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'The Pig Sticking' |
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19th April, 2000 Written by Helen James We got invited to our first outing..a 50th birthday party!! Mark had to work and so the birthday boy Enrique (one of the Venezuelan site technicians) came to pick me up at 11am to go to the party alone..lucky me!! Well I thought we lived sparsely here in Adicora...NOT!! I was deep in country at this fiesta!!..talk about living sparse..sheesh!!. I think 2 or 3 families lived in this tiny stone house with just nature around them. Farm animals roamed around freely, chickens and pigs and dogs. Cauldrons were bubbling over out in the open on stick fires. An old woman about 105yo was taking care of the steaming cauldron! There were about 15 people there when I got there..no one but Enrique spoke English and I don't speak Spanish! I couldn't believe I was at this party alone..and until 6pm when Mark was due to finish work! Of course it was a special occassion and it was also a Venezuelan national holiday..so killing a pig was in order! One thing about country people when they kill an animal..nothing goes to waste!! They will utilise the entire animal I swear! The creative ingenuity of making the 'stick' spit to roast the pig on was very entertaining. Everyone was an expert it seemed! I sat for a long time just quietly watching it all as more and more people arrived. I was very keen to see what the old lady was boiling in that cauldron and kept my eye on her. While the mystery pot bubbled..she was very busy stuffing something fleshy. I thought she was stuffing a chicken but she seemed to be stuffing it with something that was resembling blood. I was at a good enough distance not to get physically sick by what I was watching..but my curiousity got the better of me and I asked Enrique what she was doing. He excitedly announced that she was making a blood sausage! uggggghhhh! Well I'm not a chef, but I always thought a 'blood sausage' was NOT a literal term..but obviously it is in country!! |
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Resting before the Party! | ..and you're sticking it where?? |
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| At this point my hunger was starting to diminish! Carcases were being spiked for the spit and these huge chunks of meat were sliding down the sticks and into the dirt...not to worry..a quick puff to blow off the dirt..it was fine. It was time for hors-douvres! 3 plates came out with some very black little morsels..like little pieces of charcoal..another plate with fried pig fat and a plate of Venezuelan bread call arepas. I passed on everything but the bread. I watched them gorge and lick their lips over these 'tasty' morsels. My Italian does manage to pick up some spanish now and again...and the words 'blood and stomach' to describe the black stuff were VERY clear to me!! OK..now I knew that I probably wouldn't eat for at least 2 days after this!! Venezuelans LOVE to drink!! I think if they had a choice to drink or eat..they'd choose drink! I'm not a drinker but I never go to a party empty handed..and I managed to find some vodka the other day while grocery shopping in the city. I couldn't believe my luck when I found this particular vodka that I had enjoyed only once in my life 8 years ago in Italy. It is fruit flavoured and it's kept in the freezer. The taste of this frozen fruit vodka is to die for and I bought 3 flavours, strawberry, peach and mango. I took these bottles to the party and thought it would be fun to share it. I also took one shot-glass that I had (It was a cute little shot-glass with an aboriginal design that I had brought with me to give to Mark). Their curiousity got the better of them each time they opened the cooler and saw my colourful bottles in there. The old ladies especially..they wanted a taste. This poor shot-glass had so many lips on it yesterday!! Everyone just drinks from beer bottles..glasses are a luxury and so this shot-glass became the prize possession of the day and I was the custodian. The old ladies would come up to be looking beseechingly for the shot-glass and I would dispense my fruity vodka to them..one shot each at a time. I was a BIG hit at this party..we found a way to cross the language barrier..BOOOOZE!!! Uh-ho..the old lady was finally opening the mystery cauldon!!! I was dying to see what was in there so I stupidly went to look. She was removing the contents from the water into another pot. Entrails!!! oh my god!! Yards and yards of it and finally that damn puffed up giant blood sausage that looked swollen like a huge stomach! I had seen enough and could see that I was going to go home absolutely starving from this feast!! |
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| The traditional guy with a guitar arrived and was making everyone pee their pants with the lyrics from his humourous songs. A guy arrived with a stuffed dummy (I'm still not sure what this was all about..but everyone thought it was a riot). A pic is attached of him, apparently his name was Domingo and he did have some sort of significance. Well after watching this circus for 5 hours, I radioed Mark at work at around 3.30pm and pleaded with him to save me! He suggested I get someone to drive me to his site and then we'd go back together..SAVED!!! There were some airforce personnel at the party and one of them drove me to the base. We wiled away his last couple of hours and then drove back to the party at around 6.30pm. Well that pig that was taking half a day to cook and enough to feed a small army was all but gone! In the now descending darkness, we could make out some small morsels of cooked pork still on the stick. They quickly loaded up a huge plate of food for Mark and I and smothered it all in a spicy guacamole. The plate also included this thing that was a cross between a potato and bread pronounced ukra . So there we stood with a plate of strange food before us..and being dark now we couldn't even see what it was! I was wary because I had seen everything being cooked that day..but I was starving. Mark has a rock hard stomach and just ploughed right into this plate, not even caring what was on it..I on the other hand just fondled each piece of meat until I actually found one that I knew would just be plain pork. More fruity vodka was needed and we both indulged now. I did make the big mistake of leaving my shot-glass behind when I went to see Mark and a VERY noticeable drop in the vodka bottle levels was noticed by me!! I glared at the old ladies as I looked at each bottle and they returned the looks with guilt-ridden eyes! A whole 8 piece band had arrived now and dancing and singing was going on. Drunkeness prevailed!! We left at 8pm..I'd had enough and had never felt so tired since I have been here. I passed out when we got home but Mark was still enjoying the mango vodka to a point where he missed the kitchen bench completely on one of his refills and my beautiful shot-glass fell and shattered on the floor :(( That shot-glass would have been an incredible reminder of a VERY strange day! I'm not hungry this morning and I'm not surprised..I may never eat again!! Just another day in paradise!! |
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Alrightyyy!! Rock n' Roll..let's get this party going! | Anyone who was anyone was at this party..even someone who was no-one! |
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