💵 Smuggling Cash Into Suriname 📦🏴☠️ Surviving the Economic Crisis Any Way Possible 📉🤷♂️
With Western Union and Suriname banking barely functional, I've resorted to accessing my funds via the inside of spice jars. The irony is not lost on me that I have crypto holdings on a decentralized blockchain, but to obtain the goods needed for daily life, fiat smuggled into the country via airfreight is the way I am surviving this crisis.
The Most Expensive Sambar Powder Ever?
I must say I wasn't terribly optimistic this plan was going to work, but already in need of some Indian spices and having found an affordable air-freight forwarder, I decided to have my Mom put $200 USD in the sambar powder as a test run.
Well, "the proof is in the pudding" as they say, or in this case, sambar powder. Inflation is rampant here in Suriname, and EUROS and USD have become almost non-existent, with nobody wanting to hold any significant amount of the SRD (Suriname Dollar), leaving the whole country in a bit of a pickle.
Rumor has it there's a guy in Suriname that will buy crypto for SRD, but from my understanding his cut makes the rate comparable to receiving money from Western Union and exchanging it for SRD on the street, so for now, hiding money in much-needed Indian spice shipments seems to be the most sustainable option to keep the family fed.
The crisis here in Suriname seems to get worse and worse by the day, and I'm not too optimistic about the near future. With such a small economic footprint, Suriname will have a tough time reversing this economic stagnation any time soon.
There are things to be happy about on this day, especially $200 cash, a bottomless bag of cashews, yeast flakes, mustard seeds, and more. I've got to now make some tough choices and decide whether or not I want to up the stakes and send a little more cash next time.
One thing is for sure, uncovering cash from cling-wrap made me feel like a pirate, and comparing that feeling to standing in endless lines at various Western Unions for hours on end, usually only to be told there's no more money left, I'll choose secret pirate shipments every time.
Stay tuned for some new delicious recipes making use of this shipment too...
🙏 THANKS FOR READING 🙏
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Smuggling rules!
It was pretty exciting, and opening the sambar powder felt a bit like a birthday.
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Before I read it, I thought you smuggle doobie 🤣
My brain is blown by all of this. I’m sorry you are going through this insanity. 🌹
The world is upside down in many places, and I think those most responsible are world governments and their bureaucrats.!ENGAGE 10
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ENGAGEtokens.Excitements, nervousness, thrilled - seems the situation is not getting better soon - any plans to relocate ?
We have few options due to the pandemic and three Cambodian passports. Our best chance of a relocation might be to Guyana, and I think we would feel more comfortable there. For now Code Purple Lockdown has us effectively trapped at home. !ENGAGE 10
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ENGAGEtokens.Blimey. It gets more and more like a B rated movie by the day and, from other posts I've read, it sounds like the situation is just getting worse.
I'm curious, what are your reasons for staying? I know you've mentioned the possibility of leaving before so was wondering.
Glad to hear you've got some dollars and some tasty food items. A nice belated birthday present! 😁
!LUV
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Yeah, not ideal at all. Our reasons for staying so far are the inability to return to Cambodia or immigrate to the USA. The problem with Suriname are the limited flights and available embassies here. My family are Cambodian citizens, so they only were able to get visas-on-arrival to about less than 20 countries even before the pandemic.
At the moment we're trying emergency travel clearance to the USA, and if that fails we might be able to get to Georgia or Albania. I've lived in Albania before, and COVID-19 has caused them to liberalize their visa policy to stimulat the economy. !ENGAGE 35
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It must be pretty stressful but, at the same time, it sounds quite exciting. I was watching some videos about Albania recently. I was totally out of touch of how the country is now. In my mind it was still that place you could see from Greece but weren't allowed to visit! So much has changed.
This got me curious and I was surprised to find that even with a UK passport I only have access to 38 countries via visas-on-arrival. Same number of countries with a visa though as the USA which is, of course way higher than for Cambodians.
Fingers crossed this will work out though. At least that will give you time to catch your breath, let COVID play out and then go from there.
!ENGAGE 30
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ENGAGEtokens.ENGAGEtokens.@justinparke, you were given LUV! About LUV: https://peakd.com/@luvshares
As sad as the situation is, the smuggling part is kinda interesting. What happens if you are caught, will the goods be seized?
I only hope the situation gets better soon so as to meet up with the family needs
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I'm not too worried about anything getting seized because the amounts are so small. It's definitely not ideal, but a good way to get money down here. Give thanks for the support. !ENGAGE 20
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You are welcome, I hope the crises ends soon. Sorry for replying late
ENGAGEtokens.Yoo that's bad ass. I didn't realize the currency situation is getting that bad there. I wonder how hard it'd be to get people in your neighborhood using bitcoin and trying to exchange with that. Maybe you could start a business helping people get set up and helping connect them to customers who use BTC? For a tiny fee, or even free, everyone wins cause you can use your crypto for living then
I think it would be hard to convert people to crypto here, mostly because it's nearly impossible just to make friends here. It's a very closed society with a fondness for privacy and private property, attitudes similar to where I grew up in the USA.
I am working with a youth here that it is interested in Hive, but that's as far as I've got. I definitely miss the social living of Cambodia. !ENGAGE 35
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That sounds rough. This is why I’m trying to save up for an investment visa to start a “business”. It’s mostly just for a reliable visa situation for me and my girlfriend who both don’t want to do our own thing rather than work for a big company. I know the situation is different but we are basically in japan because we both don’t want to go back to our home countries and neither of us could easily live in each other’s country anyway.
If you like Cambodia maybe you can figure out an investment visa there...there are probably a lot of ways to make that work, even if it means borrowing the money, I’m sure it’s a lot cheaper than japan which requires 50k investment plus a business address
On paper I am eligible for citizenship, and have been for many years. The reality, however, is you need to donate $50,000 USD to the CCP (Hun Sen's Party) to get a Cambodian passport/citizenship.
It's out of reality at this time to go back in any way, shape, or form, and we have no means to borrow from anyone. Even just to return now the plane tickets, bribes, visas, work permits, travel/health insurance, quarantine fees, COVID-19 deposit, rent and deposit on a new place, and other things quickly jump to nearly $20,000.
It's a crazy new world. I miss 2010 when I flew to Cambodia with $500, and it was literally the wild west after paying my only annual fees of $300 to get a business visa with no questions asked. I don't know where we'll end up, but I like a wild west economy where you can hustle a living from $500 and a dream if you've got the talent and drive.
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I know you probably have a lot of people offering ideas so I hope you don't mind but could you get to Venezuela? Things might be a little worse there but I think you'd be able to find a community much easier and you could use your crypto for life stuff
We did consider Venezuela, and from the Hivers that are there that I know, life looks a lot better there for a much cheaper cost of living. I think it's because Venezuela has an economy of scale.
Our biggest hurdles would be the visas, with me having difficulties as an American and my family because they are Cambodian. We'd also have to get visas to transit Guyana if we wanted to go by land. Another obvious concern would be safety, and whether or not we'd be targets as foreigners living there.
Of course we don't live a flashy lifestyle, but even here in Suriname we've had to boycott taxis because they always charge 4 times the normal rate. White skin is wealth here, and I think the locals assume I must be banking to have chosen to stay here during the crisis. The reality is we are stranded here, but locals generally never get to know us that well to find out stuff like that.
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ENGAGEtokens.I totally missed this post until now and I'm so stoked for you. I am impressed with the "spices" and hope you can keep adding to your "spice" collection.
Bravo!
Both cash and spices were much-needed. Mustard seeds are one difficult thing to track down here. Thanks for stopping by chef. !ENGAGE 15
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ENGAGEtokens.