The Deal With.....Money

I promised to give you my take on the Bolivian economy....well, I think I'll just stick to what I know and ramble on about our money.

I had a brain wave and thought I would bless you with more of my perspective on different aspects of our life here. For some of you, you've never been to Bolivia or South America and wonder what life could be like here, or for others, you just enjoy finding out more about our day to day lives. So here goes, let's talk dinero....

The currency here is the Boliviano, or for short, B, and approximately 7 Bs is worth $1. It fluctuates as any currency does but for conversion in my head, I just stick with 7 to 1. There's a 20 and 50 cent piece, a 1B, 2B, and 5B coin as well. The paper money (that I've had the pleasure of holding) is 10B, 20B, 50B, and 100B. Thankfully, the Bolivians appreciate their money like we Canadians and make it nice and colourful! The 5B coin kind of reminds me of a miniture twoonie from back home.

So how much does stuff cost around here? Well, let me list off a few things that I've paid for (or considered paying for) in the last while.....

A micro ride = 1.50Bs = 21 cents
A pack of mega diapers = 80Bs = $11.40
25 oranges = 10Bs = $1.43
1 kilo of chicken = 10Bs = $1.43
A medium papaya = 4Bs = $.57
1 kilo (2lbs) of hamburger = 30Bs =$4.29

Tin of Tuna = 11Bs = $1.57
Vinegar = 7Bs = $1
Flip flops = 25 Bs = $3.57
2 Litres of Milk = 7Bs = $1
1 pound of bacon = 30Bs = $4.29
Really nice sundae = 18Bs = $2.57
Cheap bowl of soup at a restaurant = 2Bs = $.29
Mr. Noodle = 4Bs = double the price we pay at home!
Large pizza = 35Bs = $5
Empanada from a street vendor = 2Bs = $.29
Doctor visit = 30Bs = $4.29
Doctor visit at the best hospital in town = 300Bs = $42.90

And not like we're in the market, but we noticed the televisions at the store are about 3000Bs for a 27 inch, which is $429.

But how much stuff costs really can't be compared unless you consider the average daily wage of a blue collar worker here in Bolivia. A maid would make between 50-75Bs a day and a construction worker would make about 100Bs day. The street vendors would make considerable less than that but work 18 hours a day.

So if you only make $10 a day, you can't afford a pizza for dinner, you would never consider paying for a pound of bacon, you would have to be dying before you went to the doctor, and a micro ride just to see a friend would be a luxury. It would be like me when I was a teacher paying $39 for a blizzard at Dairy Queen. There's NO WAY I could afford that outrageous price. And that's what people live with on a daily basis, even with relatively lower prices than compared to Canada.

We are so blessed because all of our needs and even our crazy wants are taken care of. So when Carl misplaced a 50B bill, it really bothered me. It's like losing a $5 and some change, but to me, I kept thinking of that lady in the little tiny restaurant who could only afford a cheap bowl of soup for her and her son for lunch (and that would have been their big meal). And there I was slurping up my own bowl, and to have a meat and rice plate in addition to that. I really hoped that some poor person found that money on the ground; that would have been 25 bowls of soup for them, lunches for almost a month.

Well, that's my two cents on the matter. Stay tuned for the exciting chapter on food!