Time Zone

Venezuela's time zone is Greenwich Meridian Time (GMT) minus 4 hours, or at least it will be until september, where it will be changed to minus 4.5 hours. It's for the children! (at least according to the article). Now computers will have to be upgraded, international businessfolk will have to get used to it, and I'll still be confused what the local time is when I call my family.

The perception of time in Venezuela is obviously different. Sunrise and Sunset are always at around 6:45 (am and pm, respectively) so one gets used to expecting the day to change at exactly those times. This is how it is on the eastern side of the country, and towards the west closer to Colombia, the sunrise and sunset happens later. Perhaps the country actually needs two time zones, although that would be kind of confusing for such a small country to have them compared to a behemoth like the United States.

Venezuela doesn't have a daylight savings or summer time. Because it is under the tropic of Cancer and it's relatively close to the equator, there are only two seasons (rain and dry) and the length of day and night never changes, or a least it's not noticeable.

When I first came to the United States ten years ago, I found it very strange that it was 9:00 PM and the sun was still out, and in the winter it was 5:00 pm and it was pitch black outside. Now that I got used to it, I go home and I'm surprised when it gets dark. We'll see how it goes with the new time zone next time I'm there.