Jorge Lara had big plans, but he dropped out of law school to find a job — any job — to help feed his two children. He now sells bus tickets to fellow Venezuelans who are leaving the country.

After more than 30 years in operation, Luis Florez was forced to close his family clothing store.

Venezuela is home to the largest known oil reserves in the world. Yet drivers in San Cristobal can wait in line for days to fill their tanks. They’ve found novel ways to pass the time.

Today it’s common to see lines stretch for blocks outside of downtown banks. Banks allow only small withdrawals of the almost-worthless currency, forcing many to spend hours in line and to go from one branch to another just to get the cash they need.

Even having a job doesn’t guarantee cash. José Corro lives alone in Petare, one of Caracas’s most notorious slums. Every day he walks across the highway to work odd jobs in an apartment complex for better off Venezuelans. Even they sometimes pay him in kind because they don’t have the money.

One of Hugo Chávez’s signature accomplishments was reducing homelessness. But in some corners those gains have been vanishing.

María Eugenia de las Rosas lives in a former school building turned homeless encampment in Caracas. They named the community “Hope.”

Luis Ferreira grew up on his family’s farm. But as business faltered, his brothers left the country to find work elsewhere. Ferreira now single-handedly shoulders the burden of running the struggling dairy farm.