If a visit to Equatorial Guinea is somewhere in your future, the good news is that you probably won't need your American Express card over here. Or any other credit card, for that matter. They generally don't work here. It's pretty much cash only here, with the CFA (
Communauté Financière Africaine) Franc being the currency that's recognized. It can make your business dealings very interesting sometimes. For example, if you were to choose to spend a night at the very upscale Sofitel Hotel in town where rates start at $414.53, your bill in CFAs for a night would come to 199,389.34 at today's exchange rate of 481.001 CFA/USD. With the biggest bill currently in circulation being the 10,000 CFA, you'll need a handful of them. You might want to allow just a few extra minutes come checkout time. Actually, I did just discover while checking the Sofitel rates on Expedia, that apparently they do in fact take credit cards there! They must be one of just a very few businesses here who do, though. So feel free to ignore what I've said here and come on over with your Amex Card in hand, if you'd like. If you're staying at the Sofitel, that is. If you're not and you're planning on doing any other shopping, you're pretty definitely going to need a big wad of CFAs.
And generally there just aren't a whole lot of bargains here. Among the few exceptions would be the fresh bread available at the local panadería -- the best deal on the island -- for 50 CFAs (just over 10 cents) per small loaf. And then there are the beers ($0.78 per 16oz can) and the box wines ($1.42 per liter) which rival the cost of bottled water ($0.83 per 2 liter bottle when bought in quantities) and are less than a box of orange juice ($1.65 per liter).
And at $2.76, perhaps a gallon of diesel deserves a spot on the bargains list. Or not, depending on the price of oil. Here, gas prices at the pumps may not fluctuate like they do in the States -- just my impression, partly based on the fact that you won't find the prices posted anywhere other than on the pump itself. But I've only made two stops for gas during my time here, with the diesel going for 350 CFAs and the unleaded at 480 CFAs ($3.79). I'll have to check them again, should I be filling up again.
If you're interested, here's a sampling of prices I've encountered over the past couple of month, for the most part at the local grocery stores:
3 comments:
I like to see your bargining skills have not been lacking! Can't wait for you to come home! See you soon!
umm...are you sure the math is right on the kg vs lb...seems like the deal is to get everything in pounds..
Quite the astute observation there, young man (assuming I'm following it correctly). You are right; you'll pay less for a pound of whatever you might otherwise buy in kilos. Coincidentally, you'll also only get 1/2.2 of it. But what the heck, I'll take your sage advice and buy everything from now on in pounds. I'll let you know how it works out.
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