Lessons Learned at the Beach

So on Sunday I set out at 7am on an adventure to the beach.  Although the beach is not that far distance wise from Caracas there is unfortunately quite a large mountain known as El Avila between the city and the coast so you have to drive around the mountains to get to the beaches.  We set out early and only hit a few spots of heavy traffic mainly due to national guard check points.  We reached the beach around 10am and set up several umbrellas and chairs.  Our guide was the middle school guidance counselor from the school so he got us all set up on the beach and quickly ran off to get ice and beer for the day.  When he returned we all learned lesson #1 - When you are on a beach in Venezuela you must always be drinking a beer no matter how early it might be.  So everyone but me decided that they must do as the Venezuelans do so they were throwing back beers at 1030am!  Lesson #2 was also one that I learned very quickly when I arrived to the beach and is best demonstrated in photos that I took.  The lesson is that swim suits in Venezuela are clearly one size fits all.  In all seriousness it was great because I never once felt self conscious on the beach because everyone no matter what shape or size was walking around uninhibited.  As someone said when I first arrived to Caracas trust me whatever swim suit you brought will not be skimpy enough you will need to buy a new one!  I guess they were right.  Well that is all for now. I will keep you posted I am suppose to go four wheeling up the mountain this weekend because we had a slight mishap and locked the keys in the car but it was fine because I got to watch the sunset over the Caribbean. I am loving the Caribbean life!!!!