Festina Lente

Today I went to an event put on by Backus, the biggest beer distributor here in Peru. They invited the owners of small bodegas and restaurants from around Chiclayo into the city for what could only be called a beer workshop. My Mom woke me up early and asked if I wanted to accompany her to the event because she didn’t want to go alone. “FO SHO!”, I replied. First we all gathered and sat through a 20 minute presentation about beer, and how not all beers are the same; some are for special occasions, some are for hanging out with your family, some are for the beach with friends, etc. Then we moved into this other room where they had 100 cubicles set up for beer tasting, one per person. You got a little scanner sheet like the kind you use to take your SATs, you are given a giant headset used to follow the powerpoint, and you are given 5 different beers to judge on color, smell, sweetness, and bitterness. I’m not a big beer drinker, but I kicked that little scanner’s ass and was one of only three people to get all the questions right! Three out of 100!!!! I got a gold medal, and told everyone I was going to send it back to the yoonaited states so my parents could be proud of their little beer drinking daughter.

After the beer tasting, we went into another room where there was more dancing and drinking. It was so weird – it started off as this professional distributor-to-client presentation and devolved into boozing, mini-sandiwch eating, and, of course, dancing to cumbia. I had a good time, and made lots of new friends who wanted to see my shiny gold medal. My plans for the day had involved doing laundry and writing letters back home, it just goes to show that every day an unexpected adventure (or tuna sandwich) awaits just around the corner!!