The other big news is that our “cedulas” arrived as did out first shipment of stuff, Called UAB (Unaccompanied Air Baggage). A cedula is an identity card issued by the host government to diplomats. In the U.S. these are called “carnets”. The real significance of having a cedula is that we can open a bank account here and begin participating in the “permuta” (the complex bond/currency buy-sell thing) and we can get refunds of the VAT on our purchases which represents about a ten per cent discount. Now that a small fraction of our things are here life is a little easier. I have a guitar and my coffee press. Honestly, I don't know what we were thinking when we packed some of the things in our UAB, like four boxes of Quaker Oats. We have kitchen towels, but no knives. A portable DVD player, but no DVD's. A Jam Box but no CD's. Some things make sense like the i-Pod docking station, the computer accessories, plates and silverware. Oh, and the spices, they were a good idea. We are told that the rest of our things (called HHE for HouseHold Effects) are in the country but are awaiting clearance from customs. Things can take a while here. Apparently our car is here too because we were instructed to get liability insurance ASAP.
We hired a maid, Yaneth, and she starts tomorrow and will work two days a week for us. It costs about $10.00 per day. We are thinking of having her come three days a week. It will still cost less than our maid charged in Houston to come for a half day per week.
Last thing: here are some web sites to keep up with what is going on in Venezuela. These are Blogs and news outlets. This is for those who want to get more in-depth information about the situation here. I am providing links for both the pro-Chavez and the anti-Chavez because I would like to keep it balanced (I suspect that the truth often lies somewhere in between) and because everything and everyone in this country is divided into Chavista or Opposition. Use the “language tools” in Google to translate (or any other on-line translation program). Just highlight the text, copy it, paste it into the translator and click “translate”. Here is the Google Translator.
Blogs:
Pro Chavez: Cowboy in Caracas
Anti-Chavez: The Devil's Excrement
News:
Pro Chavez: Ultimas Noticias
Anti-Chavez: El Universial
UPDATE: Late Breaking News!! I now have internet service, which means the “Gringo Phone” is working!!!!! More posts!! More Photos!!! Yippee!!!
No comments:
Post a Comment