Very good, dear readers, with all this from the radical quarantine that I have had for so many months, not only because of the pandemic but also because of my pre and postpartum stage, I had not had the opportunity to go shopping in stores and commercial supplies . Tonight, together with my husband and using all possible preventive measures, I set out to leave my three-and-a-half-month-old son with one of his maternal aunts and we made a brief outing to a grocery store. We went for some sugar, milk and other waxes that we need. Living in Venezuela is not easy, inflation has purified our economy and with a simple minimum salary equivalent to US $ 2 you can barely buy two or three products, luckily I am a teacher, although this does not guarantee quality of life and my salary is about 4 $ US. It is very sad when you find yourself isolated you manage to leave and reality hits you in the face.
Exactly that happened to me in the supply, reality hit me so hard in the face that I am still trying to get up, with my humble fortnight of 2 $ US and my food voucher of 1 $ US equivalent to 3,300,000 bolivars (3.14 $ US) I went shopping. When they reached the supply, they found other people, some of whom bought with the foreign currency (the dollar) that dominates our economy. I ask for 500gr of milk, the seller answers me that the cost of that item is 3 $ US, I am surprised, they are more than 3,000,000 million bolivars (2.86 $), I run out of buying the 500gr milk, and the seller It offers me the option of a milk in ice cream bags that costs 900,000 bolivars (0.86 $ US), it is my only alternative if I want to take the other items and I take it. I ask about 1,200,000 sugar (US $ 1.15), it is necessary and I take it. I go to the cleaning area and ask for a deodorant, the cashier answers me 2,400,000 Bolivares (2.29 $ US), it can't be that my fortnight doesn't even give me to buy a deodorant! I exclaimed mentally.
Suddenly several customers arrive at the grocery store, and I continue to watch. A person asks the saleswoman for the price of 500g milk, the saleswoman tells her that the cost is 3 $ US and that person states that she is economical. Is it economical, in which country do I live? They ask for a liter of oil edible 3.5 $ US go I realize that my fortnight does not give me to buy a liter of oil, I stare at my husband, with my face of disbelief, he answers me this is Venezuela my love, the prices of the items are not They are expensive, only that our minimum wage is 2 $ US and nobody in the world lives on 2 $ US per month. I ask him, is that why you do extra work? He answers me, I do what is necessary to take things home even if we have deficiencies, my eyes watered a bit, I know about all the tasks that my husband does so that our baby does not need anything, he is a super hero.
I keep asking out of place, How are other people doing? He responds to me, they live on remittances from his relatives who are abroad. It is true, I realize that in Venezuela migration to other countries has been enormous in recent years, most Venezuelans have a family member abroad who send them foreign exchange and money for their daily sustenance. Two different realities, on the one hand we find various professionals who managed to juggle to support ourselves with a salary of less than 5 $ US and on the other hand there are many families that survive thanks to the remittances sent by their relatives abroad. I tell my husband let's spend the last dollar we have left on a soda and popcorn and let's go home with our little boy.
The change in Venezuela 1 $ US is equivalent to 1,050,000 Bolívares. We are a country of poor millionaires.
Venezuela is pretty much fucked right now. Inflation is huge. I remember when the inflation reached 1 million some years ago.