Venezuelan Coffee and Blackouts

From Friday's Thomas Report by ex-Rattler Justin Thomas ('06):

Last Thursday was our first day off and we arrived back into Lara from Valencia in the middle of the night. After getting some rest, we woke up and a few of us headed over to the local Panderia (bakery) for breakfast and a cup of coffee.

One thing that you do not get cheated on in Venezuela is the coffee. I am not a big coffee nut, but I do enjoy a cup every so often and the coffee here is very strong and very good. It is served in very small cups most of the time, but it is enough to do the trick.

There is definitely no such thing as going to Starbucks and getting a Grande cup of coffee here. I would say the biggest cup of coffee I have had was probably six ounces and some cups are as small as two or three ounces, but they pack a powerful punch.

...

We played the next night against Zulia, but prior to the game, we had a little glitch, you could say. While eating breakfast that morning at the bakery, we were just about to pay the tab when the power went out. We didn't think much of it so we just got up and left and headed back to the hotel.

When we walked into the lobby we realized that the power was out there as well. We found out that the power was out in the whole COUNTRY!! I didn't know how, why, or what was going on, all I knew was there were no lights and no timeframe in knowing when they were coming back.

To be honest with you, I don't think that the locals minded it much at all, they just went about there business on a laid back Sunday afternoon, but us Americans were a little taken aback by the matter.

I guess that stuff like that happens from time to time here and the locals are used to it. After a few hours, the power came back on and we all headed to the field for the night game.

Go read it all.