Money matters

Since our arrival I have found myself carrying more cash than I ever did in the states, which is a little unexpected given the prevalence of petty theft here. Some of this is due to the fact that until a few weeks ago we didn't have a bank account and were living on cash. But when I say that I carry more cash, I don't necessarily mean by value (though that is probably true too), mean by volume. And here's why.



The base currency here is the lempira. At present the exchange rate is about 20 lempiras to the dollar making the lempira worth about $0.05 or a nickel. Lempira bills come in the following denominations: 1, 2, 5, 10, 20, 50, 100, 500. If you're doing your math quickly you've just realized that the first four of those don't amount to a dollar together. The bills' dollar values respectively are: $0.05, $0.10, $0.25, $0.50, $1.00, $2.50, $5.00, and $25.00. Yes, the largest bill that I am aware of here is worth about US $25.00. 

This means that if you are making any large purchase with cash, not only is the number of the cost very high, but you have to hand over a wad of bills. But it also means that you are likely to carry more bills than you normally would. I do not make a habit of carrying change. I put it in a jar and take it to the bank periodically. But I do carry bills. So here I find myself carrying bills with the value of change that I wouldn't bother to carry in the states.

Ironically, for system with no bill worth more than $25 it is amazing how often you catch cashiers short of change when you pay with a L500. They are forever having to ask their supervisor to break the L500 for them because they are out of L100s. 

Believe it or not, they have coinage too. This is even more ridiculous. The coins represent parts of lempiras or lempira "cents", if you will, and come in 5, 10, 20, and 50. Remembering that one lempira itself is only worth 5¢, doing the math you realize that these are worth: ¼¢, ½¢ 1¢, 2½¢. Needless to say, Ellyn gets these. 

One final note (pardon the pun). The bluish polygon that looks like an inverted ring is transparent plastic. It's the only bill with that feature. It feels very different from the rest which are made with standard paper.