work with. Coach K had the perfect attitude/expectation of wanting the girls to have fun and improve their skills. Going into the tournament he mentioned that the other VZ teams seem to take it a bit more serious, practicing everyday etc. Also, ECA had not won a game in 5 years.

All second basemen should wear socks this cool.

So going into the tournament I had the expectation/hope for the girls that they would play hard, get a few runs, and hopefully not lose real bad.

Thursday the games started and I took my class up to watch a bit before lunch. What timing! I got to see Wilder crush a triple and a few other girls get big hits and show solid fielding. They ended up winning that game and losing their other game of the day by 1 run!

On Friday the girls won another and lost another by just 1 run. Which brings us to Saturday and the final day of the tournament. The girls were playing the 3rd place team and if they won they would play in the finals. 

I have so far been spared the acute pressure of being a sporting parent, my only experience coming from Vail Rec District soccer Saturdays which were definitely in the for fun category. As the game progressed I found myself on the edge of my seat, my heart rate was at near exercise levels and each ground ball the other team hit had me holding my breath until they got the ball safely to first for the out. The girls were playing great but I found myself thinking "does anyone realize how hard this is for me?"

They won the first game and played wonderfully in the final going into the last inning tied 11-11 
only to give up a run in the bottom of the 7th to lose 12-11. I was so proud, I was so impressed, I was so tired. I went home and took a nap- this sporting life is hard.

Well done Wilder- we are so proud of you.

Lisa as third base coach, Wilder on deck.

Coach K dropping the knowledge

Wilder trying to figure out what he was saying (he speaks Canadian)

Wilder was one of the all-tournament team selections!

and this was me after the games- whew!

the many faces of Simon Bolivar

 Simon "the liberator" Bolivar is a larger than life figure down here in Caracas. Back in the early 1800's he led revolutions that freed Venezuela, Columbia, Peru, and Bolivia. He is also a figure that the ruling party makes great efforts to be close to. The only image more conspicuous than Bolivar is this one:

Seeing as how selfies weren't the thing back in the 1820's there are a variety of images to be found of Simon. On our tour of the city here are a few that we saw.

my favorite- almost a 70's moustache going on.

Che Bolivar

 

This collage was mesmerizing- so many different perspectives, and I swear one of his likenesses looks just like me!

It wasn't all propaganda and portraits though, we also saw a whole bunch of other groovy stuff. For example:

city of Leones

Its not the street art of Brazil- but you can always find something fun to look at in Caracas.

Capitolio

This past weekend Lisa and Clara, a lovely lady from school, put together a trip to downtown Caracas together. We were scheduled to see some historical sites, eat lunch, and tour the military parade grounds. It was a great day and the history was quite interesting but what made it truly amazing was the bus we took. It was all just a little random, a little rock star, and a fantastic time with friends from ECA. Join us in the Capitolio.

The bus: thats right, a double decker. Nothing like going into the red zone while perched prominently in sight. It was either a naive or brilliant move.

Like me, Coy was a bit skeptical, but then we saw that the bus was a transformer and knew that it would all be okay.

As shown by her expression here, Lisa had at least one moment of panic when she saw all of us take our seat and she realized that she was in charge of a bunch of overgrown kids for the day. "I'm not in charge" she was heard to mutter numerous times.

that's a fly bus that has a tv and a microwave

 But the best part truly was getting to ride up top. The bus seemed to have just anchored in a bunch of old patio furniture benches and built up a protective wall around them. All day people watched us go by with an expression of "did I really just see that?" on their faces. We got waves, smiles, "bienvenidos" and cheers wherever we went. I can only assume that a busload of gringos was not an everyday experience in their lives.

Notice all of the foliage on the deck- this was caused by our frequent "cuidado!" warnings and then everyone getting low to avoid tree branches and overpasses.

Josh, Elka, Kris, Jess, Coy, and Lisa

Of course I had to sit next to Chris and put up with this all day- so immature.

More of the crew- you can just feel the wind!

Lisa making a very rookie move: never look backwards, especially with overhangs coming up!

 It was a unique perspective being up there, easily my favorite part of the day.

We also took in some sites, generally they had to do with honoring Simon Bolivar- the liberator. He is an interesting figure and very revered down here.

This man saw us touring around and get turned away from a small museum due to it being Sunday and closed. He got us in and gave us a tour and was just lovely. 

Here are a few more shots from various downtown churches, museums, and Bolivar houses.

A real pity this didn't turn out clearly. I feel the artist and model really captured what one would look and feel like if one was forced to wear a blue blouse for a portrait.

Wilder is very happy to be taller than her friend Elizabeth.

Lunchtime- a nice little downtown spot with the adult tables and the banished teenager table 

the postre man

Mike Simpson said "There is quite a lot of religious imagery I don't understand but I am pretty sure I get the meaning of this one."

 The national mausoleum was our first post lunch spot. It is an incredible structure that reminds me of Colorado in two ways: a ski hill and casa bonita.

The guard was changing over as we arrived.

Although the scale is much more grand- it is a bit casa bonitaesque you have to admit (Colorado people at least)

This is the "tower of david" an unfinished building that was claimed by people in need of housing- making it a high rise bario. It was also featured in "Homeland" we didn't go in.

 Our last stop was at the military parade grounds which was low key. I imagine on a day when they are showing off the tanks and weapons it is anything but!

Annie and Elka

very impressive statues

and then we were home, I'll have a few more pics and thoughts soon, but what a great day with a new perspective on Caracas

oh and we saw this guy as soon as we hit Calle la Cinta