Gas is cheaper than water

Learned some interesting things about the country today. First, the people believe that the situation in Caracas will only get worse before it gets better. Such as: the public, nicer areas such as the malls are “safe” for now, but they don’t know how long this will last. One of the realtors even told me is that this is where the people go for fun. I can’t imagine resorting to a mall to have a good time. One realtor told me that there soon will be a new law that if you rent your apartment for more than 20 years, it is automatically yours. Another law will cause major restrictions for imports on liquor because “the rich drink liquor” and Chavez is trying to appeal to the poor, not to the rich…. (not communist or anything.. noooo…) So therefore, in a few months (6 or so) it will be difficult to find alcohol. I can’t imagine, these poor people. There will be an election for congress or something like that in November and the outcome sure will be interesting. It will determine a lot and may cause for a more calm or even crazier country, depending on whether Chavez can maintain his support or not. The country is divided; those who are for Chavez and those who are against. Since office, Chavez has changed the constitution 3 times. One of the revisions was to make sure that he could be re-elected over and over again until he fills out his life-long term as president. What a nut case.

The exchange rate issue is pretty bizarre, official rate is 4 something but the black market will give you a rate of 8.2. Getting a hold of US currency is fairly rare and a luxury so people are willing to pay more for it since it’s a stable currency good for investments. So, because of this issue, I have yet to get a good grip on prices because of the craziness of the x-rate. Speaking of crazy, prices for goods and services have increased by about 30-40% in the past few months from what I have heard and seen. Can you imagine? It’s totally absurd. On a side note, gas here is cheaper than water. You pay nothing to fill up your car, it’s unbelievable.