Strathcona Druids Womens Rugby Team tour to Venezuela 2000
Wednesday night before the trip, we handedly beat (37-0) the St.Albert team with dynamic passing by backs, running on, and good support by forwards, plus a few choice box kicks by our scrum half Tannis. And then after some proper rehydration, off to finish packing for The Trip. Now, we were primed and ready to kick some international butt.
Did we mention a list of vaccines that we needed? We went to the Travellers Health Centre (THC) as a team, and had shots in large groups. While getting more shots at the THC this past November, I was talking my nurse and she still remembers that day 9 years ago: “these sporty, sturdy and tough-on-the-field rugby women show up, and suddenly there was a suprizing amount of fuss and goings-on and crying when it came time for the yellow fever needle…”
Enter stage right, Jenn, Marta, Krysta, Larysa, Shireen, Janelle, Jessica, Heather, Kim S, Renee, Michelle, Shannon, Tanya, Rachel, Henry and Thor (our managers), and me, Kim G with my guitar. Meet at Druids clubhouse 00h30 the early morning of Friday, June 30, 2000. After a warm send off by Rose and Mike O’Donoghue, and everyone’s other loved ones, we head south to collect the rest of our entourage.
Bus ride to Calgary airport. Pretty quiet ride from Sherwood Park: dainty snoring, whispered talking, the chicka-chicka of blaring music in earbuds were the only sounds… until we get to the gas station area restaurant on the trail by Ellerslie Rugby Park. Sweet Johnny Mac delivers five fiesty ladies to our rendez-vous spot. “Houston, we got dancers in the parking lot, over!” So much for sleeping on the way to Calgary! “Copy that.” Tannis, Beth, Alison, Stacey, and Christie. “Fried ham fried ham fried ham, cheese and balony”… over and over again. This was our tour anthem, until we got to “thong thong thong thong thong”, but that… is another story. A quick Spanish lesson, and an even quicker nap, and poof! we were in Calgary. Jo Kiwi and Deb meet us there, late! We fly out, with our tour t-shirts and Lost laniards, into the relatively friendly international skies. The in-flight Soft Rock channel was awesome and soothed the savage beasts… and I notice that somehow I have already lost my watch. And so this was my first indication that time was a concept I just need to let go of as North America disappeared through the clouds.
Day 1: We arrive 20h10, night in Caracas, capital of Venezuela. Hay pequeñas luces a millares en la neblina. Hay también unos grandes escarabajos que cantan todas las noches. La música es espeluznante y preciosa. We meet our billets at an open-air cafe. Flashback to THC: nurses at the clinic said to “not eat fruits and vegetables that we cannot peel, to drink bottled water whenever possible, avoid ice, and take it easy on the dairy at first.” OK, so as soon as we arrive, we eat nachos with fresh tomato and cilantro salsa, salads, and cheese fingers, and drink Cuba libres with a lot of ice. Um, ok, we will be better tomorrow, and thank g-d for Cipro. The national beer is Polar: cute tiny bottles (200ml) that get really cold!
We met so many nice people that very first night. Natalia and her family were my billets; they treated me like royalty, and the hospitality was great. I brought them authentic salt-water taffy, maple syrup, and Alberta Premium Vodka, and of course, chocolate twoonies coins – got the Canadian experience represented, loosely, from the East to the West!
Day 2: Sat, July 1 – Happy Birthday Canada! We all dressed in red and white. Arepas for breakfast! Con plantanes fritas… mmm. Fresh watermelon juice, guave juice, honeydew melon juice… Off to the market, met Veronica and Maricela… and so many othergreat people! Today we learned about churros, tiempo latino! (the universe where 19h30 means 20h45ish), and that avacados are actually the size of a large eggplant here.
Playing against the Venezuelan National team at el Estadio Olimpico 16h00. What an opportunity! Now, what you may not know is that our women’s team at the time, the average height was easily 5′7, average weight easily about 155lbs. Picture, the Venezuelan players were about 5′1 and 110lbs on average. Yes, we out weighed their scrum by easily 500lbs, needless to say we won a lot of ball off the head thanks to our sassy hooking by Tanya and our natural Amazon momentum domination. However, when those petite ladies of the opposition did get the ball, there was absolutely no catching them. Fast and foxy, dynamic and dextrous, they got away almost every time they got that ball… almost!
We went dancing with the opposition that night, and for nightclubs here you must dress up formally… read: classy – like no-beer-available classy! Club Masai. It was like a ballroom, and you had to be in the know to get in – and we were with the right people! Cuba libre con mucho hiello, cuesta $8000 bolivares – this was about $20 CDN, so you drink it slow.
Day 3: Sun, July 2 – BBQ at one billets house (who shall remain nameless), many cars, marble everything, vines on the marble, huge insects, palm trees are weeds like dandylions are here (more pokey to the foot though!), great grass, and everything is better in Spanish. Pool party where we had delicious and new foods, fruit, swim in the pool, played games, water fight, tried cactus root, awesome. Best day!
Day 4: Mon, July 3 – Metro, museo, theatro, shopping, tiendas, market, perfumerias! Canadian tourist day. Wow! My favorite Venezuelan artist, Jesus Soto, had his huge 3-D dangling rod sculptures all over the city of Caracas. And what you need to know at el Cambio, is “habido un mal entendido, necessitamos dinero… ahora…”. Because the exchange rate was a bit unstable, the Cambio (Exchange counter) can close or refuse to exchange money at times, when the US dollar was too high. But, we worked it out by being totally diplomatic. Totally. Then we went for a team dinner to strategize for the next game.
Day 5: Tue, July 4 – Game against the Universidad Metropolitana team. The in-goal area is – wait for it – 2m deep. Then the shale track starts, you know those oval tracks for running? Yes. So, when you get in that in-goal, put the ball down. And what Heather learned, hours later however, is that when you go down on the pitch, by g-d you better get up again fassssst because the ants are not happy to have someone thumping anywhere near their hacienda. She had one or two of the more diplomatic ones on her back…
Tomorrow is the VZ independence day, so night clubs tonight. Bailamos! Thank you to Maria Alexandra y Muni, Leon, Salomon, Julio for taking care of us and making sure that we got home alright.
Day 6: Wed, July 5 – 06h00 go by bus to Choroni beach. Two hours of switchbacking hairpin turns in a greyhound-type coach = sickness. Oh, ah, I guess that that was actually three hours with bathroom and sick breaks… oops, four hours of switchbacks later… finally, the hacienda. Our room for four was El Pedegral, very tidy and comfortable, open ceiling, open windows. So beautiful! Then off to a local beach, very nice to relax in aquamarine blue perfect water, a 2L bottle of agua, and recover from that CRAZY mountanous experience. Another great day, exhausted, and then locked up safe with gates by 21h00. And we met up with Dickie! Our coach! Yea! Now the 25 is complete.
Wait. What is that drumming? There is a bunch of guys in the back of a slow moving truck, playing the drums, singing, and a crowd following behind them, and some of the younger girls start to follow, too. Well, we cannot just let them go without supervision! So we go as well. A story about the Pied Piper is brought to mind… we arrive at a square that is a circle. The men take the drums out of the truck and start a dance circle. Entonces, bailamos toda la noche! “Stacey! You are a blender…” We danced – all – night – long together and with town people. Salsa, merengue, mambo, waves crashing, firecrackers, people selling jewelry, and everyone celebrating Simon Bolivar, el libertador. When it got late, we headed back for guarapita (crushed passionfruit with dark rum, nothing like the attached recipe, but a good replacement), and took turns playing the guitar, singing favorite songs… the night was really warm, stars were shining above us, and simply awesome. And who knew Dickie played guitar!? Learned a lot about eachother this trip.
Day 7: Thu, July 6 – Good morning overcast and humidity, I know that you will burn off again! And off to a another beach? We head off into the sea on big canoe-like boats, 25 minute (ok, 40 minute) ride, singing the Gilligans Island song for some reason. Then we arrive in what I consider Eden, for so many reasons, secluded, beautiful. While we were swimming and tanning, the boat drivers went fishing and brought back fish, and salad. We had freshly caught-and-cooked fish on the beach, with a slightly sandy salad. Hey, it was magical! Swam and played all day. We were Turkish delight, but covered in sand instead of icing sugar. Exhausted. Who did have that waterproof camera? When the sun was going down, we started to get stung by little jelly fish, and getting fish hickeys (bites? yikes!) on our legs… so we all headed back to the Hacienda area by boat. Must pack, and head off to La Victoria for the Ron Santa Teresa 7s tournament… right! We are here for rugby, not just relaxation and cultural education!
Shower, and find that bus… and off to La Victoria, to the Hacienda el recreo. And now we have a pool, and a roomie switch. This is so fun getting to know everyone a lot more! And, would you look at that. Something large and heavy dropping like wrecking balls from the heavens. My gosh! Dangerous mangos. Ripened in the sun, dripping with juice. Ah, ok, note to self… breakfast is on the trees, soon to be on the grass. Find a helmet, prepare for fruit concussion.
Day 8: Fri, July 7 – Santa Theresa 7s tournament. Womens games all day. We play first at 11am. Win-win-win-lost- and finish with a win last game. Ate perros calientes con cebolla fritas, deliscioso. Hot dogs with deep fried onions on top, oooo. One misfortunate event, but all turned out ok in the end, dirty American Eagles B team. Anyway, it was otherwise another great day.
Day 9: Sat, July 8 – Mens games all day. Let’s see, rugby or suntanning? 7s or swimming? Stretching and preparing for another hot day tomorrow, running our butts off in 7s finals. All I can say is tree ripened mangos are unbelievably juicy, and certainly that I have never had a mango as enjoyable as the ones we all shared together that afternoon.
Day 10: Sun, July 9 – 7s Finals! OK, could this be the hottest freaking day we have had in 11 days? For the finals, we won-won-lost-lost. We are drinking at least 2L of water per day, each, and sweating like you would not believe. We did awesome as a team, met tonnes of new people, and made great t-shirt, jersey, schwag trades with other teams. And if I may quote Janelle, “the Americans won the tournament, but the Canadians won all the hearts”.
Our bus never came back, so we rode back to La Victoria with the green eyed Colombians. By the way, did you know that many of them went to college in California? Who knew? Seafood, mangos, and dessert all night, stretch and a team run tomorrow early morning for the long bus ride back to Caracas.
Day 11: Mon, July 10 – We leave La Victoria, officially exhausted and sunburned, at 04h00. Forgetting a lot of our stuff at our Hacienda when packing so fast. On the bus and back to the airport in Caracas by 07h00. Flight leaving at 09h00 back to Edmonton, with a 7h layover in Houston. Home.
To Jenn and Marta: if I can say on behalf of all of who went on the Venezuela tour, our most sincere thank-yous from the bottom of our hearts to you two for having orgainzed everything, from setting-up the vaccine dates, fundraising events, drawing up effective lists of cultural musts (and no-nos!), being creative with room arrangements, planning special visits, tours and experiences… from the places we stayed, planning where we ate, arranging the teams we played against, scoping out the beaches, attracting the people who we met from the University teams and their friends and families who looked after us, collecting the generous and wonderful billets… and your patience, undying patience and keeping us focused on the amazing goal of crossing continents, playing 11 games (and winning 73% of them), making us be good to each other, and learning to point with our lips, this was possibly the best travel and rugby touring experience (physically, spiritually, and emotionally) we as individuals will ever get to have – and we had the opportunity to do it together as a team. And to the Strathcona Druids Rugby executives, administrators, players and associates who supported us and our fundraising events, everything that helped get us there! The tour was unforgettable! Muchas gracias a todos, profundamente. Besos, kim