ATMs
We are blessed to have many ATMs around the city. God has given us a great taxi driver (don Edwin) who has lived and grown up in Cochabamba all his life, so he knows the ATMs that work and those that don’t. So we have never had a problem with getting funds from our account.
Monetary unit…
In Bolivia we use the monetary unit called Bolivianos. A Boliviano is about 1/8 of a dollar (8Bs = $1USD; varies daily), or about 12.5¢. To try to keep track of the value exchange, I just remember that cheer we used to lead when I was a cheerleader in school… “two bits, four bits, 6 bits, a dollar”! lol… Seriously, it DOES help! In this instance, “two bits” becomes “two Bs” in my mind, which is roughly equal to a quarter.
Types of Coins…
Bolivians have a variety of “moneda” (coins) and “dinero” (bills). The coins include 10 centavos, 20 centavos, 50 centavos, 1 boliviano, 2 bolivianos and a 5 boliviano coin. You rarely see the centavos (10 & 20) being used. I have never bent my brain enough to try to figure out how much each of those coins would be! But it isn’t much, in $USD terms.
One of the things about the money that I find interesting is that the 2 boliviano coins come in different sizes and have different shapes from each other. One of the 2B coins is smaller than the 1B coin. So you can’t just reach into your pocket and figure that the coin you’re giving the beggar* is going to be a 1 boliviano or a 2 boliviano. For me, that difference isn’t much. It’s less than 15¢ and that is certainly not going to cause me a problem!
*more on the topics of beggars later
Dinero (paper bills)…
The bills that we have seen in Bolivia are 10 Bolivians, 20 Bolivianos, 50 Bolivianos and 100 Bolivianos. I would not be surprised to learn that Bolivia has larger denominations for their paper money, but just as in the U.S., where the larger bills are harder to use in daily commerce, the same is really true in Bolivia.
Taxes… what are THOSE?!..
Much of the commerce that is done in Cochabamba takes place outside of a “normal store environment”. In the U.S., you go into a store, the price is what it is marked and when you check out, you pay whatever taxes that community must collect. Here in Cochabamba, I have yet to pay a single tax! Even at the grocery store, the vendor takes the responsibility for paying the tax. I would expect that this expense is built into the cost of the goods, but as a consumer, the cash receipt does not reflect any tax paid by me.
Why smaller bills are important…
There are many, many (maybe thousands!) of individual vendors who sell various things. NONE of these vendors like to break large bills! Even vendors who sell goods that come close to, or exceed the amount on the bill, they do not like to make change. Yes, I know… if they want to make the sale, they’ll make change!
But it’s just more thoughtful to have smaller bills. And… it’s easier to get vendors to give you a break in the price if you have exact change!
Next, see… Shopping in Cochabamba
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