Service in decline - WE102
I think that many of my country will agree with me, if not all, this week after some uncomfortable situations in my home, that changed our days in a radical way, I will take the option number three to give an answer, I will talk a little about a service in my country that every year goes from bad to worse, and I will choose only one, because I could write about many things related to the country where I live.
I think it all started ten years ago, for no one in the world is a secret that Venezuela is one of the countries with the largest oil reserves in the world, if not the one with the most, at that time began to show this problem that would accompany us until now, the country began to import instead of exporting, at that time, the fuel could be said that it was free and by quantities, you could tank the tank of the car every day and you would not spend 1% of the salary, because of the cheapness of the literage, this was for many years, from my birth until I had my first car and a few years more, but then began the decline in Venezuela.
After the expropriation of the company, at the beginning everything went up, the price of the barrel of oil went up and it seemed that the bonanza would reach all the inhabitants, nothing further from reality, while the income for this service increased, due to the high cost of the barrel of oil, apparently everything got worse every day, the worst thing is that the company went downhill, the facilities deteriorated to the point of becoming inoperative, there began the ordeal with this service, as I said before, you could get gas whenever you wanted at any time and at no cost, since its price was so cheap that it was cheaper to buy a liter of gasoline than a liter of water.
Even up to five years ago this problem was still bearable, you could join a queue to get gas, maybe it took you an hour but you left with a full tank, but as the years went by it got worse and worse, 3 years ago you had to wake up at dawn to get gas and nowadays you not only have to wake up one to two days in the same queue, but also the price has gone up, but also the price rose in an uncontrolled manner, not to mention the people who began to sell gasoline on their own and this made the lack of fuel worse, for many it became a job, if you can call it that.
Currently, added to all the problems that were already coming, to further complicate the whole situation now the distribution of gasoline is done randomly at each station, there are no specific days when you can go and not only that, the government implemented a rule that you can only fill up depending on the ending of the license plate number, this has only made the fuel that is bought outside in an informal way is higher, and people who are not lucky enough to find a station must pay double the price per liter, this already hit the pocket, buy it outside is almost impossible to maintain.
In addition to this problem, the low income does not allow anyone to buy an electric car or an electric motorcycle, this is perhaps the only viable solution for many but also escapes the pockets of more than 98% of the population.
I do not remember the last time I could put the tank of my car full, I almost always buy gasoline outside and in minimal quantities, at most 5 liters per day and I must limit the use of the car to avoid exceeding the weight to my pocket, for these many reasons of all the services that are in a decadent situation in the country, water, electricity, natural gas, the rest of us have learned to cope with them and we have adapted, I include myself, but with the fuel issue I think it will be impossible for me to adapt, I only have two options, to stay without a car or just buy the expensive gasoline and with the risk of buying it from a random person in the street.
Hi Douglas
Thank you for sharing this with us all, I personally didn't acknowledge the extent of how difficult it was there to get fuel. It's so strange seeing the contrast - here fuel is becoming more and more expensive, it's practically going up in price every Tuesday and many motorists are having to change their vehicles to the most fuel economical versions availble in order to keep them going, but there hasn't been fuel rationing at all yet.
It would be different if our public transport system was dependable, reliable and safe, but it's so far from any of those that having your own transport (while a privaledge) is still the most reliable way to ensure that you will get somewhere in one piece and on time if you plan around traffic.
These exact problems are escalating in many countries and while many have said it could happen for years, I fear that it's closer to reality now than ever before.
Thank you for your honesty in this post and showing us the reality of it.
Just on a side-note, your picture says WE 107. I got a bit confused when I saw that lol.
Indeed, the reality in which we Venezuelans live, it is not easy to adapt, not only the fuel, imagine spending 4 hours a day without electricity daily, spend weeks to supply drinking water, gas service have to queue and crosses the same to buy a cylinder, there are so many things to which we have become accustomed, I hope no one in the world has to go through this, it is not easy, we have more than 15 years suffering all these evils.
And with respect to the image I got confused when I edited it, I will correct it, greetings.
This was a difficult read. I remember a few years back on a different platform I had the privilege of reading the poems of some Venezuelans. They told similar stories. As much as I appreciated the depth and quality of writing like these, it is unfortunate that it is preceded by struggle. But as the saying goes, if it doesn't kill you it will make you stronger.
Venuzuela - and in fact Hive in general - always makes me remember how priveleged I am, to not only be able to afford petrol, but to have it readily available. I am under no illusions that this could happen here one day but I hope not. I admire very much how you all have learnt to cope with it.
HOw do you manage to get around? Do you work locally? I guess you'd have to live close to work. That is assuming you have a job - I'm sorry for my ignorance in these matters. I enjoyed learning from your post.
This situation is definitely not easy to deal with, much less to adapt, I hope you never have to go through this, on the other hand, answering your questions, I only move when it is necessary, so I save fuel, I had to leave work outside and give up the place where I worked, and start working from home.
And when I get outside work, I try to schedule it all for one day and make a single trip.
I hope things get better.