On good days, I can’t believe that two months have gone by so quickly. On bad days, I feel like I’ve been here for years.

I feel as though I’ve learned a lot in a short period – maybe that’s why I’m tired. Here’s a few of the highlights -

1) I am so glad that I decided to not even think about working for the first three months. I don’t know how I could have managed a job and getting the kids settled. It took me these past two months just to get all their school supplies. Hence my first lesson: there is no Wal-Mart or Super Target equivalent in Caracas. The closest thing I found to a Costco or BJ’s is a store called Makro and it is located on the outskirts.

2) Always allow for an extra 30-40 minutes when going somewhere by car. Traffic here is simply erratic. At first I was told it’s really bad on Fridays because that’s when people are getting ready to go away for the weekend. Then when it was equally horrendous the following Tuesday, I was told it was due to protests going on all over the city. Then when it was even worse on Thursday, I was told people were getting ready for the impending holiday the following week. Bottom line: traffic can be horrible at any time.

3) I need to relax. If I go to the store looking for something that I saw there the day before and it’s gone – too bad. No one there is going to go out of his/her way to find a hidden stash of my peanut butter or specific brand of paper towels and that’s OKAY. Life will go on. The more I get into this mindset, I find that other little things that used to bother me simply roll off my back. Therefore, I am a calmer version of myself (I’m sure my husband is enjoying that )

So, after two months, the patient seems to be very healthy.

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Driving in Caracas is an art form. When I first got here, and even during my visit, I often found myself watching what looked like an accident about to happen only to see the cars swerve at the last minute and miss. I quickly realized two things – a) I will probably never drive here and b) I need to get over my backseat driving. Due to my fear of driving, I am always the passenger who thinks she can do a better job at getting to the destination. In a way, having limited Spanish is a good thing since I can’t say much to piss off the person driving. The trick that I have learned to keep my blood pressure from rising every time I get in a car is to simply not look . This is a lot easier to do when there’s another passenger in the car to keep me preoccupied.

I read that Caracas is one of the cities with the worst traffic in the world. They say it’s due to the low cost of gas and overcrowding of cars on Caracas’ narrow roads. I have even heard Caraquenos state that they rather go sit at a bar for a few hours in the evening to avoid traffic. This doesn’t sound like a bad way to kill time – hopefully they haven’t had too many by the time they get behind the wheel.

In any case, the maneuvers of drivers here is something that I will probably in awe of for years. I’m not saying never, but it will be fifty years a long time before I decide to join in on this dance.

Photo credit: Victor

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