It's the cost of living. Most people who move here or want to move here are doing so to get more lifestyle out of their fixed income.

Here's an example:

Basics:

Meats- Good Argentinean beef is available at a very low cost. It's grass-fed, well-marbled and has a lot of flavor. Cooking beef on the parilla (BBQ) is a popular way to cook beef, so the beef tends to come in large chunks appropriate for grilling. Several of the popular cuts are:

Pollo de Res $1.15 per pound
Solomo de Cuerito $1.90 per pound
Punta Trasera $1.90 per pound
New York Strip Steak $2.45 per pound
Lomito (tenderloin) $3.20 per pound


For the same price, one can get these cuts marinated for the BBQ, plain, or frozen. One can occasionally find all of these cuts of meat at the "official" price of $1.00 per pound, frozen, in very large pieces of 10 pounds or more.

Hamburger costs $1.00 per pound, but it's really good hamburger without a lot of added fat. Pot Roast is the same cost. Chicken (when one can find it) costs 75 cents per pound for whole chickens, and fresh fish ranges in price from $2.00 per pound up to $7.00 per pound, depending on the type of fish, season and availability. Frozen shrimp (peeled, cleaned) cost $9.00 for 800 grams, and whole frozen salmon costs $1.75 per pound.

At Pollos Cacique, a popular roast chicken restaurant, a large roasted chicken costs $6.00, and that comes with some arepas and salsa for the chicken. The chicken from Pollos Cacique is excellent, and with some steamed vegetables makes a great meal.

Vegetables- The basic foodstuffs are almost completely organically produced, and much healthier than the stuff one buys in "developed" countries. Here are some prices of fresh produce from our last trip to the grocery store:

Potatoes 20 cents per pound
Onions 45 cents per pound
Tomatoes 45 cents per pound
Mangos 45 cents per pound
Cauliflower 50 cents per pound
Oranges 35 cents per pound
Zucchini Squash 35 cents per pound
Carrots 40 cents per pound
Cantaloupe 50 cents per pound
Limes 30 cents per pound
Romaine Lettuce 50 cents per pound
Bell Peppers 70 cents per pound
Avocado 95 cents per pound
String Beans 77 cents per pound

There are plenty of tropical fruits and veggies that defy explanation. One has to find an instructor to learn about all the tropical fruits and how to prepare and consume them. That's way beyond the scope of this article.
Dairy:

Cheese (sliced) is right at $3.00 per pound for excellent real cheese (not processed cheese-flavored product), and real Buffalo Mozzarella is about $4.00 per pound.

Fresh milk has not been available on the Island since May of last year, due to price controls that make it more profitable for dairies to sell their milk to cheese factories or export it out of the country. Recently President Chavez threatened to nationalize dairies that didn't sell fresh milk for domestic consumption... but we doubt if that will correct the problem. The real problem is that price controls don't work.

Powered milk is $2.90 per pound, and an 800 gram package makes about 3 gallons. Interestingly, the powered milk here doesn't taste like the powered milk one gets in the US... the stuff here doesn't have the "powered milk" taste to it.

Butter costs about $1.50 per pound for excellent real butter. We don't buy margarine...

Staples:

Coffee is about 50 cents per pound and beans are about 30 to 70 cents per pound. Flour is difficult to find right now, but when available it's about 40 cents per pound. Mayonnaise is a dollar per jar, ketchup is about the same, and so on and so on.

Beer, Wine and Liquor

Any alcoholic beverage benefits from the fact that Margarita is a free port with no taxes. Beer is $5.00 per case for premium beer, less for the standard products. Beer from the US is not available here. Chilean wine is a great value, with good quality table wine costing $2.00 to $3.00 per bottle and better quality wine (Casillero del Diablo) costs $6.00 per bottle. Premium wine such as Navarro Correa Private Reserve Ultra (select vintage years only) costs about $20.00 per bottle. There is a wide selection of wines from South America, Italy and France, but very little wine from the US.

Venezuelans drink a lot of whiskey. In fact, we're told that Venezuela consumes more Chivas Regal than all the rest of South America put together. One would think that was ridiculous until one spends some time watching these people drink.

Liquors (bottles are 1-liter):

Good Venezuelan Rum: $2.70 per bottle
Anniversario Premium Rum: $19.90 per bottle
Bacardi Rum $2.75 per bottle
Johnny Walker Black Label: $23.00 per bottle
Dewars Scotch 18 years: $32.00 per bottle
Stolichnaya Vodka: $8.00 per bottle
Chivas Regal 18 year Scotch: $32.20 per bottle
Chivas Regal 12 year Scotch: $26.60 per bottle
Buchanan's Whiskey: $22.00 per bottle
Old Pharr: $23.00 per bottle

Of course, gasoline is about 1 pence per liter, so you can literally fill your tank with pocket change.

Cheers from Margarita.