The things that we do for love

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I bought a really neat PDA phone (HTC Tilt) back in August ‘08 and since then I have been carrying on an affair with said telephone happily. So, when I looked into getting a phone here, I was hoping that I would be able to continue with my obsession. Even though people here LOVE the Blackberry phone, I found out that I might be able to have it “liberated” and connect it with a local company. It sounded pretty simple…

I went to 6 different cell phone stores before I found one at a mall that said they could do it for 200 BsF., but the person wouldn’t be there until the next day at 11 AM. I went back the following afternoon and as soon as I walked in, the clerk told me the person didn’t come and they didn’t know when they would be in. I looked around the mall a little more and found another place that would do it for 400 BsF. and it would take a week. I thought it was better than wandering around all of Caracas looking for another place, so I agreed.

The next step in this mission was to buy a SIM. Well, that first place that was going to charge me 200 BsF. told me they could sell it to me (but not until after 2 PM when they would get more cards); however, when I actually went to complete the transaction they discovered they could not sell it to me using either my passport or diplomatic card.

Another place then told me that I should go to the “Centro de conexiones”. When I got there, the clerk told me they wouldn’t have SIM’s until the next day after 11 AM; BUT, there was a place upstairs that may have them. Finally, the place upstairs told me that they could indeed sell me the SIM, using my passport, but they only accepted cash (very common occurrence in Caracas). So, I went to get the cash and by the end of the day, I had resumed my tryst with my HTC Tilt and I once again felt like a giddy schoolgirl.

I think I’m now beginning to understand why a French gentleman told me when I got here “Caracas est difficile” – Caracas is difficult .