Twice last week we tried to use our two 1000-peso bills (each worth about $75), once at a gas station and again at Wal-Mart, and both times they refused to take them. At Wal-Mart we had actually spent more than that, so we thought they should take it. All we could figure was that perhaps they had a policy prohibiting taking bigger bills, like some stores do in the U.S. We figured we’d eventually go to a bank and get them changed. Later, we were talking to the woman who runs the RV Park in La Paz where we’re staying, and she was surprised we’d had this problem and asked to see the bill.
We were embarrassed to find we’d not looked at the bills sufficiently closely. It turns out we were trying to pass off a 1000 Costa Rican Colones, which is worth a whopping $1.75! It seems that when we got our pesos from the Gig Harbor Bank of American branch before we left home, they gave us these two Colones bills(instead of pesos) as part of the package. We’re a little grumpy about this now, but expect to be majorly grumpy if and when they refuse to make it right when we talk with them on our return home. Maybe we’ll be pleasantly surprised, but we expect they’ll say: “We don’t know that we gave you those bills, maybe you’ve mixed them up”; in other words, “you’re lying to us”. So next time you’re traveling out of the country and order some foreign currency in advance, here is one more thing to think about as they’re counting our all that strange-looking money for you!
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