The prices of food and other commodities in Tanzania continues to astound me. The other day I bought five tomatoes, two cucumbers and an eggplant for 38¢. On top of that, the quality of the vegetables is much better and fresher than any you would find in the states. Sending a text message will cost you only 1/5th of one cent. I thought it would be interesting to see what you can by with ten dollars here in Tanzania. With ten dollars you can buy all of the following items:
- 1 bag of cookies ($2.30)
- 1 bottle of Coca Cola (30¢)
- 1.5 liters of water (54¢)
- 1 box of cereal ($2.30)
- 1 can of beans ($1.08)
- 1 large aluminum cooking pot ($2.30)
- 2 rolls of toilet paper (23¢ each)
- 1 bag of potato chips (77¢)
And with another ten dollars, you can buy all of these items:
- Juice ($1.84)
- A large loaf of bread ($1.00)
- 1 kg of sugar ($1.15)
- 2 kg of flour ($1.84)
- 1 jar of strawberry jam ($1.84)
- 6 candles (92¢)
- Laundry detergent (46¢)
- 1 package of gum ($1.11)
If you want to look at it another way, you can buy any one of the following with just ten dollars.
- Dinner for three at a nice restaurant
- Hiring a maid to clean and do laundry for two weeks
- 3 silk scarves
- 4 bags of cookies
- 4 boxes of cereal
- 10 loaves of bread
- 10 cans of beans
- 13 bags of potato chips
- 18.4 liters of water
- 24 lb of sugar
- 33 bottles of Coca Cola
- 44 rolls of toilet paper
- 53 movies
- 65 candles
- 223 text messages
Though basic food stuffs are cheap compared to American standards, other things, like books, are expensive. A wildlife guide book will cost somewhere between $45 and $75.
It’s a good thing that $10 will buy a lot of food because Master Card won’t work for everything else. Hardly anyone takes credit cards, so your $10 needs to go a long ways.
No comments:
Post a Comment