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Location: Originally from Cali relocated to Inman Park/Old 4th Ward/Westside Atlanta
987 posts, read 3,911,846 times
Reputation: 352
I've traveled to Venezuela several times and have good friends who live there...they make do but they arent satisfied with the government under Chavez. The dollar situation and inflation is crazy there too which could makes changing money there difficult and could impair your daily living situation. I have only stayed mostly in Caracas and Isla Margarita and Morrocoy for Semana Santa.
The party scene in Caracas is pretty good but most people socialize at malls (most clubs, restaurants, nightlife are at malls for security I guess) so their isnt much street level activity at night because of the crime. Baseball is huge as well which makes for good times as well.
Caracas is definitely an Urban Jungle but I dont think I could live there. I've been able to adapt to some crazy situations but I've never felt as unsafe as I did when visiting Caracas several times. Even the people in the hotels told me to not walk the streets at night and head directly to wherever destination I was going to. We also got pulled over by the cops while going to a restaurant and thye arrested our taxi driver and searched us and tried to bribe us but then we just started talking about Obama and they drove us back to our hotel no problems...needless to stay we didnt go out that night. On the road to Morrocy there were several road blocks that the bus had to stop off at to pay the national police there. Also we got pulled over and once they saw we were American asked for more bribes...it was just hilarious not threatening but it was amazing these things were still going on.
Check out this forum Poorbuthappy travel forums about Venezuela you should be able to get additional answers there from people as well. Good luck but I don't know If you should settle in on Caracas...
Take a look at these articles about life in Caracas from people living there...
I've traveled to Venezuela several times and have good friends who live there...they make do but they arent satisfied with the government under Chavez. The dollar situation and inflation is crazy there too which could makes changing money there difficult and could impair your daily living situation. I have only stayed mostly in Caracas and Isla Margarita and Morrocoy for Semana Santa.
The party scene in Caracas is pretty good but most people socialize at malls (most clubs, restaurants, nightlife are at malls for security I guess) so their isnt much street level activity at night because of the crime. Baseball is huge as well which makes for good times as well.
Caracas is definitely an Urban Jungle but I dont think I could live there. I've been able to adapt to some crazy situations but I've never felt as unsafe as I did when visiting Caracas several times. Even the people in the hotels told me to not walk the streets at night and head directly to wherever destination I was going to. We also got pulled over by the cops while going to a restaurant and thye arrested our taxi driver and searched us and tried to bribe us but then we just started talking about Obama and they drove us back to our hotel no problems...needless to stay we didnt go out that night. On the road to Morrocy there were several road blocks that the bus had to stop off at to pay the national police there. Also we got pulled over and once they saw we were American asked for more bribes...it was just hilarious not threatening but it was amazing these things were still going on.
Check out this forum Poorbuthappy travel forums about Venezuela you should be able to get additional answers there from people as well. Good luck but I don't know If you should settle in on Caracas...
Take a look at these articles about life in Caracas from people living there...
Thank you for the feedback! You basically confirmed what I already knew/learned--I posted on here to see if someone had anything else to say.
My former colleague who lived there for two years said the exact same things.
On another note...you seem very familiar with many parts of Latin America--do you know anything about Santiago, Chile? (No one has responded yet to the Santiago thread I started...!)
Location: Originally from Cali relocated to Inman Park/Old 4th Ward/Westside Atlanta
987 posts, read 3,911,846 times
Reputation: 352
Quote:
Originally Posted by aries4118
Thank you for the feedback! You basically confirmed what I already knew/learned--I posted on here to see if someone had anything else to say.
My former colleague who lived there for two years said the exact same things.
On another note...you seem very familiar with many parts of Latin America--do you know anything about Santiago, Chile? (No one has responded yet to the Santiago thread I started...!)
Never been but it's on the list along with Argentina this year.
Venezuela is going through a grievous power –electrical energy- emergency but the so called revolution is also having difficulties to conceal it, while the motto “To stick to one’s hands†pretending not to understand, ignoring this problem isn’t paying any results.
Frequent black outs would reach even to the farthest country geography, consequently affecting its inhabitants. There’s no getting around it: government officials are definitely not ruling this South American country efficiently and again, back to the old tricks, they don’t attend their office duties, and clerks fail to come to work either for the well being and people’s welfare and to bring this country on the road to a fair progress and steady growth.
But wages these bureaucrats earn are justified since they support and secure Chavez president at office and of course at power. This explains vacant minister offices as public administration clerks abandon their jobs just to attend to campaign parades.
We would expect an outcome: the basic, elementary maintenance overhaul given to dams is neglected, overlooked and careless by negligent office clerks, who obligated to wear red clothes -men in red- are forced to attend to these parades -assistance is checked- even humiliated if refused, so Venezuela won’t get out of control.
The country’s infrastructure, communication, transportation, and roads, has become impaired, wearing out, causing damage to citizens. This is what has happened to power plants, despite huge budgets approved by president Chávez to deal with these problems.
In only just a decade, over 950.000 million dollar bugged of calculated proceeds without control authority or instrument have been handed out to energy board, without authority control, except for the ostentatious, showy governmental expense squandering. This has been augmented by the new attention, courtesy contributions and donations given for the sake of the Bolivarian Revolution to allied countries, plus purchases of obsolete weaponry for wars in non existing wars.
The biggest and only dam in Venezuela is “Guri†or “Raúl Leony,†once a major outstanding engineering masterpiece, and still is today, standing as one of the best in the world, lacks appropriate maintenance and safeguarding creating some problems along the years. So it shows the fact only half of total turbines working presently is responsible for 70% of power going to Venezuela’s energy necessities.
Nevertheless, 11 years since Chávez got power and enough resources were not sufficient to build more dams -or alternate energy plants. At the same time other ways for generating energy have been abandoned -like thermoelectric plants powered by orimulsion fuel. These latter depend greatly on oil -Venezuela has plenty of this- and would be much more manageable than depending on rain hazard.
The country is now under the worst leadership crisis, blaming others for the power shortage, ranging from “El Niño,†to blame the IV Republic, ruined by almighty chavismo, it has the government way out.
Everybody would question if too much power given to a president has been effective to solve Venezuela’s problems, or if random, hit and miss is the rule here instead. Venezuelans cannot accept any political project hat would let collapse public utility and risk the nation budget in arms and propaganda expenses on the rise.
Energy supply has been a hard trial for Chavez and his admirers, yet they have mismanaged these damned catastrophe. The only way out of this in resolving the current power crisis would be a proposal bound to execute and carry out new alternate ways to get Venezuelans out of the existing electric shortage.
Venezuela suffers heavily from the government's opposition, which happens to be the rich. Almost everything you hear about Venezuela, especially in the U.S., is propaganda, with fake facts or half-truths.
marcosurbina's post is an example of this.
Chavez may look like a clown, but his accomplishments are truly remarkable. The high class suffered, though.
Still there are a lot of people in Venezuela, and outside, who believe President Chavez is the unfortunate and poor’s hero. Official propaganda / state owned TV channels persist, and press their point: these days’ poor people are better off, more comfortable and contended than the well-to-do in Venezuela. Besides, the poor in Venezuela benefit from free medical assistance, the young can study a career, applying themselves to study, and planning for a better future.
I think this is an unmoved simplicity about what is affecting this nation. But such ingenuity is getting worse in Venezuelan people, as a head of state, running Venezuela like his own feudal, is paying for the propaganda no matter how contradictory his story might sound, as facts are distorted and twisted by government officials.
Opposition in Venezuela is now lost, vanished and gone astray, as fear and dread is obvious; opponents, as well as resistance, are but wasted after a 9 year confrontation, in particular defeated, seeing a media vanish, after government proscribed popular TV stations were closed and official spokespersons refuse, using conflicting criticism, while a deceitful, tricky and misleading speech takes place like the language used by the President Hugo Chavez.
Poor around the world can’t rely on a leader who keeps on raising oil prices within the OPEC (Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries), or a leader who manages Venezuela as if it were his large farm or estate, ruins any possibility to boost production from the current 2,4 million barrel this year to a promised 3,3 million barrels as promised by the Venezuelan leader, a reality too far to accomplish.
A popular leader wouldn’t shut up the most TV popular channel just because official corruption cases plus general discomfort were discussed openly here, nor it is a popular leader who has been incompetent for bringing a fashion of 17.000 slaughtered Venezuelans to an end during 2066 in the middle of high crime rate.
It is likely Venezuelans would earn better wages today, but this apparent betterment can’t be sustained for long. Venezuela betakes herself to be governed and ruled by one sole landlord, and this go together with a strong scarcity, scanty products and supplies at supermarkets, while national production is less significant each day.
Gratuitous medicine is offered, but just the basics and necessary. Still there is a controversy and we’d question if Cuban doctors have enough skills, working like slaves at recently created mini hospitals and clinics. Public hospitals are ruined, lousy, while Venezuelan doctors migrate or perform other kind of jobs, like driving a taxi or as peddlers. In order to supply lack of doctors, Hugo Chavez authorizes new generation graduates after a three year college, not enough schoolwork to obtain a doctorate but enough provided the alumnae have Marxist ideology knowledge.
Garbage collection has been always a problem both in Caracas and in major cities, as garbage collection trucks fail to haul it, so Venezuelan inhabitants are becoming sickly each time. Water channels, pipes and sewer, or drainage at streets and roads are ignored. Getting milk to nourish children seems a hard –sometimes impossible- task nowadays in Venezuela. Typical diseases -break bone fever, malaria- have returned, stronger in Venezuela. Bus transportation will mean to run the risk or a hold up or being assaulted during the bus ride.
A major setback is noticed mainly on education. Private schools used to work fine for the poor, with good standards, but programs and curriculum are overloaded and plagued with ideology contents that will never bring peace and comfort to us. Educational excellence is not something that may absorb government attention, nor is it a debate of ideas that would create improvement and research. Academic class plans or schedule isn’t important either, but it is the amount of graduates. A high school diploma can be obtained in one year –compared to 5 years before- provided a student will be able to recite a dialogue or speech standing in front of TV video cameras to praise the revolution leader Hugo Chavez.
I accept a lot of Venezuela’s problems didn’t originate during the so called Bolivarian “Revolution” but you can witness the same show of homeless children begging for charity in Caracas Avenues, and it’s getting worse each day under the Socialismo del Siglo XXI.
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Short Circuit Inside the Revolution
