"Our entire political class is either delusional or corrupt," said Arena, 25, between gulps of beer.
He and his colleague, Blanco, seemed to be competing to see who could get drunk before noon, thus making our group even more uneasy about being in rough waters. As the boat continued to swerve, I thought, "Do all these easy riches— whether fish, oil or gold — actually make it harder to build a cohesive and peaceful society?"
As the crew members calmly proceeded to consume more beer, we each had to lie down on the floor of the boat for what seemed like hours. Occasionally we would hit a particularly rough swell that caused us to lurch to and fro. Finally the waters began to calm down a bit as the boat continued trolling for those elusive billfish.
As the sun started setting, we turned back toward La Guaira. Then one of the fishing lines showed signs of life. The crew, to my amazement, jumped into action to pull on the right outrigger. My friend Tyler Hicks reeled in what we soon found out was a big dorado — a mahi-mahi.
He then dived into the sea with a waterproof camera in an attempt to get a photo of the dorado, handing the reel to Blanco. Astonishing us all, the fish jumped into his arms. We didn't catch any billfish that day, but even the Venezuelans with us went home with a story to tell.
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