Everyone non-Venezuelan, anyways. To withdraw money from an ATM here you have to enter the digits of your Venezuelan ID number. Obviously, I don’t have one of those. Apparently you can go inside the bank, and the teller can withdraw the cash for you.
Oh, one problem. It’s Saturday, and it’s easter weekend. All the shit’s closed. OH, OTHER PROBLEM. I can’t leave this border town until I get money because in order to legally bring in my vehicle, I have to pay for the insurance and get the permit. HEY, WHAT’S THIS? The insurance office doesn’t take VISA! No way! What fun!
At least I still have a few Brazilian Reals left.
Oh, and one last thing. The “official” rate (aka the rate which you get when you withdraw cash from the machine) is worth half what the black market rate is. And when you are out buying and spending, everything is priced at the black market rate. Which means by coming into the country without a tonne of foreign currency, everything is going to cost twice as much and be really expensive.
For example, car insurance purchased at the black market rate? $100. Car insurance purchased at the “official” rate? $200.
In conclusion, we have to try and get cash sent to us Western Union, only because we can’t use the ATMs. Again…
How the hell do currencies end up having two values, anyways??
