I woke up early this morning, and I wanted to eat something like cereal to calm my rumbling stomach, but there wasn't any milk in the fridge. It wasn't because my parents didn't buy milk, but because there is a general shortage of milk around these parts.
My sister tells me that if she drives by a convenience store or a bakery where there is a crowd of people, she stops whatever she is doing and goes there because she knows the crowd is for something like milk. She's seen women FIGHT over the milk, and due to limitations every family can only get two of whatever is available, anyway.
There are two types of milk in Venezuela. The most common one is powdered milk that comes in a tin can and one mixes it with water to make it liquid, typically used to mix with coffee and so forth. The other is liquid pasteurized milk that one can typically get from the cold dairy section in the supermarket; the kind that is used for cereal. Usually they're either whole milk or skim; none of that 2%, 1%, 0.5%, 0.25%, etc. that one sees in American supermarkets.
It's insane to think that milk has become pretty much a luxury here while at my own house back in Pittsburgh every one of my housemates drinks a different kind of milk, so typically we have two or more bottles in the fridge. And if the milk goes bad, we just get more milk.
I hope eggs and butter don't start disappearing, too.
