Christmas in Caracas, 2011

I am leaving the following article exactly as it was when it was published, because it describes moments of scarcity that we lived through and that are now part of our country’s history.

We know that living in Caracas is not at all easy! The problem of crime, and the tension it brings, is very hard. The traffic gets worse every day. Public transportation has collapsed. Prices are sky-high! We put up with so much that when you describe to any foreigner how we live, they can’t believe it (the other day an Austrian, astonished by our stories, said that their biggest worry was deciding where to go on vacation, making sure it wasn’t the same place the neighbor had gone). How about that?

The fact is that Christmas in Caracas is a truly fantastic adventure. It seems that the more problems we have, the more we enjoy this time of year, and the more we want to share it with our family, our friends and everyone near us, even when we are flat broke.

As we all know, Christmas is celebrated on December 25 to remember the birth of the Child Jesus; but that date does not limit our time with our loved ones, because here the celebrations go on almost forever, wakes and funerals included. Here life and death, celebration and mourning, laughter and tears… come together in a way no one can understand.

This year, December 1 fell on a Thursday: Christmas begins, because they’ve lit the cross on El Ávila! Since there was no electricity rationing, the children were not robbed of that thrill (nor of the Santa at the CCCT mall). That is something to celebrate! Because of the famous Summit we got a long weekend, so staying up late didn’t hit us too hard. We couldn’t let the lighting of the cross go by, so more than a hundred of us got together to sing aguinaldos (our Christmas carols) and begin our “tastings.” This year we started with the ham-bread tasting. We had pan de jamón from Grandma, from our aunt, from Las Mercedes, San Bernardino, San Agustín, El Hatillo, El Llanito, La Candelaria, Sabana Grande, Altamira and more.

Everyone came with their cuatro, drum, maracas or furruco. Between “Niño Lindo,” “Burrito Sabanero” and “Fuego al Cañón,” you could hear all sorts of conversations: “Dude, I set up a kiosk to see if I can make ends meet this month!” “So-and-so is leaving, but what’shis-name is coming back!” “I bet we’re out of this by next year!” “No way, man, don’t be so sure!” “This year I’m giving cookies as gifts because I’m flat broke!” “I’m freezing to death (it was 20°C)!” We Venezuelans are experts at talking, even if words don’t solve anything; we can cover five topics at once, and somehow we understand each other.

We have also become experts at tastings. The hallaca tasting (our Christmas tamales), which we go around begging for (because not all of us can make them) from December 1 until well past January 1. The tasting of dulce de lechosa (candied green papaya), which now comes in Chinese plastic tubs (because of the shortage of glass jars). The tasting of ponche crema (our Christmas eggnog), which we made with the sugar we kept in the “safe” along with the coffee, or of hot chocolate (with the milk the neighbor managed to find). We never miss the tasting of churros at the early-morning Christmas Masses, if they managed to find oil! And of course the unbeatable pernil tasting (roast pork leg), which we start hunting for back in October, to see if by some “miracle” we can find a big one at a good price for Christmas Eve dinner. That day we cram into the kitchen “like sardines in a can” to keep an eye on whoever is carving it (so they don’t eat it all themselves, and to snatch a few little pieces), because the moment we put it on the table it disappears, and we are always left wanting more (and wanting to take home our little plate of leftovers).

Crisis or no crisis, here we figure out how on earth to make sure everyone can enjoy our dishes, with a crowd, at Christmas (even if we have to “taste” a little here and a little there).

What lets us endure this madness, which some people cannot understand, is this Great Love we have for one another, which we show by sharing our Faith, our joy, our songs, our food and our Hope, in spite of everything.

Saint Joseph and the Virgin understand us very well, because they too went through great hardship there in Bethlehem. But they knew that God had sent His Son into this world also to go through hardship (from infancy), and that did not stop them from being happy and sharing with others the immense joy of seeing our Redeemer born, the one who came to change the world, who came to save us and bring the Hope that no one can take from us!

Merry Christmas to all my dear Venezuelans, here and all over the world!