On a recent visit to Caracas, it was Friday early evening after an intense week (as usual) there. I decided to stay home, relax, watch a Red Sox game. I did need to get a medicine, so I went home and waited for traffic to decrease, which begins to happen around 7:30 PM. It should only take ten minutes to go to Locatel and get what I need. Then relax!
But it was not to be. At Locatel drugustore they were out not only of what I had the prescription for, but also for the competing product. But they were very helpful, told me that I could find the competing product in either their Caricuao or Alto Prado store, a little bit far from where I stay when I go to Caracas. So, I started to do what many Venezuelans do, go from pharmacy to pharmacy looking for what I needed. (Twitter has even become a place where you ask: Do you know a drugstore where I can find x?) After trying about three of them, I realized that it would be best to go to the far away Locatel, rather than keep wasting my time. But I was low on gas. In a city with free gas that should not be a problem.
But it was.
After being in line for about ten minutes at the first gas station in the way, I was told that they had no 95 octane gas, which is what the manufacturer recommends for my car. So, my hunt for the medicine had to be delayed, I needed to get the gas first. Went to the nearest gas station, which was closed. Went to another, only 91 octane, but my fourth try proved a success and I have a full tank now (At Bs. 4.5 for the full tank, a full dollar at the inaccessible official exchange rate)
By now, it was so late, that there was no traffic going to Alto Prado, where I readily purchased two packs of the medicine I needed. Twenty pills per pack at a bargain price of Bs. 7 per pack. No wonder you can’t find the stuff, how can they make twenty pills, package it in aluminum foil, all in a cardboard box and sell it at this price.
By now it was close to ten PM, the Red Sox were losing, but my favorite arepera was close by, so I drove by it, the arepas were as good as ever. The cheese was different, the 50-plus year provider shut down after they invaded the farm, according to Maria, who has been running the place since when I started going there as a teenager. I don’t go as much, far from home, and you drive by areas that are not the safest, but maybe there is no such thing as a safe area in Caracas.
Oh yeah! right before and right after the arepera there were police “alcabalas” with gun-toting cops looking at you like you just stole some cheap medicine from a drugstore and they are ready to shoot you if they see the bag. But in a country where most people don’t use seat belts regularly, having mine on seems to be as good as as a DISIP or PSUV membership car and I was waved on readily. It did make me feel like I must have committed a crime sometime in my life, even if I don’t remember it and if they stopped me I would break down and confess.
And yes, I got home way past ten PM, the Red Sox had lost by then. Some relaxing evening! The arepas saved the day!
The Devil's Excrement 
December 31, 2014 at 3:07 am
Spot on with this write-up, I truly feel this
site needs much more attention. I’ll probably be returning to read
more, thanks for the info!
May 28, 2012 at 9:12 pm
I liked this sentence, Venezuelans on both sides should try to understand it:
“I think more of the little kids from a school in a little village in Niger who get teaching two hours a day, sharing one chair for three of them, and who are very keen to get an education. I have them in my mind all the time. Because I think they need even more help than the people in Athens….I think they should also help themselves collectively…..By all paying their tax.” – Lagarde (head of IMF)
May 28, 2012 at 3:14 pm
“Deanna says:
…our household help can get out of doing housework…”
Exactly the kind of readership of this blog I would expect. “Oh poor me, the household staff can only spend an hour polishing the chandelier because of Chávez!” Reminds me of that scene in “The Revolution Will Not be Televised” where the born-to-the-manor bourgeois tells the other gusanos they should keep an eye on their household servants, since some of them support Chávez. Yes, you really have a hard luck story there. Brings a tear to my eye.
And you people wonder why you’re losing.
May 28, 2012 at 5:08 pm
Your English is excellent. How come? Did you have to go very often with your master to New York?
Do you think Misia de Chávez, Chávez’s plastically enhanced mother, doesn’t have a whole bunch of employees – actually, of servants, as is due for a caudillo’s mother? What do you think about the whole Boliburguesía? They couldn’t even clean themselves.
How many bodyguards does your master have?
May 28, 2012 at 7:20 pm
Out of the woodwork at last!! Fumigation needed urgently. Kepler made a good start!
May 28, 2012 at 3:50 am
Think you had a bad day-it could have been worse:
http://now.msn.com/money/0527-german-financial-adviser.aspx
May 28, 2012 at 5:18 am
OMG, now seniors are a dangerous species!!!!
May 28, 2012 at 3:33 am
Miguel,
Have you checked out Diosdado’s twitter account? It has been “overloaded” for days.
Freddy Bernal changed his twitter icon, which before had a picture à la Ernst Röhm and now a picture of himself hugging Hugo…and he sent a tweet praising Hugo…Hugo greeted him back and he re-twitted it. I would do that if the other person were Nicole Kidman and I were 15 years old.
May 28, 2012 at 12:59 pm
I wonder if the back-and-forth twitters are part of the *strategy* to increase the number of candangueros: http://www.globovision.com/news.php?nid=232482 .
May 28, 2012 at 2:42 am
Kepler
Might want to google Bakken and Eagle Ford before discussing drilling in the U.S. 20 billion barrels combined with modern drilling techmology might make you rethink your position on the effects increased drilling could have on global markets.I might be slightly more informed on this subject and could go on.However,a little research on your own may sway your thoughts
May 27, 2012 at 11:34 pm
I can only laugh at anyone who thinks Obama decides anything, even where and when his wife goes on vacation. He is purely a puppet and only follows orders, a teleprompter reader. Even those trying to blame him above are hedging it with “the Obama administration” because there’s really nothing to pin on a president who has done nothing on his own initiative since entering office. Nothing.
My list of recent US presidents and their roles:
Reagan: puppet
Bush 1: willing conspirator
Clinton: willing conspirator
Bush 2: puppet
Obama: puppet
If re-elected, Obama will continue as puppet-in-chief. Romney would be a willing conspirator, though not a smart one like Clinton. Ron Paul? That’s a wild card; he’s not a puppet or a willing conspirator, I don’t think.
May 27, 2012 at 9:41 pm
Ken, you still read Breitbart crap, do you? You REALLY believe what’s written on that hate-mongering, racist, bigoted site? Seriouslly? You obviously also have NOT read the CORRECT statement, so I’ll be generous, and give it to you. Don’t bother thanking me, either.
“Literary Agent Says 1991 Booklet was a Mistake
Breitbart News reports on a promotional booklet produced in 1991 by Barack Obama’s then-literary agency which describes the author as “born in Kenya and raised in Indonesia and Hawaii.”
Miriam Goderich issued the following statement to Political Wire:
“You’re undoubtedly aware of the brouhaha stirred up by Breitbart about the erroneous statement in a client list Acton & Dystel published in 1991 (for circulation within the publishing industry only) that Barack Obama was born in Kenya. This was nothing more than a fact checking error by me — an agency assistant at the time. There was never any information given to us by Obama in any of his correspondence or other communications suggesting in any way that he was born in Kenya and not Hawaii. I hope you can communicate to your readers that this was a simple mistake and nothing more.”
http://politicalwire.com/archives/2012/05/17/literary_agent_says_1991_booklet_was_a_mistake.html
May 28, 2012 at 4:44 pm
Dear Nicacat I have put some further thought on this subject and have decided I must be a majunche.
May 27, 2012 at 7:37 pm
“One body. One mind. That’s what each of us gets to last a lifetime. Get the critical news and views to keep yours healthy, sharp — and safe.”
Read Devil’s Excrement everyday! Thanks, Diablo.
May 27, 2012 at 6:36 pm
Ken and Fred, thanks for keeping your cool. Those fellas-
Mr.Kepler and Ira can act like gunslingers and arse-grabbers
and I know they are intelligent ..you are right those statements
are “below the belt” and unnecessary. (of course, they will never
apologize…)
May 27, 2012 at 6:30 pm
Ira I never have believed nor stated either publicly or in private that I thought president Obama was born in Kenya. I stated that perhaps Jessica was confused because his own publisher for years stated that he was born in Kenya, and that only recently had the biography been changed. When president Obama took office the average price for gas was $1.85, recently it had risen to $3.87, an average per gallon increase of $2.02. Given that President Obama and his administration could quite easily promote and do public equity investment in new refineries, but has chosen not to. Then yes because he has the ability, authority, and power to do so, he should be charged as being partly culpable for current gas prices. President Obama himself held former President George Bush responsible for the gas prices during his administration, and rightly so.
May 28, 2012 at 3:04 am
“I stated that perhaps Jessica was confused because his own publisher for years stated that he was born in Kenya,”
Yeah, sure, you really believe that’s a possibility. Did Jessica travel to another galaxy and stopped following the news of the Earth for all these years? And she didn’t care, once she returned, to find out how come a person could manage to become after all US president without being born in the USA? This is not only ridiculous. She is a racist and that is it and her comment is much more serious than any name calling.
May 28, 2012 at 10:15 am
Kepler I’ve thought things through, and have come to see things from your perspective. I now think Jessica is a majunche.
May 27, 2012 at 5:53 pm
I think the Sox beat Tampa Saturday night, though.
May 27, 2012 at 6:25 pm
Do you really give a hoot about beisbol?
Where’s Syd?
May 27, 2012 at 6:26 pm
Beisbol is the irrational part of my life….and I love it.
May 27, 2012 at 6:42 pm
Glad to hear that your life is so rational. Most of mine seems irrational-
for example -it is holiday and I am working long hours like crazy.
I am surrounded by beisbol-( spring camps etc. all around here.) I have
never been to a game.
Cheers for happiness. I love a good arepa as much as the next fella too…
May 27, 2012 at 6:48 pm
Next spring, let’s catch a Red Sox spring training game in Ft. Myers….Oh, I do work a lot, but it is very rational work. Baseball is something that gets me all worked up and it is so irrational, even when I try to rationalize it.
May 27, 2012 at 7:25 pm
Deal. There will be a limo at the airport waiting. Seriously.
May 27, 2012 at 5:36 pm
And Fred your comment is incoherent and cannot be addressed.
May 28, 2012 at 12:56 pm
as Ken crawls back into his cave..
May 27, 2012 at 5:35 pm
Arepitas In the upper right of the photo?
We used to snack at misia jacinta,
across from macdonald…
May 27, 2012 at 5:33 pm
Kepler Yes I believe that the oil supplies discovered in the USA were discovered only in the USA. Reserves recently discovered in North, South Dakota and Montana contains as much as 200 billion barrels, potentially allowing the U.S. to become energy independent. Yes I believe that the Bakken Formation coupled with reopening the gulf oil fields would increase supply, bringing down pump prices. There is no shortage of crude oil. OPEC limits production to artificially control supply and elevate prices. The last new refinery in the US came on line in 1978. The Obama administration has done nothing to increase refinery capacity, and has the ability to do so. Hence they have culpability regarding current US petroleum prices. Once again many people are opposed to president Obama’s ideology and policies, and are neither fools nor racists.
May 27, 2012 at 5:51 pm
The last refinery came online in the U.S. in 1978, and you’re blaming the last 4 years of Obama as the reason more haven’t been built and for current gas prices?
Do you see the underlying fault in your logic?
The fault is that you make no sense.
May 27, 2012 at 6:24 pm
Everyone always points this out- but, several refineriers have been reworked and output increased-even though no new ones have been built.
Also, there have been natural gas refineries constructed as well as coal-plants and upgrades to them as well (this reduces the need for oil)
As for the US- the main user of oil is the freakin military and they use more than ever I suppose…
Politics aside – US has huge oil deposits and in fact
EXPORTS MORE OIL THAN IT IMPORTS…
and yes compared to many other places in the world -gasoline in US
is a bargain.
May 27, 2012 at 5:18 pm
Two comments.
1) From me–what do you expect rooting for the Red Sox? If you were a Yankess fan, you would have had a great day.
2) From my wife–is that a reina pepeada, pollo con aguacate?
May 27, 2012 at 5:18 pm
YANKEES! I MISSPELLED IT!
May 27, 2012 at 5:33 pm
Ira:
1) Let’s not talk religion here, we have enough with Hugo’s.
2) yes, that is a Reina. But this particular place, Tostadas Bello Monte makes yummy arepas, really crunchy, you can put anything in them. I actually pigged out, had three…oink, oink.
May 27, 2012 at 5:40 pm
Miguel, three? Three? Three reinas pepiadas? That’s the calories equivalent of three full meals, at least..and for supper on top of that!
Tostadas Bello Monte…if that is place I think it is, it was the one where my whole family went when we got out on Sundays in the 60’s. Is that so?
May 27, 2012 at 5:44 pm
Two were cheese :-). First arepa place on the left after Sears/Maxy’s/Banesco
May 27, 2012 at 5:44 pm
My wife is trying to remember where the place is. Of course she knows Bello Monte, but can’t visualize the arepera.
May 27, 2012 at 5:46 pm
Going towards Santa Monica, you go byt what was Seras, then Maxy’s, today Ciudad Banesco, on the left. They actually remodeled a few years ago but kept the “plancha” where they toast the arepas, I guess that surfaced had half a century of experience.
May 27, 2012 at 7:17 pm
Hey Devil….
Driving through Bello Monte, Los Chaguaramos or Santa Monica, a friday night by 10:00 pm is a risky adventure that can endanger your life! Remember that this area of Caracas belongs to Municipio Libertador and now has a high crime rate. It has become so dangerous that even the Ministerio de Justicia points it out.
Check the following links:
http://www.eluniversal.com/sucesos/120526/cicpc-realiza-despliegue-preventivo-en-las-parroquias-san-pedro-y-el-r
http://www.mpprij.gob.ve/index.php/noticias-destacadas/2673-dibise
Next time when you come to Caracas, please be more carefull..!
May 28, 2012 at 12:36 am
I think you cross the Sears/Banesco semaforo [el puente esta a la derecha], and on the left, between los negocios que reparan motores, por ahi creo que esta.
May 27, 2012 at 8:20 pm
LOVE crunchy arepas, reinas are faves. Miguel, if you drink a glass of milk — oh, forgot, that’s on the list of endangered products — before you leave your house, you won’t need to stuff so many carbohydrate-rich “hockey pucks” into you.
May 27, 2012 at 8:28 pm
and speaking of overeating … for a man who says he’s following a diet, Chávez’ face tells a different story — and it doesn’t look like steroids this time.
May 27, 2012 at 8:28 pm
This was unplanned, I left for ten, fifteen minutes. Milk? ha long has it been since you have been here?
May 27, 2012 at 9:01 pm
2001: visited Caracas family and attended the 50th anniversary party for the founding of my grade school. I did not drink much milk then, except with coffee. Yeah, it’s been a long time. And I was disgusted by the level of chaos that I vowed I wouldn’t be back until Ch. was gone.
May 27, 2012 at 4:21 pm
did I read that correctly? The equivalent of one yankee dollar to fill your tank? I just passed thru N California where gas was $4.65 thanks to our Kenyan prezident…..
May 27, 2012 at 4:38 pm
You are really a racist fool. What is it? The embittered white supremacist who sees her days are past? “Give us back our America”? What a caricature.
Obama is US American, as much as Washington or Reagan.
Petrol prices have little to do with the president of the US and more with supply and demand all over the world. You won’t find information about that in you KKK handbook or in the book of Joshua.
May 27, 2012 at 5:00 pm
Kepler I think your being a little harsh on Senora Jessica. Obama’s own publisher for years stated that he was born in Kenya. This was only edited several weeks ago. She may not be aware of the revision and recent denial. In the United States of America the president does have quite a bit to do with pump prices. In the last year huge supplies in new oil fields were discovered along with new recovery technology. President Obama and his administration has consistently denied gulf permits, blocked pipeline development and held down available petroleum product supply in various ways. In a free market economy supply and demand dictate prices. Hence Arguably Mr. Obama has definite culpability regarding pump prices. President Obama has a very high unfavorable rating in the U.S. related to his Socialist policies. Harsh name calling, and identifying as racist those that do not support his ideology is neither accurate nor just.
May 27, 2012 at 5:11 pm
So, Ken, you think that if you could drill your way through in the Gulf of Mexico and Alaska, world oil prices would drop dramatically? Apparently those oil supplies were discovered only in the USA…or in OPEC countries plus Russia? Is that what you are implying or not?
May 27, 2012 at 5:42 pm
Ken, if you still think Obama was born in Kenya, there’s no point of attempting a rational discussion with you. You are wrong, 100% wrong, in denying that Obama is a U.S. born citizen.
Next, I am guessing that gas prices have risen about $1 a gallon since Obama took office, meaning an average of $2.65 then to $3.65 now. However, if you would like to discuss gas prices pre-Bush and post Bush, let’s do it!
May 28, 2012 at 11:16 am
> Ken, perhaps you and Jessica would like to congratulate the President then on falling gas prices. I can buy a gallon of regular gas TODAY for $3.48 in New Jersey, and the price is still dropping. Natural gas prices are incredibly low. BTW, the price of a gallon of regular in July of 2008 under President Bush was over $4.30. Note: regular gas in the US is 87 octane.
> We all know however that will not say a word about falling gas prices, because the official Republican talking point is that rising gas pries is the fault of the President and falling gas prices is “the market at work”.
> Any oil that is found today will not help the price of gasoline. It would take months, if not years, for that oil to reach market. The Oil from Canada that would go through the pipeline to the Gulf Coast would immediately go on tankers to supply other countries.
> One last point Jess and Ken. Notice that I called Barack Obama President, just as I call George Bush President. I might not have liked the policies of President Bush, but damn it he was the President of the United States and demanded my respect as an American. You people who refuse to acknowledge his Presidency, his citizenship, and his integrity are a disgrace to our country and electoral system.
May 28, 2012 at 12:27 pm
Confronting a socialist with truth is like confronting a werewolf with a cross.
May 28, 2012 at 12:58 pm
When a rebuttal to actual facts are impossible, insult the persons integrity with a statement of imaginary creatures. C’mon Ken, you can do better than that.
May 27, 2012 at 8:38 pm
kep….take your meds …or..heres $5.00 go buy sense of humor
May 28, 2012 at 4:31 am
He’s hiding his birth certificate because it shows he was in fact born in Oxford Mississippi of mixed ancestry, he is in fact the last child of one Wm. F. a noted Oxford drunk and all about sorry type. This must be kept hidden from his Yankee masters.
Rly, you can look it up on the webs.
May 28, 2012 at 8:49 am
Your last name speaks alone about you.. German!!
And .. who the hell said you may patronize anyone writing in this blog???? Look at your words…Racist.. KKK…caricature…fool…
THIS IS A BLOG… we do not need a teacher aggressively blaming other guests!! And this is not the first or second time you are doing it!
May 28, 2012 at 9:44 pm
I’ll give you the benefit of the doubt of “racist”, but anyone who’s still a birther is nothing but a damn fool.
May 27, 2012 at 5:21 pm
you should get out more… 4.65 is cheap if you go to europe. is obama responsible for that too? Do you really believe that the true cost of gas is less than the ten cents a gallon it costs in venezuela? Go back to live in whatever cave you came out of.
May 27, 2012 at 5:54 pm
How you equate the situation regarding US gas prices to the severe problems facing Venezuela is nonsense. I can tell by your BS statement regarding Obama that you are a cousin of Chavez, since you both argue the exact same way.
May 28, 2012 at 11:37 am
> Jessica, I’m not sure where you got gas, but in Redding California, on State Rt 5, you could get a gallon of gas for between $4.13 and $4.39. The highest price anywhere in Redding was 4.52.
> Look Jessica, we both know that the REAL problem with California gas prices is California has the 2nd highest gas tax in the US at $.69 a gallon. That and the fact that California has almost no refineries puts the price astronomically high.
> You already know the answer though, don’t you. The price of gas, along with almost everything else wrong with America today is the fault of an Illegal immigrant Muslim extremist whose sole mission in life is to bring down the United States of America by forcing socialism on proud, white America thru an extension of the Kenyan Mau Mau rebellion of the early 1950’s.
May 27, 2012 at 2:12 pm
An arepa at BsF 25 to 30 is a nice meal, much better than a Big Mac and cheaper.
May 27, 2012 at 3:17 pm
It is definitely a nicer meal and the price for someone with a North American or European purchasing power is fine. I just think about José Luis Rodríguez González in Petare…he can probably buy more litres of petrol than an average European but less hamburgers. Unfortunately, he can’t buy a car, much less with an insurance as required in Venezuela.
Venezuela’s just crazy.
May 27, 2012 at 12:18 pm
The price controls imposed by the chavista government on the medicines has generated a huge contraband of them to our neighboring countries. Recently, I made a trip to the city Guiria, Estado Sucre, in the eastern tip of Venezuela to visit some friends and took the opportunity to go the local drugstore to see if I could get “Madopar” which is a medicine for treating Parkinson´s disease that it is very hard to find anywhere in Venezuela. The drugstore´clerk told me they were out of it and there was much scarcity because many medicines are smuggled toward Trinidad and Tobago.
Also check this news from El Nacional:
Estos medicamentos traficados en Colombia son vendidos hasta 3.000% por encima del precio regulado en Venezuela. El Euthyrox de 100 miligramos se vende en 5,20 bolívares, mientras que en Colombia está en 167,36 bolívares; el Glucofage cuesta 3,24 bolívares y en la nación vecina 229,47 bolívares; el Euglucón de 5 miligramos se comercializa en 8,75 bolívares y al otro lado de la frontera en 91,84 bolívares; y el Aldomet de 250 mg tiene un precio de 19,11 bolívares y allá está en 139,47.
http://www.6topoder.com/2012/04/08/medicamentos-regulados-en-venezuela-son-vendidos-hasta-30-veces-mas-caros-en-colombia/
May 27, 2012 at 1:06 pm
Well, the same happens with Canada and the US. The difference is not so striking now, but a few years ago there were tours of american seniors to get here to fill up their prescriptions.
May 27, 2012 at 5:37 pm
To get them cheaper in Canada–not to just get them. There were no shortages of the drugs in the U.S.
May 27, 2012 at 11:12 am
How much did the arepa cost?
I am willing to bet that it costed more than the medicine and the tank.
May 27, 2012 at 11:25 am
Each arepa was Bs. 24, yes one of them wasmore than the gas ajnd the two packs of pills combined. And I had more than one 😁
May 27, 2012 at 12:40 pm
Con razón están tan redonditos los venezolanos 🙂
24 bolos? 4.4 euros at the official rate…I think that’s like a cheeseburger in some places, more than a big kebab or falalel…but of course, a Venezuelan worker doesn’t earn 9700 bolívares netto and all books and health paid for his children…on the other side, a third or so of Venezuelans can tank for almost nothing. Venezuela is just so crazy!
May 27, 2012 at 2:24 pm
mmmmm ….
yummy!!!
May 27, 2012 at 10:54 am
mhhhh your history are like the many other that we are srurviving on those lands …. 🙂
May 27, 2012 at 9:47 am
“A pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity; an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty.” Sir Winston Churchill
Scarcity is not our only problem, inflation — roaring ahead at around 30% a year since 1984 (not a new problem created by Chavez) — is also a major problem. You can combine the two into a (partial) solution.
Since anything and everything can go missing in stores (a problem inherent to any planned economy), if one has the cash one needs to stock up for 30 or 60 days or longer on some items including food, medicines and even toilette paper. Don’t count on just-in-time-inventory around here. Your consolation is that you are beating inflation somewhat!
Of course, the poor, living hand to mouth, don’t have the luxury of stocking up. Why they keep voting for socialists is a deep mystery.
Read: El Congelador — The Freezer
http://www.analitica.com/va/politica/opinion/3489547.asp
May 27, 2012 at 9:40 am
Bad news: having to waste your evening on what would have been a 5-10 minute errand in a country run in a rational manner.
Good news: an interesting urban tale on the dysfunctions of Chavismo, which points out that below-market prices result in shortages.
May 27, 2012 at 8:34 am
Hope this cheers you a little..
May 27, 2012 at 8:15 am
The downside of your night on the town in Karakastan is that you didn’t have to watch the Red Sox lose, but the upside is that you weren’t robbed by cops at the alcabalas, express kidnapped, carjacked or shot. You had a good night out, on balance,since you were still alive and free to pen this post.
May 27, 2012 at 7:30 am
Hi moctavio, you could have gone to Cuban doctors they would have given you your medicine for free espacialy if you would have told youre a special ops or a black ops working from the US ambassy ” con mucho feliz !! they would have done it
May 27, 2012 at 1:59 pm
The probability that a) The Barrio Adentro module was in operation b) That if it was someone would be there and c) that they would have a modern pharmaceutical is about zero.
Agent 99, Mike Maxwell Smart
May 27, 2012 at 2:02 pm
Rudy: “Con mucho felix” is as nonsensical as your knowledge and understanding of Venezuela. As good a PSF as it gets.
May 27, 2012 at 5:15 am
95 Octane? Good heavens, serious compression in ye olde whip?
May 27, 2012 at 4:36 am
What Miguel experienced is exactly why, when I go to Venezuela for 3 months, any kind of shopping errands is done by my husband or the male caretaker of my house. I just cannot stand all such irritating things as: products not readily available, having to go to any number of stores to get what you want, traveling out of the way just to get meds or groceries, etc. At least my husband enjoys doing all these things and it means that our household help can get out of doing housework for a few hours!!!
May 27, 2012 at 3:19 am
btw, there is not presently a production car IN THE WORLD that requires 95 octane.
May 27, 2012 at 6:05 am
No, but we only have 91 or 95, my car specifies 93
May 27, 2012 at 5:14 pm
i know this is off topic,and, in relation to the issues usually discussed here, this is rather petty but, american, german and japanese manufacturers presently define a high octane requirement as 91 octane. (87 is regular). engine controls have reduced the need for the very high octane distillations.
May 27, 2012 at 5:30 pm
My car says 93 and in Venezuela we only have 91 or 95 , always used 95 (Japanese station wagon), was not about to change it. Actually my german car also recommends 93.
May 27, 2012 at 5:33 pm
and yes i realize you have the right to put whatever gas you want to in your car and this issue has nothing to do with the theme of your post…
May 27, 2012 at 5:46 pm
sorry, just looked it up, vene uses a different standard for fuel rating. it uses the RON and not the ron+mon/2 octane rating. apples and oranges…. sorry to rattle on .
May 28, 2012 at 11:27 am
everyday one learn a new thing, today it was the RON vs AKI fuel ratings, thanks fred!
May 27, 2012 at 2:46 am
Miguel,
That was a very good explanation of how even the simplest of tasks can take ten or twenty times longer to accomplish in Bolivarian Venezuela. You can start out your day with a “To Do” list of half-a-dozen simple errands, and find out that by mid-afternoon, you have gotten only one of them done, and perhaps two started, but still needing more follow-up. Then, out of shear frustration, you say, “Screw it!” and go look for a cold beer.
May 27, 2012 at 2:20 am
Antonio – move to second or third world – get shot, burgled etc etc etc DON´T HESITATE – you are most welcome… and THINKING is no easy for everyone..
May 27, 2012 at 12:58 am
Think positively. Such sense of accomplishment! It can get very boring in the 1st world.
May 26, 2012 at 11:47 pm
Somewhat related, since the “socialist” takeover of the main coffee roaster for the country last year, all of the coffee is identical. I’m not sure why they are still putting it in different bags: same coffee, same roast, same taste no matter if you are buying Cafe Madrid, El Penon, or any other brand.
May 27, 2012 at 6:03 pm
We bought a few bags of Fama de America coffee on our last visit to Venezuela these last Christmas (just like we did every time we went there), and as soon as we got them started on our way back my wife said to me that this coffee had a burnt aftertaste. I wouldn’t accept it, but on the 10th or more try of it I did. I guess, as you say m_astera, it is the same coffee, and as Miguel has said, like many other products it’s all been equalized to a very low standard (that’s a nice way of putting it, actually).
May 27, 2012 at 10:53 pm
Coffee was pretty scarce last Christmas in Venezuela. I had a few kilos stashed and that’s what I gave as gifts to the neighbors and staff where I live. You were lucky to find any for sale.
The coffee famine lasted until February or so, then all of a sudden there were tons of it in the stores, but it was so acidic that it gave me stomach aches. Coarse ground, light roast, tasted like cheap robusta beans. Every brand the same. I couldn’t drink it. Then over the next couple of months I guess someone figured out how to run the coffee roasters and grinders and it’s much better now, but still identical. Like you say, all equalized. I remember reading about a sunglasses factory Russia that made all the sunglasses for the whole USSR. If you wanted sunglasses, that was it. One year they, or some supplier, made all of the glass too dark, so you couldn’t see through it. But they went ahead and made millions of pairs of useless sunglasses from it anyway.
May 29, 2012 at 6:25 pm
I can’t speak for 2012 coffee, but in 2011 it was very bad.
Grounded coffee was mixed with unrelated materials (beans or lentils)
I switched to whole beans, but the roast was too light, almost raw.