One Venezuelan Actually Chose to Come Back Home
Inflation’s crazy, crime’s horrible, but Caracas mostly just feels empty.
Patricia Laya with her grandmother in Caracas, on March 23.
Photographer: Fabiola Ferrero/Bloomberg
Editor’s Note: There are few places as chaotic or dangerous as Venezuela. “Life in Caracas” is a new series of short stories that seeks to capture the surreal quality of living in a land in total disarray.
On the afternoon of Nov. 19, 2017, I walked off the plane at the Caracas international airport, strolled through immigration, picked up my bags and officially became part of what has to be an absurdly tiny group: Venezuelans who — voluntarily — move back home.