Post: #26

(05-11-2013 12:54 AM)RougeNoir Wrote:  Anyone make the trip post-Chavez?

I still can't. Just like his master, Maduro also hates Colombians. I would never make it past Merida with my id.

Post: #27

(02-11-2013 04:50 PM)presidentcarter Wrote:  A Venezuelan au pair I met a few years ago told me she "loved!!" Chavez and didn't have any interest in my argument for how he's ruined the country. I just thought that was so bizarre.

I agree that's insanity for a Venezuelan to have love for Chavez. For fun try doing the same to an American about Wilson or FDR. Stockholm syndrome is strong everywhere my friend.

Post: #28

The prospect for traveling to Venezuela is interesting as it relates to game and women. Many on here say the best time to have picked up the very best of Colombia was when the violence was most intense.

There will be considerably less competition.

Post: #29

Bump.
I simply love the look of the women in this country.
Any updates?
I guess avoid the capital!

Post: #30

delete

Post: #31

I knew of a guy who went to Caracas to do some dental work from Colombia... Now that is bargain hunting.

As for visiting, I am too happy in Medellin as I type this on my balcony on this sunny Saturday.

As for buying a property there, after what happened when Chavez came into power ,, it's a risky bet. Many other places are safer and for us on the forum have pretty women to choose over Venezuela...

Post: #32

I did Caracas in 2014 in March. I would definitely NOT recommend it. I had just spent time in Argentina and was loving the lifestyle the blue dollar was affording me and thought I could do the same thing in Venezuela. You can't, its an entirely different situation. My plan was to set up base in Caracas for three months. I left after a week.

Things may have calmed down now, when I was there protests were going on and there were tires burning in the street. It just felt like a very dangerous city, the people seemed very desperate. I lived in Johannesburg for 6 months and really enjoyed it. To me Caracas is way way more dangerous and surprisingly even with the black market exchange rate, it is super expensive. Like Manhattan price points if you have any plans to live in a “safe” area. And you definitely can not live like a local.

When I was there I think the official exchange rate for the dollar was 8 to 1. I was able to get 63 to 1, from my airbnb host. I usually don't stay with hosts, but it was the best decision I made on the entire trip. You can not get around without a local. And hotels are very expensive, because they charge you at the official rate, so a run down 3 star hotel is about $400 a night. Even using this conversion rate a furnished apartment in the good neighborhoods was around $3,000 USD! I am sure you could have found a better deal, but there are so few areas which are even slightly safe and so little expat infrastructure, that it is really hard to find. I have done this in 6 or 7 different countries and this was by far the hardest. Add to that the internet is government controlled and very under developed, so everything is word of mouth or pounding the pavement. Another strike against it was that the food shortage thing is for real. Going to the grocery store was a several hour affair and half the shelves were bare.

The club scene also is pretty terrible as most people are afraid to go out at night. The club area was heavily guarded, with multiple guards with assault weapons at every bar. However, during the day the centro pedestrian walk was filled with stunners.

Prices are really weird, somethings like housing are really expensive and even food is not cheap, however, somethings are very cheap. I was able to get a local to buy me a plane ticket from Caracas to Maracaibo for $14 US dollars. So travel intra country is very cheap. I took the bus from Maracaibo to Santa Marta, Colombia. Be careful doing this. The border guards are crooks. They stopped the bus and we had to pass around a collection plate, which apparently is the norm, but then they got back on and demanded more money and everyone was pissed.

Overall, I would not recommend Caracas or most of Venezuela at this time. Your Spanish has to be very good as English is not widely spoken. Crime is very high, prices are high and social life options are limited if you do not have a local connection to bring you into there social circles and private parties. Take all this with a grain of salt as like I said I was only there for a week. But, after you have relocated a couple times I think you get a good sense of what a city will offer and I cut this trip short and headed to Colombia.

Post: #33

(05-23-2015 04:19 PM)ikoko Wrote:  I did Caracas in 2014 in March. I would definitely NOT recommend it. I had just spent time in Argentina and was loving the lifestyle the blue dollar was affording me and thought I could do the same thing in Venezuela. You can't, its an entirely different situation. My plan was to set up base in Caracas for three months. I left after a week.

I'd like to hear more about this. There's not a lot of chatter about Argentina on the forum.

But it seems like a great bargain at the moment, and it's a beautiful country no doubt.

What city were you in? How did the economic/political situation affect living there, or was it not a problem? Thanks.

Post: #34

Yeah I don't think Ross Kemp recommends it either.

Post: #35

Last time i checked a dolar is supposed to buy 420 Bs. The minimal wage is about 6000 Bs. So in theory with 14 dollars you should get the minimal wage. That sounds awesome, in fact i have met people who went there with not so much money and traveled all over the country.
But i continue reading about how postapocalyptic the situation is, i have asked to some venezuelans i have met which big city would be cool, but they don't speak a lot. The internet control seems to be for real, i'm surprised by the low amount of information that you can find looking for things in spanish. It seems it's really hard to find basic stuff like meat, even chicken breast, for example.

Post: #36

This topic still interests me a lot. It has all the elements for an unknown gem of a beautiful country super cheap filled with beautiful women. I think we just have to not consider Caracas an option and need intel on other smaller cities. A Venezuelan guy I spoke to told me outside of the capital things are not so bad. I might go in about a year from now to check for myself.

Post: #37

(05-23-2015 07:43 PM)Dat ass Wrote:  But i continue reading about how postapocalyptic the situation is

I do Skype Spanish lessons with a Venezuelan girl who lives in a city outside of Caracas, she's well educated and relatively well off but talks about how much things are deteriorating there, now in her city they can't even get basic necessities like diapers, toilet paper, etc without waiting in a line for hours. Crazy stuff and hard to predict how it's going to play out.

Post: #38

Sounds like a perfect place for the preppers to go.

Post: #39

My friend I traveled with went on up to Caracus after I had returned home. He was told not to go outside at night whatsoever and that it really is not a good idea for him to be there at the moment. He said he did not enjoy it much because he had to watch his back so much. His friend was changing money over and got scammed, made a fuss and the police come over, the police then scammed him as well.

I have been talking to a cute Venezuelan girl for quite a while as I did plan to go there when in South America. She is from a reasonable well of family in a town south of Caracus and says its terrible at the moment as mentioned above, people have to line up for hours for basic necessities.

Its a shame, lovely country, I still hope to go there if things do improve in the future. I dont mind some danger, but I think Venezuela is just to risky right now, especially for someone that looks like me.

Post: #40

If I were to go...I'd tag along with some upper middle class Venezuelans. There are loads of them here in Florida that travel back quite frequently. They could show you where all the good spots are, and keep you relatively safe I imagine.

Post: #41

(05-25-2015 12:00 PM)Chick Magnet Wrote:  If I were to go...I'd tag along with some upper middle class Venezuelans. There are loads of them here in Florida that travel back quite frequently. They could show you where all the good spots are, and keep you relatively safe I imagine.

Maybe, maybe not. No one is really safe there anymore. Murders are frequent, never solved, and often carried out by members of the security forces themselves.

I went 3 years ago and was robbed at gunpoint on a weekend when there were 80 or so murders in Caracas alone. Ironically I had left Caracas for the weekend due to the extremely poor security situation and was in the "safe" city of Merida.

I am friends with a member of Venezuela's elite. In Venezuela, his family has been powerful for generations, and he had extensive private security, usually a half dozen armed guards 24/7, armored cars, gated properties, etc.

6 months ago, even he no longer felt safe in Venezuela, and has left the country for the foreseeable future.

Post: #42

A piece in Barron's says the Bolivar fell by 30% in one week. The end of the Maduro government is near.

And an economist at the Univerversity of Maryland, Steve Handke, calculates the rate of Venezuelan inflation the highest in the world at 335% per year.

Could this mean the tipping point to go is near?

Post: #43

A friend living in Caracas posted this earlier

Post: #44

My buddy was just in Caracas, was at a "high end" club where lots of local celebrities hang out. He told me he bought a bottle of the most expensive rum with his friend and it was only about $20 USD total, due to the inflation.

Post: #45

If you want your Venezuelan fix, just come to Miami.

Post: #46

I went to Venezuela in mid April and I survived no problem.

I flew from Peru with Avianca which I had booked online for about $500 return.

Virtually nobody speaks English there including at the airport. Luckily I had learnt enough Spanish to tell the Immigration officer how long I was staying etc.

I had contacted girls on LatinAmerican Cupid and managed to convince one of them to meet me at the airport. She could not speak a word of English but that wasn't a problem. She was 23, tall, skinny and double D's. Venezuelan girls are quite beautiful and the richer ones all have breast implants. They have this very enthusiastic way of communicating. She always called me Amore, Rey or Mi esposo bello etc. She was incredibly easy going, I loved it, I am never gonna date a girl in Sydney ever again.

I found a porter who could speak English and he hooked me up with black market currency exchange (I got 20,000 bolivars for US$100) and a car to drive us 200km to Valencia for 7000 bolivars ($35). It is actually quite hard to find money changers outside of the airport as they seem to have gone underground. If you want to get a better exchange rate you need a friend to hook you up with someone.

The drive to Valencia was pretty easy except for several near misses. Soldiers with AKs guard the road between the airport & Caracas. It's not as tight security as Sri Lanka though.

We stayed at the Lidotel in Valencia. I booked and paid online about $200 per night. It's a nice hotel but get this, food there is incredibly cheap, meals are $1-2 including room service and the minibar is complimentary. The hotel has a nice pool and a small gym. Unfortunately I broke the treadmill.

Security at the hotel was pretty tight with a high electric fence surrounding it. Seemed safer than Johannesburg though.

There is a big shopping mall across the road from the hotel so that is where we hung out. Movie tickets cost 150 bolivars (US$0.75) that's about 95% less than what I pay here in Sydney. There are plenty of shops but the prices for imported goods are the same as what we pay. Food & drinks are pretty cheap. You can get fresh orange juice or a coffee for 90% less than what we pay. The only noticeable shortage is chicken.

I saw a few stunners on their own in the mall and the few Venezuelan's that I interacted with were unexpectedly friendly but I think online is the only reliable way to find girls there.

We got a car back to Caracas and this time I paid the driver in US$40. It was a better car and no near misses this time.

Getting out of the airport was quite painful. The line to check-in is ridiculously long. Luckily I am Gold frequent flyer with Star Alliance so I could go straight to the front. There was only 1 x-ray machine in operation so it took an hour to get through security and they are pretty rough. They check your passport to make sure you didn't over-stay your visa and aggressively frisk all the men.

At the airport there is nothing to do and no decent food to eat but I made it out with no problems. My nieces are having fun playing with my left over Bolivars which are now worthless.

Post: #47

Mr X Au : I don't get it, if everything is so cheap how come they say Caracas is an expensive place to live ?

Thanks for your impressions.

Post: #48

Delete

Post: #49

McBain:

You probably have to go there yourself to fully comprehend what it is like.

Venezuela has the world's largest oil reserves but they have failed to invest in the industry and now that the oil price has gone down the government has a revenue shortfall. So they print money.

To stop people from moving all their money offshore they have closed the financial system to the rest of the world. You cannot use foreign credit cards or ATM cards and it is not possible to exchange Bolivars outside the country. The official exchange rate is USD1 = 6.2 Bolivars but nobody changes money at that rate.

Local people get paid very little and they are only allowed to withdraw a small amount of money from the bank each day. There are long queues at banks & ATMs every day.

To prevent inflation from spiralling out of control they have banned most businesses from increasing their prices. Sometimes you get screwed over (cappuccino served in a tiny plastic cup etc) but most of the time it is all good.

If you go there with US$ and get a good exchange rate on the black market you will be rich compared to the locals.

The things that are super cheap are transport (because of cheap oil/gas/petrol), food, drinks & entertainment. Luxury imported goods (eg brand name clothes, sunglasses, perfume, liquor etc) are the same price as here.

Hotels are relatively expensive. You might be able to get cheap hotel if you can get a local to book it for you but I didn't check that out.

The downside is you will be carrying around a lot of cash and there are many desperate locals who would think nothing of killing you for it.

Post: #50

How is real estate there? For instance, how much is a 2 bedroom apartment in the best part of town? Anyone know?