Sunday, December 06, 2015

Venezuela Day 1: Welcome aboard the SS Gran Meliã...

One of the things about staying in good hotels is that sense that you've shut the real world out, that you have a refuge from the craziness that lies beyond its confines. It's a place to draw breath, or rest between expeditions. Really good hotels do that whilst retaining a flavour of wherever it is you are.

This, however, is Venezuela. Things are not quite the same and the outside intrudes in strange and unexpected ways.

Outside, the nearby department store has lots of Christmas decorations and children's toys, but no underwear. Whole sections are empty due to the government's stance against excessive profit - in effect, making it financially catastrophic to sell at all given the rate of inflation (0.5% per day). Accordingly, things disappear from the market, or are priced in ways that seemingly price them beyond reach of most people. For example, a bottle of mineral water costs about seven bolivars. Add gas to it, and it becomes nearer three hundred.

This is where the multiple exchange rates kick in. The official rate of exchange is 6.3 bolivars to the dollar. As a tourist, I get about 200. If, on the other hand, I am willing to take my chances on the black market, I can get upwards of 800.

So, as I said, things disappear from the shops. They may be available on the black market but, hey, I don't speak Spanish and people have a habit of dying on the streets here. But, in a good hotel, part of an international chain, no problem, right? Wrong. For example, in a country where a lot of beer is drunk, there is no beer, not even here. It's enough to drive a man to drink... ah, yes, there isn't any.

The restaurant is, how best can I put it, a bit basic, as availability dries up. There is, intriguingly, a Japanese restaurant elsewhere in the building, which I might check out at some point. And yet, the hotel staff hold things together. The fabric of the hotel is maintained somehow, the lights and lifts work, as does the wi-fi (albeit a bit erratically). The outside world is definitely washing against the hotel walls.

On the other hand, security appears to be low-key but effective - possibly linked to the fact that the government-approved election observers are staying here - and people are friendly enough.

It is, however, probably time to take a look around...

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