Living Life in Latin America: Back in Caracas

When I landed in Caracas, I was greeted by a bathroom that had toilet paper and soap! I was shocked and took that as a good sign. Unfortunately it wasn’t a sign for anything. My first week back was concerning. The grocery stores were pretty empty, like less than usual. A lot of the shortages haven’t bothered me much because I don’t eat meat or cheese or use vegetable oil, flour, or sugar like most people. But the produce section barely had anything, there wasn’t any eggs, and even the dry rice and bean isle had empty shelves. Then our filtered water was not delivered like it usually is every Monday. All the locals claimed it was just because everything was closed for the holidays and so things were going to take a while to return back to “normal.” But then the lines started getting ridiculous. One day I tried to go to the grocery and the line was out the door and around the building because the store was so packed and there were police guarding the entrance. I couldn’t handle that so I waited until the next day to go and by then the shelves were pretty bare. This same weekend the water in our building was shut off! So at that point I decided to “doomsday prep.” I bought a bunch of extra veggies and bread and canned food that I could freeze/ store incase the shortages continued. I also filled some empty jugs with water. It seemed kind of silly, but I’d rather be safe than sorry.

Luckily, the water for our building was only out because of a broken water main on our street. And after two weeks, our filtered water was finally delivered. And the produce section at the store was restocked. But this is not to say that things are back to “normal.” Last week when I went to the store I was shocked that I didn’t have to wait in a long line (there’s always a long line even on “normal” days). As I was checking out though, something scarce was put out and people started yelling and running to the back of the store to get in line to claim whatever it was (probably milk or laundry detergent). Less than ten minutes later the store was a mad house with a line out the door again. I went to get my nails done at the salon across from the store and couldn’t believe all the people who continued to rush to the line.

The scarcity and the long lines have been all over the news. I was told it is now illegal to take pictures of the empty shelves or the lines and that if you are caught doing so you could be arrested.

Aside from the grocery issue, things still must go on as usual. Work has been very busy, but I am making an effort to do more things and be more social on the weekends. Last weekend one of the expat teachers had a house party that was a lot of fun. It was mostly teachers from our school and some other random people. But I had a good time and got to practice my spanish a lot. I was also lectured about how I need to be more shameless about speaking spanish. I know that it is important but it is hard for me to take the risk of being wrong or sounding stupid. However, I am trying to make a more conscious effort to be more “shameless.”

The Girls (and Jason)

Last weekend I also went on an adventure in the city with Walli (my 75 year old BFF). We successfully took a bus to the metro station and then took the metro to Parque del Este, a huge park near downtown Caracas. It was awesome. I was pleasantly surprised how well the park has been kept up. There was an amphitheatre where a free zumba class was taking place, there were impressive fountains, gardens, animal exhibits, and a ship. The best part of it was seeing all the people that were enjoying the day there. I know that life here can be difficult, especially for the locals, but it was reassuring to see people not standing in a long line, but relaxing and appreciating the day. The park is near a large grocery store, so it’s necessary that we went there to see if there was anything our store doesn’t have. Unfortunately there was nothing different there, except a WHOLE isle of ketchup. I almost took a picture of it, but I didn’t know if that’s allowed… So we made our way back home. The tricky part about getting home from downtown was finding the correct bus to get on. There is at least ten different buses at the station and we tried about six different ones until we found the correct line. Everyone kept telling us different things, but with our limited spanish we finally made it home feeling accomplished.

Since I’ve been back, I have also started taking private tennis lessons. My instructor, Leo, charges the equivalent of about $1 for an hour lesson on the tennis court at my apartment complex so I figured I might as well try it out. Plus it’s like an extra spanish lesson since he doesn’t speak english. It has been way harder than I expected, but also way more fun than I expected. So far, we mostly just do drills so I can learn the correct form and that involves A LOT of sprinting. But Leo says I am doing very well so that gives me hope. During my lesson this past week, there was an annoying noise of people banging on pots and pans. I was told this noise was constant during the protests last year and I found out that it was happening now because the president was talking that night. I thought it was significant that I finally heard it.

This past Friday, we had our VANAS conference which is a professional development for all the international school teachers in Venezuela. Somehow Walli convinced me to lead a workshop with her so we presented on the topic of Math Resources to Keep up with the Changing Times. I was really nervous considering this is my first year teaching math and I do not find myself qualified to give other people advice, but I think it went really well and it seemed like the audience thought it was useful. Luckily there were only about 20 people so it was good experience for me. The conference was held at the other international school in Caracas (the bigger one that has more students and a lot more money). After the conference was over there was a reception with live music and free booze. Everyone was taking advantage of the free drinks. After the supply ran out some of us went to happy hour at Terraza. I talked to some of the new teachers at the other school I interviewed at and it is so bad there that they are breaking their contracts early and leaving after this year. I guess the school is just unorganized and the location is in the middle of nowhere. I am so lucky I got the job I did it made me very thankful!

Dinner on the balcony at Coco Thai

Despite how much I wanted to sleep in after such a busy week, I got up early to go hiking on Saturday. We were doing a hike I had never done before so I knew I would regret it if I didn’t go. We took a taxi to the teleferico and got there super early. On our way there, we passed the longest grocery line I’ve seen yet. It was unbelievable. First we passed all the stopped cars lined up on the freeway that were just waiting to get into the parking lot; it could have been about a mile long. Then we saw the line of people that was outside the store and snaked around multiple times. I really couldn’t believe it. Our driver was trying to explain to us that it is a government store so the prices are fixed at a lower rate so a lot of people want to shop there. But even once they wait in line there is a limited number of items you can get and the supplies run out quickly. Also on our way, we saw all the military tanks and personnel posted out on the streets of downtown. There was a political march on Friday (for the government supporters) and one on Saturday (for the oppositionists) so I guess they were just being cautious. It was a little unsettling, but the good news is we saw them again on the way home and they were still standing there looking very bored. Hopefully it stays that way.

So we got to the teleferico about 45 minutes before it opened but there was already a line forming. So we waited patiently in line like everyone else until the gates opened 30 minutes late. Since we were in the front of the line we didn’t have to wait long to get in a cabin. We made it about half way up when suddenly we were in the clouds and you couldn’t see anything. It was so creepy! You couldn’t tell if we were moving or not and I was so uncomfortable. The usual 20 minute ride felt way longer! I was so relieved when we finally reached the top.

So eerie

I decided to use the restroom before we started our hike and there was toilet paper! It’s always a nice surprise. However, the toilets were not flushing so there was a barrel of water in the bathroom and after you used the toilet, you had to fill a jug will the barrel water and pour it into the toilet bowl. It was a slow process so there was a line (naturally) but it worked. Because of the clouds, you couldn’t see anything from the top of the mountain and it was cold and misty. I was suddenly wishing I was back in bed.

But we started our hike and things got better. I finally got my first sight of the Caribbean! And the clouds slowly moved away. We hiked to a place called Picacho, which is a big rock at the top of a mountain where you can see the city on one side and the ocean on the other. It was really cool, I hope to go back again when it isn’t so cloudy. It was a decent hike too.