Change

Anyone who travels or lives in Bolivia learns to hoard change. There just isn´t enough change to go around in this country, and many vendors and small business people don´t have enough money to allow them to keep a supply of change on hand. Consequently, I try to get rid of my 100 Boliviano notes (worth about U.S. $13) as soon as possible because they can be very hard to spend.

Even small change like the one Boliviano coin (U.S. 13 cents) is hard to come by, and store clerks will try to get customers to part with their small change even if the store has change. I have learned to retrieve my money carefully from my coin purse because a clerk who sees my change or hears it jingle will invariably try to get it rather than accepting a 10 Boliviano bill, worth U.S. $1.30. Several times I´ve made a purchase in a store and been given a few pieces of candy in lieu of change.

Gary and I were in Santa Cruz a few weeks ago, and we sat in the plaza and listened to the street musicians play for coins. Meanwhile, coffee vendors scurried around selling cups of coffee to the people in the plaza. We noticed that every few minutes a coffee vendor would take the change out of the musicians´ tip jar and exchange it for a larger bill. The musicians seemed to accept that it was part of their role to provide change for the coffee vendors.

Some months ago, Gary was pickpocketed in a local market. He lost his wallet containing money worth about U.S. $15. He came home upset not because he lost money but because he had lost all of the change that he had been carefully hoarding!

Not everyone in Bolivia knows how to make change. Many of the street vendors haven´t had an opportunity to go to school and to learn basic math. But penny capitalism thrives in Bolivia and when there is a need, someone will fill it. Last week in the plaza I saw a man with a table and a sign saying that he teaches mental math.

Not everyone in Bolivia has a place to poop, either. Yesterday my house mate saw an old man pooping next to church wall near our house. Something about Bolivia makes one acutely aware of life´s most basic needs.