Romances in Caracas: between tear gas and the lack of condoms

The music played and we watched each other through the dance floor. I tried to buy him something to drink, but the credit card reader was not working. Whatever the case may be, the bar had almost nothing left. Yet we loved each other. When the club started to empty, I asked for his number.

She smiled at me. "Write my Instagram that will last the longest, I'm Monday."

Appointments are not for the faint of heart anywhere. In Caracas, the road of true love is full of potholes (hyperinflation, lack of condoms, black-out, tear gas smoke) that would make anybody surrender. I saw people kissing among the crowd waving flags during political events and while Molotov bombs were flying during street protests.

The obstacles are absurd. Of all, mbadive exodus from the country in ruins, an incredible 10% of the population and countingIt can be the worst. On more than one occasion, I partnered with someone in a dating app to find out later that I was thousands of miles away. In his profile, he seems to live in Chile, Mexico or Peru.

My friends and I are talking about it: What happens if we finally find the right person and that she gets her visa? I know couples who have contested remotely, although Most of the time, novels are shortened. Of course, this can be sad, but on the other hand, it is a little liberating to know that most of the people you've been involved with are probably leaving. You will never have to see them again.

There is a lot of nostalgia at the time when the dating game was held in the Italian restaurants and sushi bars in Las Mercedes urbanization, when rows of partygoers were forming in front of clubs and salsa clubs and the icing on the cake included a drunken run to a "love motel" like Dallas Suites or El Aladdin.

Now, those who have money to spare have an increasingly smaller range of bars and restaurants that can give this big city a small town feel. It was not so long ago, my first outing with a girl in my favorite lair coincided with the last time a friend was with hers. We stayed, trying to ignore the muffled sounds of a break in the adjacent table.

There are other problems that we would not meet in many other places: The relationship of a friend ended when she lashed him for moving to his home simply because he had a drinking water service.

While rampant crime has changed the nightlife – There are so many streetlamps off that it's scary to walk at night – there is no way to stop the inhabitants of Caracas. The rich go to the premises of Las Mercedes in vans and armored cars and the less fortunate walk more than one kilometer from the nearest subway station, women with high heels.

The cinemas still work, but they usually close before 8 pmThat is why, in one of my recent appointments, I suggested Netflix. We have eaten a few slices of pizza beforehand. I did not even ask him if he was planning to emigrate. When I went to put the film, we heard a click, another blackout. The plans were ruined.

Eduardo Sandoval, 21, had a better idea. He was with his girlfriend in a bank of the Sambil shopping center. It was hot and the air conditioning was not workingbut it was enough to observe people and kiss them. A good date is all that makes you stop thinking about the disaster. "In such moments, you are looking for an escape from the routine ", he said.

In addition, no one wants to deal with a crisis like this.