Monopoly

So can anyone get a light saber or do you have to be a Jedi Knight? Not that I could afford one anyway, but one might some in handy if I need to rob a bank or something.

My favorite store is called “Todo a $1,000” (Everything’s $1,000). You are all getting Christmas presents from there. But before you get too excited, $1,000 Chilean pesos is only about US$1.90 and would buy a pair of fake Armani sunglasses from the Peruvian vendor on the corner. An ice cream cone costs $500 pesos, but if you get Chirymoya flavor, it’s worth US$500.

The bills look fake, so we blow through them like it’s just a game. When you think about it, they are just paper, and the only thing that makes them valuable is that the rulebook said they are. I’m sure that one day, the banker is going just wave his middle finger at us as we pass “go” rather than handing over that $200 (or $105,000 pesos, however you want to look at it).

But if we’re ever short on cash, we can always pay in cuotas. Cuotas are paying in installments with interest added in. If you use cuotas with a tarjeta de credito (credit card), you get the opportunity to pay interest on your interest. Buy a Big Mac on cuotas and you’ll still be paying for it long after the nausea has passed.

Today I need to pay the rent, gas, cable and electric bill. The total will come to about $700,000 pesos. It’s a bummer, but at least it will insure I continue to get the Star Wars movies on cable every night. While we were hoping that the prices would be cheaper here, they are not. As always, the best things are free: family, friendships, and the long daylight hours to spend with both.

Sisma