Nothing.

Our friend who recently visited asked me this same question while here and when I thought for a while

and came up with nothing, she said “I’m glad to hear that. That should make it easier to be happy about your decision.”

Not to say there aren’t times when I wished businesses in Caracas functioned with the same efficiency as those in the States. But then I remind myself, I’m not in the States . Of course I miss friends and family – but I haven’t lived in the same state as my family for about 10 years. And, with my gadgets and gizmos (love my MagicJack), I talk to most people as often as I did before I headed south.

Okay, okay – so sometimes I daydream about the Super Target that was within walking distance of our house (although I NEVER walked to it). That place was my little paradise; especially on a hot summer day with record South Florida humidity. I would walk in and immediately the aromas from the Starbucks would call to me. After picking up my iced white chocolate mocha, me and my oversized red cart were on our way. I would spend at least an hour buying…oh, I don’t know – STUFF! And sometimes I would go back the next day and buy some more STUFF. No matter how often I went, I was able to shop in anonymity and my hoarding guilt was kept at bay.

Now when I go shopping in Caracas, I go the butcher for meat, a bakery for bread, the open air market for fruits and vegetables, the pharmacy for toiletries and the supermarket for all the rest. To make it worse, there are people at these places who now recognize me and actually want to TALK to me about love, life and loss. So much for anonymity…

What can I say, it’s different. Not better, not worse, just different and I find happiness in both.

1) Almost everything that I need is within walking distance. Although this was exhausting in the beginning, I have come to appreciate the ability to get to my favorite places with a hop, skip and a jump.

2) The abundance of activities for the kids. From beautiful parks to malls with carnival-type rides, I feel that I can take the kids almost everywhere AND they will enjoy themselves. All these options have gotten me very excited about our first summer here.

3)The weather. Hands down this place has got one of the best climates. Even with daily rain, I’m never too hot or too cold. Coming from humid South Florida weather, I’m still getting used to the idea of not needing air conditioning in the house (this has also done wonders for my son’s allergies).

There you have it folks – what more can a girl ask for?

You know the stereotype that Latin American women love to wear tight clothes?

Well, it’s alive and well in Caracas. The pair of pants in this picture here are actually considered loose in comparison to what I see women wear every day on the streets. Even women wearing professional suits look like they picked two sizes too small – and I mean I think they really do.

I was recently in Sabana Grande, which is considered a pretty large shopping district (similar to Lower Manhattan sans skyscrapers) in Caracas. I spotted a nice pair of pants and asked to try them on. I didn’t realize the sizes here run smaller and as soon as I got the pants on, I knew I needed the next size up. When I came out show my mom that they were too small, everyone else in the joint started saying they were perfect. I said, “Uuhh no, they’re too small – the material is tugging at the zipper.” The employees said “No, they’re supposed to be that way.” Right…

The men also wear fitting clothes; more so than the men in the States. However, living in South Florida for seven years, I got used to men dressing differently.

Considering that I wouldn’t wear pants as tight as this picture, I guess I’m a bit of an outcast. I think clothes should be trendy, but they should especially flatter the person wearing them. Extremely tight clothes do not flatter anyone most people. But of course, to each his/her own and I just have to get used to being out of fashion while I’m here.

The question I most often get from people who stumble on my blog is “What is the cost of living in Caracas”. I can understand why there’s confusion around this topic because you can find conflicting responses everywhere. My answer to them always begins with this disclaimer: It all depends on the lifestyle you choose. I don’t know about other people, but this is how my family and I are making it work. I then give them the following breakdown:

Housing: It depends where you want to live. The recommended areas (considered safer) for expats can be VERY pricey. I’ve seen furnished 3 bedroom/2 bathroom, 1,200 square feet going for $2,500 per month. Obviously, you can find an unfurnished place for less, but the difference isn’t that great. Since my husband came here last September, people told him that there was a housing crisis and prices should start going down – they’ve only gone up since then.

Food: Again, it depends how you eat. With the exception of milk, the staples (rice, bread, vegetables, pasta) are somewhat cheaper than the states. I find meat and most fruit to be more expensive. The trick with all the food products is to buy the national brand, if you like it. For instance, the national brand of 2 1b. spaghetti is 3 BsF., whereas Barilla is about 40 BsF.

Transportation: A 10 trip pass for the train is 4.50 BsF. The train system in Caracas is set up similar to Boston T. So, it gets you to the vicinity of most places, but depending where you are going, you may also need to take a taxi. For the most part, taxis are a minimum of 30 BsF. If you are going somewhere pretty close by (within 1 mile), there are some that will negotiate down to 20 BsF. As everyone knows, gas is pretty much free. You can fill a 14 gallon tank for about 5 BsF. However, cars are VERY expensive and there are waiting lists for almost every dealership. A Toyota Corolla that runs about $15,000 in the states will sell for $60,000 here. The upside is that somehow cars here only go up in value over time, so you can potentially see a return on the investment.

Leisure activities: Obviously I am more in tuned with family activities. In general, I think going to parks, zoos, etc. are cheaper than the states. Public parks are free and very nice. At all the malls that I’ve been to – big pastime here, there are areas for children to play (i.e. bouncehouses, carousels, etc.) and they tend to run about 5 BsF a ride. There are a lot of cultural activities that are reasonably priced, but the trick is getting to them.

A big caveat to this information is the exchange rate. The official exchange rate is 1 USD for 4.3 BsF. However, most expats use casas de bolsas, which from what I understand are brokerage companies, in order to obtain the parallel exchange rate which is always higher (1 USD for 7 BsF right now).This is the legal method to stretching dollars further, but I’ve heard of unsafe alternatives.

So, considering all this information, I think it’s best for someone to come here with the plan of living conservatively. Then over time, you’ll be able to gauge what luxuries you can afford or not.

Somehow this third month just came and went. To make sure that I didn’t forget this month, I took stock of my my latest realizations.

• You can never estimate how long it will take to get something done. What you may think is a simple errand can turn out to taking the whole day to accomplish (more on this in another post)
• Even when conducting business, Venezuelans enjoy personal chit chat
• Finding an apartment to my liking that is affordable is not easy – in other words, housing is limited
• Spanish is not impossible to learn, but I will probably never speak it as well as I speak English
• Venezuelans take their vacations seriously (which seems to be whenever kids are on vacation, too), so booking a vacation in advance is absolutely necessary
• Similar to South Florida, there is always something to do – theatre, concerts, museums. Caracas is culturally rich

These beautiful pictures are of Caracas. I thought they displayed what I sometimes feel about living here – it can be tumultuous, but there’s a lot of beauty.

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