The International Schools Review Forum

Any news on the current situation there, in the city and / or in the schools?

I recommend joining the Caracas forum on expat-blog.com

Just saw a friend of mine who is just completed the first year of a two year contract in Caracas. For now it's fairly safe in the local neighborhood around the school in a wealthy part of the city. However, shortages of basic goods (like toilet paper) and the ability to fly in and out of the country are real issues. My friend is already looking at options following the completion of the contract.

A colleague, who is at my current school, has family in Venezuela paints a very dark picture about extrajudicial killings of university students protesting the current government. Their family considered traveling back for the summer to see family living there, but deemed the possibility of getting stuck in the country fairly high due to problems with the airlines. I asked why they did not just travel to a nearby country and cross the border to get into Venezuela, but according to my colleague those areas are very dangerous to travel.

I live two hours outside of Caracas in Valencia. Everything is pretty quiet and calm these days. The apartments that the teachers live in ration water quite frequently (I usually only have running water three hours a day- 1 hour at a time). This is my third year in Venezuela and I love it!

So if you can deal with the difficult to find items (cooking oil, coffee, sugar, flour, milk, toilet paper) and the insecurity (don't walk around with your iphone out or leave valuables in your car), then I would recommend looking at Venezuela as an option.