Hi,
I have been an expat for 15 years working for a French company, currently in Saudi Arabia, and I am being proposed to take a job in Caracas. It is interesting from a professional point of view and the country seems to be very attractive but I also read a lot of scary things. I would appreciate to get some direct feedback from people living there.
- Is it easy to find secured housing? What type? Which parts of town? What prices?
- I see videos of shortages and long queues in supermarkets. Any problems to source basic products?
- What is the cost of life, generally speaking?
- Any issues to change or transfer foreign currency?
- Do security constraints limit your freedom to have any sport or leisure activities?
- Possibility for the wife to have a normal social life?
Life in Caracas
I would suggest that you go to the Venezuela forum in Spanish here and ask your questions.
If you do not speak Spanish I would not even consider going to Caracas as you would be unable to function in everyday life and would be at the mercy of every criminal of which there are many.
Although the recent elections in Venezuela have given hope to many the basic conditions of food scarcity and widespread crime still exist and are not likely to change quickly if at all. I do not believe you and your wife could have anything like a normal life there.
There are expats "on the ground" in Venezuela who live there happily but I think they will honestly tell you that it's not a place for beginners who don't know and understand what they're getting in to...
I hope we will hear from some others who can tell you first-hand what's going on.
Thank you for your answer! Definitely not an easy decision to make...
i will say it other way round i just moved here from Germany with my husband and this is our first time going to Latina Amerika for the food scarcity you cant really change it but if you are willing to spend extra cash for the food you will sure find what you need and with extra cash its like nothing cos is just like 1cent more its true the crime rate is high but where in the world is no crime the rent for expertrates range from 2,500-5,000 Dollar per month we like in chacao area this are mostly the save area for the forigners and your wife can life well because there are so many activities going on here the parque leste in miranda on sunday there are so many activities there like zumba ,salsa, jogging everybody do things together and there are private one too like me i attend zumba class on monday 8:30 and salsa class on wednesday by 2:30 and the price is what you laugh about it cast 800bs which is less than a dollar the most important thing is that you need a car and always return back to your house latest by 9pm cars are expensive though and you are not allow to buy a car that is less than 3yrs so from 2003 car the price ranges are from 7,500$ upward
so i hope this help when you are coming try to bring as much things as you can carry mostly toilet papers ,dish washing soaps and bathing shampoo and watching machine soaps for cloths this are the most difficult thing to get here but every other thing you can get and they are very cheap
