Traveling the world trying to sell money that could better be used as a napkin
March 14th, 2006 by Sarin
Frickin’ small world
Let me tell you this story about the money I had left over from the Peace Corps. Now considering I lived in a rural area of Cape Verde during my stay, I accumulated a large (by 3rd world standards) sum of money. This was accomplished by moving into an established PC community and house, living with a roommate, being absolutely frugal on living in expenses, and my favorite, mooching off of the locals as much as possible. Right before my Christmas vacation in Sao Vicente and Santo Antao, I had more than $900 in my bank account. Pretty soon, we were looking at 3 zeroes, and I don’t ever usually have 3 zeroes in my lifetime. So, I spent my money at my Christmas vacation, blowing more than $300 for a really great time. After I decided to leave early, Peace Corps took the share of the remaining money that I haven’t used for the month of January which was around $350. I got some money to help me pay for expenses en route back to the states, and then I was off.
So that’s where the problem began. I was shipped back to the United States with $300 dollars of useless Cape Verdean Escudos. Only I wasn’t aware of it at the time. I should have known, when I was hanging out in Lisbon, Portugal, that I should have exchanged all my Cape Verdean Escudos to Euros. I only exchanged enough because of the horrible commission. Clearly once I got home, the 25 Euros I had remaining was a lot easier to exchange compared to $220 in Cape Verdean Escudos.
First, Citizens Bank wouldn’t take it. Then Bank of America wouldn’t take it. Then I called all the airports in my area and even they wouldn’t take it. American Express travel, no luck, other agencies, no luck. Basically Cape Verdean money was useless in this side of the world.
Setting the money aside, I started to get humorous and play a game with this useless currency. Since I would be traveling to the other side of the world and back in the next few months, I would try my luck exchanging my currency in these places. And it goes like this.
Boston, MA – called Logan airport over the phone and their agency doesn’t accept them. Even though Logan airport offers the only direct flight to Cape Verde in the country.
New York, NY – the capital of the world, but doesn’t recognize this currency from those islands off the coast of Africa.
Frankfurt, Germany – Hey why not. There are German tourists all over Santo Antao. However, no luck.
Singapore – best airport in the world still couldn’t fix the worst currency I was carrying.
Bangkok, Thailand – Sucky, sucky, dollah, dollah. Nope, no luck here.
Cambodia – Hey, I was trying to start a black market for currency. Unfortunately, this currency isn’t even worth wiping your ass with. They still prefer their hand.
What the frick was I supposed to do now. I traveled with this money through 4 continents in a matter of 2 months and NOBODY WANTS IT. So, eventually I ended up home. Still stuck with the thought that I could eventually be $220 richer. It was time to stop being creative and start getting logical. Clearly, the best option I could have done was drive around Brockton Mass with a speakerphone yelling “Ami n ten txeu dinero! (I have lots of money!). But I’m not that crazy as of yet. Out of some weird coincidence, I found myself thumbing through my Cape Verde travel guide and found all the stateside contacts listed. Miraculously I found a travel agency listed that was in East Providence. My backyard. I gave them a call, and they said they would gladly accept my currency since there are many tourists wanting to go to Cape Verde in that area.
Yes. Finally. So I hopped on my car and drove down to Lil’ Portugal and exchanged some money at a low commission and I was finally rich. All that work and the answer I was looking for was right around the corner.
Moral of the story? The world is frickin small. Sometimes, all you have to do is look around the corner. But you tell that to me, and I tell you right back, sometimes the trip is so much better than the destination.
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