How it is living in the second most dangerous city on the world?

Hi guys, this is me once again talking about Venezuela, but it's more for me because I know and I HOPE that all this will be just a bad memory, but I don't want to forget because living here have tough me so much.

I found this Article on Facebook and if you read it it is very sad, but I found myself laughing in some parts because what it said must some odd and sad for the rest of the world, but for Venezuelans is our reality.

so, in this article the writer name 5 things that we learn about living here.

NUMBER 5 Your loved ones could get snatched off the street at any MOMENT.

And we said at ANY MOMENT it's true. Here are two fun facts for you: In 2011 there were 1,150 kidnappings reported in Caracas. It's also believed that about 70 percent of kidnappings go unreported, either out of fear for the safety of the victim, an assumption that the police can't do anything, or concern that the police are actually the ones behind the kidnapping. That's an urban legend I've heard since I was a kid: someone going into a police station to report a kidnapping only to see one of the kidnappers sitting at the desk. It doesn't matter whether it's true -- kidnappers just need to use the idea. Telling someone "don't go to the police; we are the police" is powerful when the preceding sentence was "we have your child." Sorry, I guess neither of those facts were very fun.

With kidnappings as common in Caracas as annoying street performers are in other cities, we had a special name for them: Kidnap Express. It's like Pizza Hut Express, except instead of getting pizza, you get kidnapped. So they're actually not like each other at all. Sorry. Anyway, express kidnapping is almost stupidly simple. You either get forced into a car, or someone jumps into your car, waves a gun in your face, and tells you to start driving. Maybe they'll call your family and demand a ransom, or maybe they'll take you from ATM to ATM and store to store, maxing out your withdrawals and credit cards before ditching you somewhere. It can all be over in just a few terrifying and exhausting hours. 

I may add: if you're lucky you get alive of that, thank god haven't happened to me or my family, but this happen everyday, and as you can read the police doesn't exist here.

NUMBER 4, You become paranoid of Motorcycles 

Unless a bunch of angry tigers just escaped from the zoo, you'd assume the scariest sound you could hear in Caracas would be either gunshots or someone shouting "Dame la cartera." That's "give me your wallet" in Spanish, although it also kind of sounds like a Hogwarts spell that will stab you if you don't hand over your belongings. But the scariest sound is actually approaching motorcycles, and not just because The Terminator instilled an unhealthy fear of them in me.

You see, much like playground allegiances, most motorcycle drivers in Caracas fall into two camps: cops and robbers. Motorcycles are perfect for gangsters, because they can rob someone and promptly escape to the overpopulated barrios. No one, including the police, will dare follow them in. And they're perfect for police officers because they're mobile, and I guess they probably make them feel cool.

You can generally tell which is approaching based on the sound. If you hear fewer than four, you've got cops incoming, while if it's more than four you better say your final goodbyes to your wallet. If it's four exactly you can take bets with your friends while you wait to see if you'll lose all your shit.

I was robbed three times by gangsters on motorcycles, and when you have that sort of experience, you naturally become afraid of the sound of them -- especially when you hear them past sundown when, like in a horror movie, it's unwise to be out. This leads to embarrassing situations when you're out late in another country. I'm still scared to death by midnight pizza delivery drivers who are only armed with cholesterol.

I may ADD: this is horrible, one time I was in the car with my boos and her little girl, and four motocycles were "following us" two in front of us and two behind, we were scared as hell, and I was worried about a kidnap, it past about 10 minutes and nothing happen, thank God they went away and we continue to the house and nothing happen.

This is funnies and I am gulty of everyone of this tecniques.

NUMBER 3 Your life is full od ridiculous CRIME prevention Techniques.

As I mentioned earlier, there's only so much you can do to stop a determined bad guy. With a constant threat of being robbed or worse, you'd think that people would carry around Tasers or something for protection. But a Taser isn't going to do much against a guy with a gun, except piss off his two equally armed buddies, and that's assuming you even have time to pull it out. So anti-crime measures tend to be less about fighting back and more about turning yourself into a shitty, unprofitable target.

The first time I was mugged, my cousin and I were in an alley, and those few minutes off the street and away from the cops were all some dudes who probably watch too much Sons of Anarchyneeded to surround us. My cousin stuffed his phone down his boxers and insisted that he had nothing of value. I was less than thrilled that he was playing chicken with gangsters, but in the end, he still had his phone and I didn't. I couldn't stop shaking afterwards, and I would have called him to tell him he was dumb for feeling proud if, you know, I had a phone. But let that be a lesson to you if you're ever walking through a dangerous area -- the robbers won't know you own a nice watch if you're wearing it around your balls (or using it as a panty liner)

Thankfully, there's another way to prevent your phone from being stolen that doesn't involve the risk of accidentally sexting your dad. The trick is to have a nice phone that you make calls and take duck face pictures with in the comfort of your own home, and then a decoy phone that you use when you're on the street.

The decoy should be older and out of date, so no one's tempted to steal it, but it shouldn't be tooout of date or else a robber will get suspicious and demand your real phone. At the same time, if you err on the side of caution, you're going to grow attached to your expensive decoy, which defeats the entire purpose. It's a surprisingly delicate balance for such an absurd situation, and it can all be ruined if you forget to silence your real phone and an Alvin and the Chipmunks ring tone starts playing from your crotch.

Venezuela is full of odd little crime-avoidance tactics like that. If you're taking a backpack on a bus, you'll wear it on your front like one of those slings people carry their babies around in. Does it look incredibly stupid? Yes. Does it prevent people from ripping it off of you and running away? Also yes. It's an easy choice. Once I took off my shirt and started going through the trash so motorcycle riders would think I was homeless. Here's the story of a woman who, upon leaving the bank, waves her receipt around to let any would-be thieves know that she made a deposit, not a withdrawal. Of course, they could always just kidnap her and force her to make withdrawals for them .

ADD: The Phone Technique, OMG I laughed so much when I read it, I do have a phone for the thieves, and the things with the Backpack or purse SO TRUE, we trust NO ONE, no even little kids, no even pregnant women, the thieves uses those people to steal from you, it's sad to not trust in anyone, when someone on the subway is lost they always want to find someone to ask for directions, sometimes I got scare when someone approach me to ask for a direction.

NUMBER 2 The Criminals Aren't always who you'd Expect.

In Venezuela, not all criminals are doing it out of desperation: Many make good money, have big TVs, and drive nice cars. I know this, because I know some of these criminals. I have a middle-class background, and that didn't stop some of the friends I grew up with from turning to crime. Their families had money and gave them opportunities, but for whatever reason, a career in kidnapping proved too attractive to pass up.

It's important to understand that not every criminal gets into it because they have no other choices -- they're doing it because there's something about it that's almost intrinsic to our culture. Some kids I grew up with just liked violence -- they were always the ones who got into fights at school for the stupidest things. In the United States, kids like that can grow up to be bouncers or maybe just settle down and turn into the office bully. But in Venezuela, you can make more money and command more respect by turning to crime. It's a legitimate career option.

 NUMBER 1 Crime Becomes Part of the Background noise of your life.

I said I'd been mugged three times. I didn't report any of them, simply because there was no point. I wasn't going to get my stuff back (they took my phone each time), the robbers almost certainly weren't going to get caught, and even if they were, they probably wouldn't get punished. I didn't even tell my mom after the second time, because she got so worried about me. Instead I just told her I managed to lose my phone (twice). She must think she raised an extremely absentminded child.

I live in Ireland now, and people here think I'm playing up my experiences to make Venezuela sound like a nationwide action movie. My Venezuelan friend laughed as he told our class about how people broke into his house at gunpoint and stole a bunch of his stuff, and everyone reacted with a mix of fascination and horror. They're shocked by how casually we talk about crime, because if they get robbed at gunpoint, they can go to the police and then get therapy to deal with the trauma. We just have to accept it and move on.

Still, if two Venezuelans run into each other while backpacking in Mongolia and start talking about Pokemon, at some point the conversation will turn to crime. It's the one thing we all have in common -- if two Alaskans meet in Hawaii, they're going to start talking about the weather. Crime becomes your cultural touchstone.

And it doesn't matter where you're from, or how much money you make. In university, I had several friends who came from a Scrooge McDuckian background. One of my friend's families bought a huge mansion in a perfect and secure community (presumably in an attempt to see if she could harness the angry glares from other students as a form of energy), and yet all she and her friends could talk about was their fear of kidnappings. They almost can't enjoy being rich, because they're living in terror. Having money and influence just makes you a target, which you're reminded of whenever you flip on the news and learn that, say, a senator was killed in his own guarded home.

ADD: This is so true!! whatever we go the common subject it's crime and shortage, we could start talking about the weather but we end it talking about those subject, because is our life and that's what we all have in common these days.