Soon after arriving in Venezuela, up in the Andes, we met Eduardo, who bakes pies and sells them on the street to earn a bit of extra cash. Inspired by Eduardo, the high prices in the supermarket, and Venezuela’s terrible exchange rates, we decided to take a slice of the pie industry ourselves. With Eduardo’s secret recipe and borrowed ovens and pie forms, we started our little venture in a small village in the mountains to resounding success. We sold whole pies in as little as 25 minutes…and in the worst case, perhaps an hour and 25 minutes. Over a four-day period we sold about 5 or 6 pies, plus my Swedish negerbollar. We envisioned ourselves traipsing across country selling pies to the overweight middle-aged Venezuelan ladies.
But over the next three weeks, we never had the opportunity to bake for various reasons - staying with people who didn’t have an oven, camping in our tent, volunteering at a camp - and so our Bolivares quickly disappeared.
A quick note about Venezuelan currency :
If you exchange $100 in a Venezuelan bank, they’ll give you 450 BsF (Bolivares Fuertes). If you exchange on the Mercado Negro, you’ll get a whopping 800 BsF ! Because of this difference, we decided at the beginning of our trip to slyly transfer a large sum through someone who has accounts in Venezuela and the US. But this kind of transaction is not always possible when you’re traveling and don’t have contacts.
So we arrived in Maracay with only 400 BsF left - that’s about 50 bucks, or enough money to leave Venezuela immediately. But we were feeling lucky, Vegas-style, so we took half of our cash and went to the supermarket. We filled our cart with flour, sugar, eggs, lemons, pumpkin, bananas, and a whole bunch of sweet sweet condensed milk.
And we made pies. Big pies. Two or three per day. And we walked up and down the streets of Maracay, “Tortas, tortas !!! …Tortas de limon, tortas de auyama, tortas de cambur !!! …10 Bolivares !!!,” for hours on end in the brutal heat. But by golly, we sold them all. At the end of the first day, we were still in the red. By day two, we broke even. Days three, four, and five were profit days. We made enough to survive for another few days, and more importantly, we bought ourselves the needed time to find someone with an account is the States. So for now, we’ve decided to quit making pies and get money the easy way - from our bank accounts !
Overall, it was a great experience; we met heaps of other locals venders selling socks and batteries and Tupperware and flashing keychains, you name it. Before we started selling, I was always wondering how they earned enough to get by. After selling for a few days, I am now dumbfounded. Because, honestly, cakes sell a whole lot faster than flashing key chains.
So, we’ve hung up our wooden spoons for now, but the next time we’re in a fiscal bind or just have the urge, we’ll be ready.
But over the next three weeks, we never had the opportunity to bake for various reasons - staying with people who didn’t have an oven, camping in our tent, volunteering at a camp - and so our Bolivares quickly disappeared.
A quick note about Venezuelan currency :
If you exchange $100 in a Venezuelan bank, they’ll give you 450 BsF (Bolivares Fuertes). If you exchange on the Mercado Negro, you’ll get a whopping 800 BsF ! Because of this difference, we decided at the beginning of our trip to slyly transfer a large sum through someone who has accounts in Venezuela and the US. But this kind of transaction is not always possible when you’re traveling and don’t have contacts.
So we arrived in Maracay with only 400 BsF left - that’s about 50 bucks, or enough money to leave Venezuela immediately. But we were feeling lucky, Vegas-style, so we took half of our cash and went to the supermarket. We filled our cart with flour, sugar, eggs, lemons, pumpkin, bananas, and a whole bunch of sweet sweet condensed milk.
And we made pies. Big pies. Two or three per day. And we walked up and down the streets of Maracay, “Tortas, tortas !!! …Tortas de limon, tortas de auyama, tortas de cambur !!! …10 Bolivares !!!,” for hours on end in the brutal heat. But by golly, we sold them all. At the end of the first day, we were still in the red. By day two, we broke even. Days three, four, and five were profit days. We made enough to survive for another few days, and more importantly, we bought ourselves the needed time to find someone with an account is the States. So for now, we’ve decided to quit making pies and get money the easy way - from our bank accounts !
Overall, it was a great experience; we met heaps of other locals venders selling socks and batteries and Tupperware and flashing keychains, you name it. Before we started selling, I was always wondering how they earned enough to get by. After selling for a few days, I am now dumbfounded. Because, honestly, cakes sell a whole lot faster than flashing key chains.
So, we’ve hung up our wooden spoons for now, but the next time we’re in a fiscal bind or just have the urge, we’ll be ready.
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