A Dollar a Day

(from Domingo 5/16/10)

...Or about 35 pesos, was our daily payment as Peace Corps Trainees. And perhaps it goes without saying that my new volunteer income would never support my old lifestyle, but just for fun - let’s try it out. Point in case: my typical morning commute into the city for work back home.

First off, even if $3.15 chai lattes existed here, it would take me just over 3 days of volunteer pay (about $110 RD) to buy just one. Also on my new budget, to afford to park for one day at an MBTA lot, it would take me nearly a week ($195.50 RD) of saving my pesos. And a single ride on the T to my stop would only cost me one and a half day’s pay (that’s $62 RD)... At this point in the scenario, it’s 8:00 am, I’ve arrived at work, and I’ve already spent nearly 370 pesos - over 10x my daily 35 Peace Corps peso allowance...(this was a lot of math), and I didn’t even factor in the price of gas.

So, living off a dollar a day doesn’t really work in the States, and to be honest I don’t think it works so well anywhere else either. But part of being here is learning to be creative, so here’s a mini-list of what one can buy here for 35 pesos or less:

Macita (awesome tasting cookie/bread thing at any colmado) - 5 pesos

Guineo (banana) - 5 pesos

1 hour’s time at an internet cafe - 25 pesos

Tiny chocolates - 1 peso each

Carro publico ride from my house to training center (Santo Domingo) - 20 pesos

Gua-gua ride from my barrio into capital - 25 pesos

Ice cream (on a stick) - 15 pesos

Moto ride - 15 pesos

Empanada - 25 pesos

Developing 1 photo - 20 pesos

Hair gel - 25 pesos (Also, did you know that hair spray does not exist here?).

Mini ice creams - 25 pesos

I guess my priorities are pretty plain...snacks. :-) My sister will not be surprised.

Clearly nothing on that list is a necessity, and most of the time I just save my money anyway. I used to consider myself pretty frugal, but here I’m on a whole new level of cheap. I talk myself out of buying most things, (except food, apparently). I avoid taking carros or gua-guas unless its too far to walk. I will go out of the way to colmados and internet cafes that have the lower prices...etc. It’s worth mentioning too that for the most part, locals do not overcharge. It’s a Dominican value to be honest, and cheaters and thieves are really, really disliked here. Of course, I’m sure being a white foreigner who speaks less than perfect Spanish, I have been unknowingly ripped off here and there - especially in taxi rides.

This post is not meant to be a complaint - moreso just my new perspective on attempting to make 35 pesos last as long as possible. It is certainly not a lot of money, but I’d like to think that I’m learning to stretch a dollar pretty far in this country.

Smiley Pesos :-)

xo,

Emma