Oh, the joys of shopping in West Africa

I just got back from the grocery store and am, once again, shocked by how expensive food is here. Locally produced food, like eggs, is cheap enough - it's just that there isn't a lot of locally produced food (or locally produced anything, for that matter). Everything is imported and the prices definitely reflect that. Still, you can only be thankful that it's even available... when it's available that is. Every now and then a shipment is delayed and you end up with a tonic water or pepperoni shortage in the city (these are the mini-crises of the moment, in fact). It doesn't seem like such a big deal, but the thing is it may be months before another shipment arrives and trust me, you really do start to miss these things. And when such a luxury item does appear, people flock to the grocery store purported to be carrying the item in droves and whatever it is you were looking for is likely to be gone before you get there. It's like trying to get your hands on a tickle-me Elmo on Black Friday. Good luck.

And then you have to pay for your purchases in some of the world's most worthless banknotes. The largest bill in the national currency is equivalent to somewhere around $2, and the smallest, about $0.15. There are actually coins too, but they're so worthless I once heard that the government was caught trying to smuggle some out of the country to sell as scrap metal. No doubt the cost to produce them far exceeded their present value. There are no ATMs in the city, or at least none that take an international Visa card, so T gets a cash advance from the office each month in the form of a giant stack of banknotes that is so giant, it's actually multiple stacks of banknotes. We've given up on counting it to keep track - we just approximate it's height in centimetres to get a rough idea of how much is left. Next month, when the stacks are sky high, I'll be sure to get a photograph.

And now I know where that expression "filthy, stinking rich" comes from. These bills are filthy and stinking. The drawer we stash the stack in reeks of that particular stench only money of third-world origin can produce. Imagine body sweat, dirt, rotting garbage, festering meat, sour milk and the blood of various animals mixed together. You could most certainly add human waste into the mix too. This is why counting out the equivalent of $80 in $2 bills is more than just time consuming... on that note, I think I've just convinced myself to go wash my hands again.