I had not been there for almost 10 months, and what I saw impressed me, or rather, it frightened me.
Especially when I think that the majority of Venezuelans and Venezuelans what happened to me happened to them every day because every day they go out to work, to buy, and to interact with scam merchants and the rest of the population.
In a sense, the fact that I almost do not leave my studio for long periods of time is a blessing as it allows me to see more clearly the differences between yesterday and today, as well as when one has not seen his young nephew since 10 months and one clearly notes that it has grown about 5 or 6 centimeters.
Well, I will tell you this adventure.
But first I want to establish the fact that the minimum wage here in Venezuela is currently 2,555,500 Bs per month, which is equivalent at this time --- since it changes almost every day --- to around $ 2.75 per month, that is, the price of half beer in Miami, that is, the lowest minimum wage in the world.
Imagine working a whole month to then take half a beer with your friend who also worked all month to share the other half with you.
What is that?
Well, that's how we are here in Venezuela today.
Then I went to the town to buy materials to finish building the prototypes of some carpentry works, but I knew that I would not be able to get everything because even though things were going well here (now they are very bad), there are many things that almost They are not available here in Venezuela but they are easily obtained in almost any other country in the world, such as acrylic based varnish or liquid epoxy type resin.
Well, to summarize my adventure, I made below a list of some things I wanted to buy and some things I could buy, but with two different prices from two different stores, one more scammer than the other, with the equivalent in dollars.
Basically today in Venezuela --- since Chávez died --- almost nobody sells things at similar prices, a business can sell exactly the same thing at 5 or 10 times the price of another business.
It's awful.
It is absolutely frightening because you can not provide any kind of budget to anyone, because you never know what price you will pay for what, what's more, prices change almost every day, and it also depends on the merchant, that is, , it depends how much money the crook merchant thief thinks he can extract from an innocent customer (see the example below).
I think that by looking at the list and taking into account the Venezuelan minimum wage, they will understand that here almost nothing can be done, it can not be produced, and it can not be built, because there are almost no materials, tools, or spare parts, and If there are, then there is not enough money to buy them.
Simple screws, without nuts each:
180,000 Bs. ($ 0.20)
75,000 Bs. $ 0.08)
Plastic hose spout:
1,200,000 Bs. ($ 1.36)
420,000 Bs. ($ 0.48)
Allen key ("L") each:
3,900,000 Bs. ($ 4.44)
420,000 Bs. ($ 0.48)
Small blade for the water pump motor:
5,900,000 Bs. ($ 6.71)
1,100,000 Bs. ($ 1.25)
Tirro (masking tape) c / u:
2,200,000 Bs. ($ 2.50)
460,000 Bs. ($ 0.52)
How can one live like this?
Well, yesterday I spent around 20,000,000 Bs. In materials just to be able to work --- without those materials I can not work --- that is, I spent more than 7 months of minimum wage in only 3 hours !!!
What is that?
But the worst of all is the way many businesses cheat the poor and innocent, those people who do not know the value of tools or materials to work, they are the ones who suffer most from the greed of scammer merchants without awareness.
This is really scary, to see what level of baseness and savagery the merchants have arrived, not all, but I would say the vast majority.
For example, while buying some things in the hardware store, a man, an old man, a peasant type, came to buy a single sheet of sandpaper, and do you know how much the scammer merchant charged him?
950,000 Bs.!
Do you know how much the other store two blocks away was selling that same sheet of sandpaper?
At 180,000 Bs., Or 5 times less.
What is that?
And that does not only happen in the hardware stores, that happens everywhere, in everything, even with food and medicines.
How can you live like this, surrounded by scammers everywhere?
That was my adventure yesterday.