What can you do with 100 Ariary?
Posted by Adam Jadhav | Filed under madagascar
A gangster roll, but only $300
Madagascar’s currency is a mind-trip. Inflation (and I’m guessing poor central banking) has left large denominations mostly meaningless. At the airport in Tana on Wednesday, $1 was just shy of 2,000 ariary. The largest bill I’ve seen is a 5000 AR note. Do the math ($2.50).
Though my airfare was astronomical ($700 for the roundtrip from Nairobi to Tana and $425 for the roundtrip from Tana to Ft. Dauphin), prices on the ground are relatively cheap.
A coffee is between 50 cents and a $1.50. A 500 ml beer of Gold (the upscale brand that is actually not bad for a lager) is between $1.50 and $2.50.
A taxi ride most places in town is about $2. A plate of Pad Thai with shrimp at a high end restaurant is $5.
This, of course, leads to seemingly staggering sums on large purchases. A broadband cell modem runs nearly 500,000 AR.
In getting change on $380, I ended up with a random 100 ariary note, and I’m trying figure out what I can actually buy with it.
So far, I’ve seen local calls at 6 AR a minute, but you can’t buy phone timecards that low. Maybe a single cigarette? There has to be something more novel than that.
Tags: antananarivo, ariary, beer, coffee, currency, madagascar, thailand, tourism
4 Responses to “What can you do with 100 Ariary?”
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John Ritz Says:
October 4th, 2009 at 1:51 pmThis has to be the coolest due to follow!! Can’t wait to see what he’s up to tomorrow!!!
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John Ritz Says:
October 4th, 2009 at 1:52 pmdude!
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Royal Says:
October 6th, 2009 at 9:18 amWhat shall we do with a hundred ariary?
What shall we do with a hundred ariary?
What shall we do with a hundred ariary,
Ear-lie in the morning? -
Adam Jadhav Says:
October 9th, 2009 at 7:57 amI’ve since found 10,000 AR notes ($5) and also stumbled upon a 10 AR coin, which at the value of a half-penny might not actually be worth the metal it’s made of.
