Food Shortages

      Many of you may have heard about the government's devaluation of the Bolivar, but if not, the government recently devalued the currency by about 40% in its comparison to the dollar. We already experience 30% inflation each year so that in my 3rd year in Venezuela, everything is about twice as much as when I first arrived. That is crazy! Well, the devaluation meant an additional spike in prices. Awesome!

    Unfortunately, this has led to food shortages. How? Well it's a complicated story and you'll get a different answer depending on who you ask. The companies are saying they can no longer afford to buy the imported ingredients they need to make their products. Regardless of the reason, it's hard to find basic food items here and there seems to be some twisted sort of rotation on what is missing. For a time we couldn't find oil, harina pan (what Venezuelans use to make arepas for breakfast and usually their dinner), sugar, or flour. Then it was milk, butter, and chicken, and still flour. The flour shortage led to bakeries not making certain types of bread. We're still in a flour shortage (I just finished off my last bag this afternoon) and chicken has to be bought at a butcher shop which means higher prices and long waits. 

   We've now become hoarders and it's crazy to see the mayhem in the stores. When a supermarket gets in one of those basic items, rather than placing them on a shelf, they just leave it out at the front of the store. If you spot someone with a few items, you basically go running to the front of the store hoping everyone else hasn't grabbed everything already. Yes I'm exaggerating a little, but it definitely feels like that. So regardless of the fact that we have 5 liters of oil stocked up and 3 tubs of butter, if we see one of those items at the store, you buy it! You just never know when it might not show up again. 

    Rafa and I are doing fine on basics though. We found a new butcher shop in a poor area of town that sells chicken for cheaper and we're pretty stocked up on basics. I'm hoping we'll find flour soon as I really do enjoy baking. 

    You can be praying for my attitude through all this. Through living here, I've learned to expect the unexpected and that I can live, and quite happily, without some of these basic items. It makes me more creative. But then when I'm searching for meal on pinterest (of course), I can easily find myself frustrated by all the items I wish I had on hand. To give you an example, I found a recipe for enchiladas the other day and got so excited I could actually make it. But making it was a little more complicated than it would be living in the States: black beans were made in a crockpot days before (because the cans are so expensive), enchilada sauce was made by hand, I splurged on tortillas (they have gotten expensive with the flour shortage) and normally are something I make by hand, and the cheese I buy is never shredded and their version of cheddar tastes funny so I used gouda. And that's a typical day of making dinner here. I'm getting used to it and there are definitely meals that go a lot faster and require less substitutes or by-hand additions. 

    I've had a lot of cooking "failures" lately but thankfully my husband doesn't complain. He, on the other hand, has a magic touch in the kitchen and beautifully manages four things at once. No worries though, he helps out a lot in the kitchen so the failures happen less often. 

    There's also been a gas shortage lately for those of us you buy tanks that hook up to the stove. This is a bit disconcerting given that we live in one of the largest oil producing countries in the world. 

    Just trying to give you a taste of life here now in Venezuela. I still love it, despite its challenges, and wouldn't trade it for anything. But there are days when I miss the ease of just jumping into the car and running to the supermarket, with no doubt in my mind that the item I'm lacking might not be there. But when I find myself frustrated, I remind myself that there are so many worse off. They lack clean water, proper sanitation, electricity, etc and some of them live just minutes away from me. My kitchen is full of American goodies like good knives, a crockpot, popcorn maker, and the list goes on. We are truly blessed! 

   Keep this nation in your prayers with the upcoming elections and continued price rising and food shortages. We serve a sovereign God who's plans never fail so I'm not worried. May this country be brought to Christ one by one. It's the only cure for the sin that is so evident. Thanks for reading! Two posts in one...you're so lucky!