Saturday we were in town for a few errands (including the ever joyful retrieval of a care package at the post office!). Prices here range from normal to outrageous to incredibly cheap. Here are the observations from our morning in Jinja.
The cost of mailing a letter to the US? $1.20
The charge for retrieving a package that won't fit in our PO Box? 60 cents
A 500-gram tin of infant formula? $11.00!
Cell phone airtime (for approx. 7-10 days)? $12.00 each phone
2 kg (4.4 pounds) of potatoes? 88 cents
1 medium (and dirty!) head of lettuce? 94 cents
24.6 litres (6.5 gallons) of diesel? $36.00!
Across the street from the fuel station (after being grateful that fuel prices are dropping below $6 per gallon), we grabbed "Ugandan fast food." We asked the guy at the curb to prepare 5 Rolexes. No it's not a watch; it is an Indian-style chapati (flat bread) with an omelet rolled into it. "Two with veggies and three plain, please." It was a great lunch in the car as we drove back to GSF. The total cost for our whole lunch (5 Rolexes)? $2.40!
That's better than the 99 cent menus in the states - and much more filling!
By the way, the Ugandan Shilling is about 1,600 per US Dollar. We calculated the conversions for you. :)
1 comment:
Your blog just captures my by the heart. Love your dscriptions.
The Rolexes sound good. We also have some street food like this.
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