First post from Caracas

As anyone actually reading this blog probably already knows, I arrived in Caracas the other day to do research on community media and government-run information technology access centers called “Infocentros” [A good, if possibly overly flattering, overview can be found here]. I’ll have more specifics to post about my work next week as I (hopefully) begin talking to some officials and get a better idea of what I’m looking at/for.

Of course when you’re in a foreign place for the first time (and for me Caracas is about as foreign a place as I’ve ever been) you have to expect that you’ll make a certain, probably very large, number of mistakes.
So far this has mainly had to do with penetrating the nigh incomprehensible way most Venezuelans have of speaking. I’ve at least twice dramatically overpaid for things because I couldn’t understand the price that was being told to me, although thankfully most things here are so cheap that after my mistakes I end up paying, for instance, about $4 rather than $2 for a meal. For the most part, though, people have been willing to play along and speak slowly for me, and my mistakes have only come when dealing with employees who seem flustered from dealing with a large crowd.

On the other hand, the city strikes me as something of a slightly more run-down, slightly less functional version of Istanbul, which has added a greatly needed dose of familiarity for me. The apartment I’m staying in is almost exactly like my grandmother’s (although thankfully this apartment has excellent ventilation). Outside, everything from the mix of beautiful and awful smells to the disrepair of the sidewalks is identical.

These observations are only based on the short walk I was able to take around the neighborhood earlier today (Thursday). I’m trying to take things slowly, as seems to be the Venezuelan way, so my next few days I’m planning to branch out little by little, maybe testing out the Metro system tomorrow, and venturing slightly further over the weekend. In the meantime I’m watching lots of Venezuelan television in hopes of deciphering the accent, which actually seems to be helping somewhat.

I am going to try to write as much as I can everyday, but given the internet situation I will likely be posting a few posts at a time when I manage to get online.