Caracas Chronicles

Original art by @modográfico

In Venezuela, prices are so high, and so long, visually, that they don’t even fit on deli scales. Sounds like the start of a lame stand-up comedy show mocking our hyperinflation, but it’s (also) true!

Let Patricia Laya show you:

Bloomberg has this series of posts called “Life in Caracas”, where they talk about little quirks of living in Venezuela. They’re not meant to be substantial articles, instead they keep tabs on our collapse by pointing out the things we have to deal with.

This time, Patricia sees how the fast increase of prices is exceeding the capacity of stores’ devices, from the points of sale, to the freakin’ deli scales.

Also this:

La hiperinflación causada por una banca central que sirve solo a los interes de los que estan en el poder.

Podemos decir que de una manera u otra obligaron a la población de Venezuela a tener que tomar estas medidas, o sea reconversión monetaria forzosa. pic.twitter.com/KdIKh1iLrI

— Yomar Moreno 🇻🇪 (@YomarMr) March 14, 2018

No one is ready to handle that many zeroes. That’s why people are already converting the numbers, dividing them by 1000 (and sometimes even 100,000). It’s a thing, just go to www.mercadolibre.com, and you’ll see smartphones offered for the modest price of Bs. 50. It’s not 50, of course, or even 50,000. It’s 50 million bolivars.

I recommend you check Patricia’s work, and the rest of the Life in Caracas series. It’s hilarious and sad and great. I’m too used to crazy, and sometimes it takes an outsider, like an international reporter from Bloomberg, to notice these things.