Hitchhike across Venezuela 2016?

#2
I've never been there before but I made a friend from there and she was one of the most radical & amazing women that I ever met in my life. she told me that all the struggles she endured from living there made her into the person that she is. Sure it might be dangerious or rough depending on where you are and what you're doing, and you might run into some shitty people. But you'll also get the chance to meet people who have lived through harsh poverty and oppersion and developed a lot of character and wisdom from it. I would do it, just be smart about it and don 't make youself a target.
 
#3
ooooo Venezuela - not going to paint a pretty picture here - I'm thinking that it's rather on the dangerous side - country is and has been having a lot of problems.

On another site I'm on there is a member there (he lives there) who has written nothing good about it a lot (I see his stuff going back farther than 2013). From the corrupt (really bad) politicians/government to the food distribution (rather non existent - IF a shipment of food gets to a government owned grocery store - people stand in long lines (with fights and rioting) to get their ration of simple foods). Medicines are pretty non existent now - he has been trying to find herbal/natural cures. His wife had terminal cancer and was misdiagnosed and he couldn't find medicine and she finally died. He was only there till she got better so they could leave. Now he is staying till July for his only son to finish school and he's outta there.

Daily shootings, daily power outages. I mean they actually were running out of TP at one time. And a reduced workweek to 2 days (this is listed in the one article on the first thread link), so less monies to spend - and the prices raised (from an excerpt from Ironhide - who lives there).

What I do know, is that when I go to buy bread, there isn´t any and when there is I have to do a long line and I am only allowed to buy one.
When you need a battery you either pay a bachaquero or you wait up to two days in line and if you are lucky they have the one you need. I spent 8 months without a battery because they didn´t have it and they were asking too much. For instance, the battery I bought I paid 80.000 bs for it, I bought two that is 160.000 bs,

The regular price of the battery costs 17.000 bs. A bachaquero comes in and pays them what we call a vacuna, a vaccine, I don´t know exaclty the amount but I heard it was 20.000 bs, so the bachaquero is paying 37.000 bs for a battery and because he pays the vacuna he has priority over us who do the line. The bachaquero turns around and sells it for 60.000, 70.000, or 80.000 depending on the price of the black market on that particular week, and because the black market price does rise every single dayj, this has a direct effect on the prices especially regulated prices sold by bachaqueros and hence the massive hyperinflation we are experiencing right now.

What happens, the government announces a 30% increase on minimung wage which is selttled now at 15.050.15 or something like that. Imagine someone with minimun salary trying to buy a battery. This is only one example. A samsung galaxy S5 costs over 500.000 bs, complety ridiculous. My sinus operation whichi insurece paid for, costed me 350.000bs, a cell phone costs more than a nose operation. Only in this country. Same with other appliences like TV, a computer, a microwave, a dishwasher, etc,

Here is a fairly recent thread - one of many about this on this site - a conspiracy site. The person who is there goes by the name of Ironhide - he has several entries in each thread link. He used to talk about his going into the jungle and of the fruits he found and things he was building, but not so anymore.

Threads listed below have several news articles and pics in them talking about this. It's a shame. The beaches, jungles and scenery are beautiful! But I'd say if you do go - be careful!!! Hope this helps or gives you a better background here. :)

You can also search the site for member Ironhide and Venezuela for more info too.

http://intellectualodditiesnetwork.com/showthread.php?tid=38941&highlight=venezuela

http://intellectualodditiesnetwork.com/showthread.php?tid=38722&highlight=venezuela
 
#7
I couchsurfed with someone who spent a while in Venezuela. He has lots of stories about the inflation as well as the hospitality and good experiences he had there despite the reputation. He couchsurfed with many people in Venezuela and never had a problem. He was also briefly internet famous for posts like the one below and even though he was outwardly rich, never experienced any violence or hostility towards him.

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"In Venezuela, the currency is called the Bolivar. The bills come in 2, 5, 10, 20, 50, and 100. At the current black market exchange rate the 100s covering the table represents about 100 USD. The 50s in my hands represents about another 100 USD. All that money is 2 bills in the US. This is what the world's worst inflation looks like."

Regardless, I go to school in Miami FL now and lots of Venezuelans move there and go to school there, among other places, because they are fleeing their home country because of the unsafe and undesirable conditions (like the food scarcity and rationing, as mentioned above).
 

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