We have been avoiding expensive (and unnecessary) cookies on our shopping trips and having a banana or yogurt for a snack. Today we had no bread so we decided to walk to Carulla's (ca-rú-zhah) for a few groceries. We picked up bread, mangoes, bananas, yogurt and were looking for something for a treat for Family Home Evening on Monday with the Torgerson's. In a moment of weakness I put a small jar of 'mermelada de mora' (blackberry jam) in my basket. My companion had already noticed this store has peanut butter (somewhat unusual for a little corner market). So I reasoned that if I could have blackberry jam, he could have peanut butter (one of his comfort foods).
So we bought a 16 oz. jar of Peter Pan for $13,950 pesos colombianos--about $8 US. The jam was only $6,590 p.c.--about $4 US. Our total groceries were $44,258--about $25 US. It has been interesting to get used to the exchage rate here. Today it was 1,757:1. Colombia has a floating currency so it changes from day to day. It changed in México too but was usually around 10:1. During the worst of the recession it was 15:1, that was when the Cemex (cement) plant in Hidalgo closed and many of our members lost their jobs.
We went to the CristoRey overlooking Cali this afternoon. Pictures posted soon.
The price for a PB and J sandwich... it probably wouldn't be a staple at our house anymore. :) Enjoy your tastes of home! How is the office? Are you getting used to things? Are the elders training you still, or have they transferred already?
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You can see from the pictures that we live in the "upper" level of town. Dad says they cater to people with a lot of money--hence imported PB. We are learning the office gradually, we are still in training.
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