You were barred from Venezuela last year after reporting on the financial crisis there in 2016. You witnessed shortages of food, medical supplies and electricity. What were some of the technology challenges you faced under such tough circumstances?

A correspondent there warned me before I arrived to bring a Kindle — books were sometimes easier to download than to buy in Caracas, especially best-sellers or anything in English. You also lived in fear of losing things as basic and easy to get as a power cord. Venezuela is a country where people are having trouble finding tires when they get holes in them on the road, let alone Apple products. It is very unfortunate.

It’s not uncommon for Venezuelans to come back with a duffel bag filled with just the basics that aren’t for sale in stores anymore: toilet paper, dish detergent, shampoo, sponges. It would get to the point where you were also adding phone chargers, batteries, USB cables, internet routers and anything else you could imagine that plugged into the wall.

How has internet connectivity been in the Andes countries, and how do locals use apps or websites like Facebook or Twitter?