What is Art?

Frustrated by boring beige walls, and inspired by Jackson and Luke Gaido's fabulous creations that serve as art in their parents dining room, we decided to take matters into our own hands.

I had looked in art galleries around Caracas for art to hang on the walls in our apartment, but could not find just the 'right' thing.  I also balked at some of the very high prices.  

I found an art supply store in Caracas and bought three canvases  I thought would be a good size to hang on the wall space I wanted.  I then picked out a few large tubes of acrylic paint I thought would look good with the furnishings and rug we have now.

I decided to paint each canvas a base coat of a different color, and then allow the kids to finger paint over the base in a contrasting color.

I got up early on Saturday morning and started painting canvases.  Chris joined me after his workout and helped me while he surfed the web and drank coffee.  We let the base coats dry and made breakfasts for the kids.

After the base coats were dry, we brought in the kids.  The only instructions we gave were to keep the paint on the canvas and not the table and we let them go to town.  They smeared the paint on their hands and created their masterpieces.  After they were done, I went behind them and added dark brown "low lights" to give the pictures a common theme.

We watched them dry and were amazed by how fabulous they turned out.  We let them dry overnight and got up early and hung them.

I know abstract art is not for everybody, and heck, before this project it was not really for us either, but we love them.  I will have them and cherish them forever.  They mean something wonderful to us — and isn't that was art is all about?

We are now taking orders.

Only in Venezuela

Here are my children's beautiful school pictures from this year.

Madeline had a terrible cold and an awful runny nose for a week before the photos were taken.  Due to the constant irritation and wetness, she had developed a horrible red, crusty rash on her upper lip.  She looked, at the time, like she had a confluent cold sore from her upper lip to her nose.

I had to keep it covered with vaseline to keep it from getting worse — and that made it shiny enough to be seen from space.  So, understandably, I was shocked when I got the pictures today.  The lesion was magically gone.

Madeline was airbrushed.  Retouched.  She is five years old.  They had airbrushed away the crusty scab and left behind a smooth, beautiful doll.  When I questioned other parents, they stated that yes, their children were all airbrushed as well.  The photographer will even go as far as putting teeth back where they used to be if the new ones have not grown in yet.  Katherine is airbrushed too — her freckles are gone.  I like her freckles.  They are part of her personality and a testament to all of the time she spends in the pool.  I would have liked them there - I wish they would have asked me.

High School Oopsical

Caracas has plenty of entertainment options and often gets "big name" players here.  Just two weeks ago the Jonas Brother's were here and played to a completely sold out arena.  We saw advertisements for "High School Musical" Summer Celebration, and thought it would be fun to take the kids.  The HSM tour had been here 2 years ago and everyone said it was wonderful.  Our group bought 17 tickets at $350 BsF a piece.  We were up in the bleachers — the floor seats were around $500 BsF each.  We all met at our apartment, the kids brimming with excitement.  Madeline and her buddy Hana each dressed up in their own Disney sanctioned HSM costumes (Hana the cheerleader, and Madeline as Sharpay).  We loaded up everyone into the vans and took off with cars full of squealing children to head for the show.  Fortunately, my husband was thoughtful enough to fortify us with enough adult beverages to endure the trip.    The show was to begin at 7:30 so we left at 5:15 in anticipation of the traffic.  We arrived at the theater at 7:00 and proceeded to the Will Call office.  It seems that they had run out of the paper to print tickets so we had to wait a few minutes.  We finally got our tickets and proceeded into the arena.

I had been to the High School Musical show in Houston a couple of years ago — so when I saw the stage I was surprised by the difference.  The original show boasted a huge moving stage with levels and a large video screen.   As shown above, the stage here was a simple black platform, a back drop and two blowup "East High" mascots.  Hmmm.  I wondered if something was up.  The concert started exactly at 7:30 - half of the locals were not even in their seats yet.  Two people dressed as cheerleaders came out and started speaking spanish.  First they introduced Kelsey - I knew it was not going to be the real Kelsey as she just had a baby and is way over 30, but I figured the rest of the crew was not doing much so why not tour Latin America?  Then they introduced Sharpay and even though I could not distinguish facial features from our seat (see above picture) I knew it was not the "real Sharpay."  The rest of the 'actors' came out for a production number and with binoculars I was able to tell that most of the kids looked a lot like the original actors, but were not the real ones.  The second number was "Get Your Head in the Game" — near the end of the song, there was a commotion near stage left.  It seems that an angry parent had rushed the stage.  All of a sudden the lights went on in the theater and the music stopped.  The actors all ran off of the stage.  It was about 7:45.  

Our party sat in shock trying to figure out what was going on.  We then saw a man jump up on the stage and start gesticulating obscenities towards the back of the stage and to the crowd.  The people in the VIP section started screaming and yelling and booing.  People on the floor began to leave in droves.  We did not want to leave as we thought we were safer where we were, not to mention that we had little clue what was going on.  We slowly figured out that the people on the floor were outraged that the show was being performed by look-a-likes and not by the real performers.  We had a few "little kids" in our party and after about 30 minutes of waiting to see what was going on, they began to get cranky and hungry.  We loaded up the first van with Chris, Tara and some of the little kids to go home while the rest of us decided to stay and see the show (if it ever restarted).

About 45 minutes into the wait a few people came on stage and began reading statements that (in translation) went something like "At no time did we ever say that the original movie actors would be performing......"  The floor seats that were left went wild with screaming and more of them began to leave in droves.  The man said that the performers would restart in 20 minutes for anyone who would like to see the show.

So we decided to wait.

And we waited, and waited, and waited.

There were no bulletins, or updates.  Just an empty stage and people without a clue what the heck was going on.  After about an hour after the man left the stage, he came back and said that the show would start in 5 minutes, but the people in the front few rows had to "push back" for security reasons.  Well, that was met with some disappointment as well.  The crews brought in more barriers for in front of the sage and a row of security officers were placed along the front of them to keep the actors safe from the 12 die hard children who were left in the front  and determined to stay for the show — bedtimes be damned.  The people finally moved back and the show "re"-started.  The actors lip synced and danced their feet off.  From where we were sitting, you could not tell the difference — and actually the "Troy" character may have been a better dancer than the original one (no offense to Zac Efron of whom I am a HUGE fan).  The kids had a ball after all and we were home at around midnight.

Only in Venezuela?

Life Goes On

I am sure everyone has seen the video of Curaco - if not, the link is just below - so enjoy.  I really do not have a lot to add to the video.  As you can see, we had a fabulous time.  It is a beautiful island in the caribbean located just north of Venezuela and Colombia.  It was settled by the Dutch and many people there speak english. 


Well, if pressed, I can suggest that if you want to feel good about yourself, go on an exotic beach vacation with a lot of people who don't exercise, eat as much as they want, and insist on wearing a bikini.  On the news front, the male bikini bottom seems to have given way to the modified bike short in neon or pastel colors.  The only man in the world who looks good in these is Daniel Craig.  


We arrived home in Caracas on Friday evening and on Saturday decided to hike up the El Avila National Park.  The Avilla is the mountain that separates Caracas from the Caribbean - most of it in an uninhabited national park.  We headed up the trailhead with several local families and encountered some of the steepest climbing I have ever attempted.  We were armed with our hydrations packs and determined to make it to our destination.  About half way up the Avila is a path that runs parallel to the Caracas Valley Floor - we found a hut, bathroom and rest station there.  From there we continued up the valley to a beautiful stream and waterfall.   Lots of families were there taking advantage of the cool water, having picnics, and swimming.  


The following week, the kids were out of school on Thurdsay due to parent/teacher conferences, so my friend Tara and I decided to take the kids up the Teliferico (cable car) to the top of the Avila and see the Caribbean Ocean and the old abandoned hotel on the top.  The ride takes about 20 minutes and provides a spectacular view of Caracas.  


At the top is a musem of sorts, with booths selling fruits, local crafts, and food.  There is also an ice skating rink - but it was closed and full of water.  There was music and some dancing as well at a little park on the top provided by a local DJ.  It was very cloudy at the top that day so we did not get to see much of the views from the top.  We were lucky enough to get a tour of the old Hotel - very swank 60's sort of place.  You cold almost see the ghost of Dean Martin on stage with a cigarette and a silver microphone.   The kids enjoyed it and I loved seeing the hotel I have stared at every day from my bedroom window.  Unfortunately, the tour was entirely in rapid fire Venezuelan spanish - so I could only grab onto about every third word.  I Googled the Hotel Humboldt when I got home but was surprised by the lack of information on the internet - I did find a recent article on the web that has some great pictures of the Hotel.