This article was originally published by J.G. Martinez D. at The Organic Prepper
Surviving in a Venezuelan city is a lot different than it is in a country retreat. Each location has its own problems and benefits. I wrote before about the dangers of rural retreats and today I will write about the dangers in a city. You must not underestimate people because they are different then they deal with hunger and poverty.
I would like to dissect a little bit about the importance of a parameter that is paramount for “the retreat,” or whatever you may want to call it. Location is everything when it comes to your safety, especially when you live in the city.
It is all about the location before and after a collapse.
I like to think that I am a smart buyer. After all, money is made when you buy, not exactly when you sell something. For me, buying our home was a lengthy process. Selection of the place was not just based on pricing, like most of my fellow co-workers.
We looked for a house located in an area of the city close enough to go to the supermarket on foot, and near a school, too. I used an engineering method to select the best option after we had selected five neighborhoods. It was quite an interesting exercise for the intellect.
You need to select the must-have variables, pondering each one in a debate (that is, if you and your family can do it peacefully LOL), and summarize the results to provide a final conclusion, based on an evaluation supported by a common ground that enhances the most important parameter, selected by the work team based on its relative importance.
How we selected our location in the city
The result was a house close to a supermarket, a couple of mini-malls with lots of services and shops (back then), and with an independent water supply (something that would make us very happy afterward, indeed). Independent meaning that the supply was not provided by the national (now seized, and state-owned, almost absolutely useless) water companies.
Oh, and it was a casual distance to a liquor store. Haha. I don’t drink a lot, but walking 10 minutes to drink a cold beer after a hard work day, has to be healthy. Oh, and we had a local beer around that was delicious. I hope it has survived the apocalypse.
Getting back on topic, I had a neighbor pretty close by that worked as a mechanic, and we struck up a good friendship. Other acquaintances were in the surrounding subdivisions, so it was easy enough to get a ride sometimes if I needed to.
When we realized how important an independent water supply was
The water supply was much more important than anything else (I always liked the fact of the independence factor and this was one of the most important parameters), and we would discover that the hard way.
One of the bigger oil spills in the national history of our country was in that area in 2012. It contaminated an entire river that is the water supply of the city. I was on a business trip that took several weeks, and the entire city was drying like a carcass in the middle of the Death Valley. The water treatment plant was also contaminated, to a degree.
Being the water supply of almost half a million people, you could imagine the problem.
During the first days, the mayor of the city tried to provide clean water with trucks. This would become a HUGE business in the next months. Truck owners would pay a fee, and the corrupted mayor would “assign” contracts for them to supply the water to the city…by the trucks, rather than using the financial resources to fix the issue. In addition, this solution was combined with using the state oil company that generated the problem in the first place.
In those years my son was a small child. By selecting the water independence off-the-grid as one of the main parameters, rather than good grid power supply (15 years ago, remember) my family did not suffer the hell that other people had to endure, in a city with temperatures over 32 C (about 90 F) the entire year.
Instead of misguided protest, you need to be practical.
What made me somewhat angry was to hear the stories of the people protesting on the streets, almost like now, but no one was asking for a loan to buy plastic barrels and rain gutters to store rainwater, or filters (in that area, it rains almost every day).
People with lots of space to collect water NEVER moved a finger to collect the water for their basic needs like toilets or showering. I mean, they spoke out for the need for clean, treated water; but never took the time to research how to purify it…jeez, even with sun-power that could be done with some ingenuity!
I have the entire design for my place, including a grey water tank under the washroom sink that goes into the toilet tank for our main bedroom. And another for the guest restroom, in the middle of the house. For the house expansion, some other tanks were going to be added. With this apocalypse, we rather preferred to exchange the house for some machinery (we have an empty, small plot of one thousand square meters… if we come back some day to live there again).
How predators learn about your location and valuables
This good choice allowed my wife to take the kid to school without a car, and go to the market and even the mall on foot. Risky, provided that the streets were owned by thugs, but luckily nothing happened. I can´t explain how, indeed. But I give thanks for that.
In the past few weeks, there was a shooting in our neighborhood. Two attackers followed a potential prey in the subdivision next to ours, only to find out that the man was well armed… and drew his gun, killing one and hurting the other. The neighbors jumped to help, and several of them (those who REFUSED to give up their guns) fought back, shooting and providing fire support for the attacked.
This was narrated to me by someone who was there. This person was amazed of learning how the attackers knew the place, considering it is an enclosed subdivision, with just one gate. It is a small city, indeed. Families are usually large and that includes those with black sheep in their herd, too. Therefore, collecting intelligence information about who to steal from is easier for those lazy MFs.
Usually they sent in small kids, in teams, around 9-12 children, or women with babies, to beg for anything, and they will eyeball flatscreen TVs in your living room, or if your furniture is fancy, main air conditioning or any general indications of wealth, how many cars, bikes, or whatever goodies their older relatives could steal… usually at gunpoint.
Get creative before predators strike
If you are lucky, they would enter when there’s no one at home. If you are not, your doorbell rings, perhaps early in the morning, and you just see a poor woman with a baby throughout the door peephole… until you open the door and find yourself suddenly with a gun in your forehead and four guys in your living room unplugging your electronics, and the dog gets killed with a beating.
As one very useful tool against this, one of my favorite deterrents is sonic weapons (artificial intelligence for automatic machine guns is not that advanced yet… and they must be hard to maintain and feed). I know how it looks, but I would prefer to make someone with bad intentions run and not come back, than risk the lives of my loved ones. There is no permanent damage done, either (not too much anyway).
Sonic weapons are cheap, effective against several people simultaneously, and can be triggered remotely if the setup is well executed. Use it outside your BOV and you will spread a mob surrounding if the volume is powerful enough. Designing a setup that could be installed in a matter of seconds in the roof racks is not such a big deal, provided precautions have been made to provide energy. Such devices would be enough for city dwellers though.
Or… perhaps portable devices and the people in the back seat properly protected, pointing the annoying devices to the surrounding mob? Possibilities are plenty, indeed. However this is not my specialty (proper consulting with a professional will point you in the right direction, just let us know so we can all learn from that too), and I am only wildly speculating and being creative, which has helped me a lot in a strange environment…
Location, location, location – and security
A proper choice of location can be the difference between having problems… or avoiding them. We could have bought quite a fancy two bedroom apartment in our city, with a pretty high monthly quote for services like gas, WiFi, electricity and backup gensets for the entire building.
The security was absolutely remarkable. There is a pool, and it is in one of the best parts of the city. Negative aspects?…well, the security employees have left. Those still remaining can be easily tempted to work for the mafia… indeed, sometimes associated with organized crime.
Those of you that think I am exaggerating, you have no clue about how people really are when they are faced with hunger and poverty and surrounded by wealthy (to their eyes) people while their own families are struggling.
I wrote more about securing a home in this article.
Thank you!
Thanks for your support, fellows. There are lots of things happening these days and many interesting things are coming. I feel it in my bones. My younger kiddo is starting to blossom: he wants to make some nice decorative soaps from scratch and sell them in the streets, to help me pay for his books… is that cute or what? Five percent of survival genes starting to show up. Just like his daddy. ?
Hope to be able to write about good things happening, and the economy stabilizing.
I am sure many of you would like to come over and have a beer while you relax on our beaches. You will be welcome, that is for sure!
God bless you, people!
About Jose
Jose is an upper middle class professional. He is a former worker of the oil state company with a Bachelor’s degree from one of the best national Universities. He has a small 4 members family, plus two cats and a dog. An old but in good shape SUV, a good 150 square meters house in a nice neighborhood, in a small but (formerly) prosperous city with two middle size malls. Jose is a prepper and shares his eyewitness accounts and survival stories from the collapse of his beloved Venezuela. Thanks to your help Jose has gotten his family out of Venezuela. They are currently setting up a new life in another country. paypal.me/JoseM151
Please feel free to share any information from this article in part or in full, giving credit to the author and including a link to The Organic Prepper and the following bio.
Daisy is a coffee-swigging, gun-toting, homeschooling blogger who writes about current events, preparedness, frugality, and the pursuit of liberty on her websites, The Organic Prepper and DaisyLuther.com She is the author of 4 books and the co-founder of Preppers University, where she teaches intensive preparedness courses in a live online classroom setting. You can follow her on Facebook, Pinterest, and Twitter,.
Cities have it all. Scum illegals, islamic savages, crooked pigs, leftist scum, the free shit army, etc, etc. Imagine all of those groups hungry and desperate. Get the fuck out of the cities now.
Weight loss plan:
Lift weights 90 min a day 6 days a week.
Arms-Legs-Torso-Arms-Legs-Torso-Rest
Eat small portions of high calorie foods with plenty of water and a serving of either fruit or vegetables with every meal.
Eat 1500 calories a day men and 1200 calories a day women. Any less and your body will go into starvation mode and you will actually gain.
You will lose about a pound a week. Any faster than that and your skin will detach from your insides.
Stop whining and making excuses. It can be done with effort. Get the shape you always wanted.
I use a cookbook from the 1920’s. Just stop going to restaurants more than once a week. Portion sizes are 4x bigger now.
Exercise. Eat healthy. Die anyways. How you like them apples?
There should be a penalty box for the “Die Anyways” people, somewhere away from the work area.
And, if there’s anything you need, we’ll just bring it to you.
Anonymous, your premise has many flaws and far too simplistic. The main flaw is the simple fact that when you get fit and healthy you will enjoy many serious benefits from it daily, like TODAY ! that is a huge over sight.
Beyond that it is not necessary to lift weights for hours a day to be very strong. In fact lifting weights should be limited for sure for many reasons. I have been keeping serious track of the time I spend working out in the last few years and I am now at an average of 1/2 hour a day. Much of that is because I figured out how to balance your endocrine system and metabolism easily and how to use your physiological natural body systems like ketosis and other potentialities to a good end result. Now it is all much easier. Also part of it was learning about foods , nutrition and herbs as our medicine and sources of energy. Yes, it took years, but all good for sure and well worth the efforts ! There are no negatives at all, only benefits.
No doubt we will all die but I also understand that process as well these days. That does not mean I want to live poorly in the mean time. And no question the people that are weak will always be the first victims in any event ! I have seen many times in many ways. Everything is always about how we think and then act on it !
https://youtu.be/Hf45eyNjUMY
https://youtu.be/7xjcPISa5Y0
It is well past time to live and become a warrior monk !
https://youtu.be/Umaxv8ZzUzw
Menzo, I’ve got a return trip to GA scheduled for March but might be going sooner the way things are looking.
The leftist scum are really becoming unhinged. As soon as I’m threatened, I will start killing them outright.
Unhinged is an understatement. The left has gone so far left it is like watching a case of mass delusional thinking. And the MSM propagates, feeds, this delusional thinking.
There will be blood and a civil war. This isn’t going to end with words on Twatter.
Meno: Can you say MAJOR Cluster Fuck boom!
To be truthful VZ story is interesting but I don’t think it has any bearing in the US. Three reasons VZ has no winters, it has no guns, and it has no easily identifiable welfare class concentrated in cities. No possibility of us having a long drawn out problem. It will get bad very quickly.
Paranoid, you are right that America will be so much worse than VZ because they are largely ethnically uniform. Whereas we are NOT anymore.
It will be hard for me to not get a lot of satisfaction hearing liberals say, but I voted for Obama, right before their end.
Yes – we are seeing the march up to revolution – what will be the tipping point and will we see it coming or recognize it when it happens?
Just wait until the Food stamps fail to be loaded on the EBT cards In Feb! those black’s wiggers & other parasite usless eaters will go ape shit. Then if the Obama Phones where turned off it would be a sight to see!The usless eater parasite situation is a pimple that needs popping!
Old Guy…too late, the govt. has pre loaded EBT cards for Feb. they don’t want riots in the streets.
shucks
Unfortunate part is you cannot starve to death in a month. cause we all know a bunch of people will spend it all ASAP. Good part is with luck they will spend the extra on some real good fentenal(?) and OD
Diversity = gridlock because diversity isn’t a strength
Eisenkreutz, I may have lived to long, because Up is Down, Evil is Good, Good is Evil and Diversity is Strength.
Did anyone else read that the French Supreme Court ruled that Truth is NOT a defense against”Hate Speech”! Consequently, just because something is true doesn’t mean you can say it. Just more proof that Liberals and their NWO are just another totalitarian attempt at world conquest.
20 Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil; that put darkness for light, and light for darkness; that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter!
21 Woe unto them that are wise in their own eyes, and prudent in their own sight!
22 Woe unto them that are mighty to drink wine, and men of strength to mingle strong drink:
23 Which justify the wicked for reward, and take away the righteousness of the righteous from him!
24 Therefore as the fire devoureth the stubble, and the flame consumeth the chaff, so their root shall be as rottenness, and their blossom shall go up as dust: because they have cast away the law of the LORD of hosts, and despised the word of the Holy One of Israel.
25 Therefore is the anger of the LORD kindled against his people, and he hath stretched forth his hand against them, and hath smitten them: and the hills did tremble, and their carcases were torn in the midst of the streets. For all this his anger is not turned away, but his hand is stretched out still.
26 And he will lift up an ensign to the nations from far, and will hiss unto them from the end of the earth: and, behold, they shall come with speed swiftly:
27 None shall be weary nor stumble among them; none shall slumber nor sleep; neither shall the girdle of their loins be loosed, nor the latchet of their shoes be broken:
28 Whose arrows are sharp, and all their bows bent, their horses’ hoofs shall be counted like flint, and their wheels like a whirlwind:
29 Their roaring shall be like a lion, they shall roar like young lions: yea, they shall roar, and lay hold of the prey, and shall carry it away safe, and none shall deliver it .
30 And in that day they shall roar against them like the roaring of the sea: and if one look unto the land, behold darkness and sorrow, and the light is darkened in the heavens thereof.
Isaiah 5:20-30
Justice, only if a person accepts the garbage thinking, other wise it is quite meaningless, court or no court. The French are now schooling us ion their defiance against their government.
We do absolutely nothing except a very few people. Nothing much can or will change until people got off their fat asses !
http://www.downtoearththinking.com/the-nevada-kangaroo-court-of-injustice.html
http://www.downtoearththinking.com/stop-the-joe-arpaio-political-prosecution.html
http://www.downtoearththinking.com/free-assange.html
I put up all of these and so far two out of three winners ! And all during the Obama years when most here were living in total fear and worried about being on a list ? so what have any of you done that accomplished anything at all or was worth a SHIT ? This is why I call bullshit on most supposed preppers, they are n fact many times cowards and more or less worthless turds. and it is all 100% verifiable and easily provable.
As I have mentioned prior, maybe 3 to 5% are for real !
My reply to Eisenkreutz just went into moderation. What in this comment could trigger moderation?
Linking to outside sites, the n-word and j-word.
Old Guy, I think that pimple will get popped this year but not sure when. Supposedly the EBT cards got reloaded for Feb. but don’t know about March yet. That’s when I’m planning to go back to GA. Could be going back sooner if the conditions are just right.
EBT is done. Feb was the last month it was funded, and in most states, that payment went out friday 1/18.
There is no more cash forthcoming.
Yes, its engineered to cause a ruckus, no not enough top cause a collapse/shtf issue…. however, dont get caught in the usual no-go places once the riots start, and keep your shit at home secure. Crimes gonna go way up.
Have what you need before the EBT runs out.
A couple years ago there was a three day glitch in the EBT system, there were riots in Walmart’s. Walmart gave away free food to calm people.
In a real crisis, there will be serious riots, and looting. If people can’t keep getting food for free, they’ll burn down the stores. Even if you are prepared and have cash set aside for food, you can’t buy food from stores that are severely damaged, empty, or burned down.
All those Zulus in the Peach State. You picked the wrong bug out state.
Anonymous, them and the illegal aliens as well all the druggies and alcoholics on SSI and other freebies. The Blacks alone are just one force here in USA today that will get violent very quickly and or turn to even more thievery and bad acts.
Old G: I wish the baboons would go on and act like the savage sambo apes they really are and we can sit back 500-1000 yards back and wait…
Welfare related riots would have nothing to do with starvation. Rather it would be caused by the recipients’ perception of extreme unfairness on the part of the government and therefore white people. The reason it wouldn’t be caused by actual hunger is that food stamps in particular are only meant to supplement dietary requirements, not provide a totally adequate daily calorie intake. Most recipients only receive a small amount in food stamps. The vast majority receive only a few dollars each month.
Americans mimic their overseers. More for ourselves and less for everybody else. The American way. The blame is mostly misdirected when applied to those not at the top.
Fake Venezuelan Jose Martinez still pushing his paypal scam. No way José.
You worried about the honeypot at the door thing, get an RC thermal drone.
And steel jacketed rounds. Right through the wall, kiddo.
engineering method to select the best option after we had selected five neighborhoods.
This guy is so full of shit.
In America we do not use an engineering method to select our future home. We say, “Where is the white neighborhood.”
John Stiner, I heard that … “Where is the white neighborhood.”
I think the No. 1 factor to surviving most SHTF situations is location, location, location. One of the first things I did in 2007 was to move from a county between Washington DC and Baltimore. I moved to a rural county in upper Western Maryland where I am among like minded people and farther away from “them”. My next step is getting the heck out of Maryland.
The other major factor in choosing my current location was being within walking distance to important stores. Travel is an IMPORTANT prepping consideration.
Hey Justice, you near Hancock, or Hagerstown MD?? I’m in Berkeley Springs WV just over the line. Would be nice to know some local like minded.
I’m outside Fredrick MD. I used to always go to the outlet mall in Hagerstown.
My once nice, white suburban neighborhood is surrounded by Section 8 scum in apartments. We had a sailfoam theft by a local youth at the credit union ATM. I observed packs of teens running in the road (five lanes of traffic) last summer. It isn’t going to get better and most of the old white people in my burb, and even the young ones, are clueless.
I’m moving. And I hate moving.
Jose is an upper middle class professional.
This asshole writes these articles like he is still living there when in a previous article he said he moved to Miami with other family.
If you are so poor and destitute you have to flee a country then you are not upper middle class shit.
John Stiner, I guarantee you some dumb asses here have sent him money ! Just like buying into Selcos junk. Preppers are not the smart guys, or even actually really prepared !
The author brings up a good point about sound being instrumental in home defense. Besides having a Monitored Home Alarm System with multiple (extra) wired sound alarms; I also have four of these bad boys that are wired to manual switches!! They are so LOUD that my neighbors will be forces to do something just to make the noise STOP!
Vixen Horns Loud 145dB Industrial Electric Motor Driven Alarm/Siren (Air Raid) 120V VXS-1450AR
h ttps://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B010EEH13A/ref=oh_aui_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1
I have them located:
1. In my bedroom
2. Where I sit/Read/Watch TV/Computer
3. In my Safe Room
4. Back-up/Extra
I love it! Thanks for the idea!
God bless you, people!
That is exactly what homeless people put on their street begging signs.
I was coming home from running errands and noticed a beggar at a four-way intersection. He isn’t the first. Had a fuel can and a sign, “need diesel for family.” Guy had a school bus parked next to the gas station. Saw a wood stove chimney coming out one window.
Guy looked young and healthy. I hope someone made him work for that $100 of diesel.
Sonic weapons are cheap, effective against several people simultaneously, and can be triggered remotely if the setup is well executed.
Soooooo…… Jose with an air horn is going to fend off a group of armed attackers. Great advise.
John Stiner, criminals don’t like to be noticed. That’s why external lights are an effective deterrent to crime. Also, loud sound is a deterrent because I guarantee my entire neighborhood will come out of their homes to see what the heck is making that incredible noise.
Sound is not a weapon, unless you are the Military or Police and have sound cannons!
Finally, I bought several whistles as potential protection for kids/others and as a means of communication.
Windstorm Safety Whistle BLACK loudest pack of 12
h ttps://www.ebay.com/itm/221792815616
external lights are an effective deterrent to crime
Maybe 30 years ago.
Now it just helps them see what they are stealing.
I installed motions lights all around my yard. I did it so if theives come calling, hopefully they won’t trip, fall, maim themselves and sue me. They might get hurt in the dark. I also don’t want to be labeled as a racist. I did not use white bulbs, instead I used multi colored bulbs. My yard looks like a great big christmas tree. As long as the “rainbow” crowd don’t see it, I got it covered.
I was replacing expired smoke detectors, and wanted to remove horns from the old ones and wire them up in a ball, with a pull pin that has ear plugs for me attached.
It would be my sonic grenade……
Seems like a pretty good way to get a crowd to leave you alone. Never finished the project though. The sound from 8 smoke detector sirens going off in one spot would be head splitting.
Here is something for all you BABAs out there if you feel like rioting, and picking up your rifles.
Now I am not taking sides with anyone, and I do not like the way things are.
We are in a Civil War, or a Global War whatever now, and the shooting I hope does not happen.
But I want to bring things to your attention when or it really hits the fan when it comes to your theater of operation SOON…..
First !!!! John TRUDELL YOUTUBE Titled :
John Trudell on the difference in Civil Disobedience, and Non Cooperation
I strongly advise you to watch this, especial those of you who put on sunglasses, and scarves to hide your identity.
I think you BABAs need to watch this in case you are unaware, or have not sobered up, and can not read while you are scratching your ass.
John was the most investigated person by the FBI.
Second !!!! also on Youtube.
PALM SIZED FLYING KILLER ROBOTS AKA SLAUGHTER BOTS.
Now do you think your SNIPER RIFLES, SEMI – AUTO MILITARY STYLE
WEAPONS, SHOTGUNS, ILLEGAL or LEGAL MACHINE GUNS, and SHOTGUNS, ECT. are going to MATCH these ????
Do you think your going to stop a BLACK C-130 from dumping things like these on your meeting places?????
Or someone in a BLACK SUV cutting things like these loose in your neighborhoods ?????
THINK ABOUT IT FOLKS BEFORE YOU ACT, THINK ABOUT IT !!!!!!
A Public Service Announcement.
Now Back To Our Regular Schedule Station.
Brought to You By GMO.
We Have Your Health In Our Interest.
If you can’t afford to pay for security then just have lots of family coming over; criminals hate company.
.
I think that Westerners can be provoked to chimpout, over p-ssyhats and consumer electronics on Black Friday, but, otherwise, are feckless, noncompetitive, and without a survival instinct.
Considering the number of houses, now, only a minuscule number of human bodies are outside, on any nice day, just being alive, where a census should show tens of thousands.
It never ceases to amaze me, how a starving country can look like a green, tropical terrarium. Some have world class cattle pastures, hunting, fishing, and, if you had just made a trashpile outside of the window of the stereotypical hut, something would certainly have sprouted.
Fruitful seeds have grown up, in our drainage ditches, where birds or people have littered, and are torn out, proactively. I’ve shared food from the easements (law of gleaning) and it gets sabotaged. Such is the nature of domestication, I guess.
Independent initiative is considered illegitimate, by you hungry people, where God has afforded you all the matériel you would have needed. I have seen you turn down charity and embarrass well wishers, on countless occasions.
There is a school of thought, where foreigners documented the native and famine foods and are trying to get you to eat them.
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