Ten Dollars, Three Options, and the Truth About Beer

In these swirling economic times, with the collapse of imaginary money and thieves who will steal your plumbing, everyone loves-hates to talk about money. But love on, because I am about to unveil the price of beer.

Beer. International currency and multi-lingual translator. An affordable and reliable friend.

Our new black president has been good for the drink. Dollars up, Euros down. Today for one US dollar you can go to a "house of change" and come away with 620 pesos. On the last day of Bush it was 598. And at the airport in Toronto the Canadians were trying to sell us on 412. Canadians, ooughff!

But back to South America and the important topic of beer... So lets say you go down to your local house of change with a ten dollar bill, because tens are mathematically easy, and you walk away with 6,200 pesos and a powerful thirst for Escudo, "the beer of the Chilean people", says Mark.

Now you have a few options.

Option one. You go to a trendy little bar on plaza nuñoa in Santiago, like "El Amor Nunca Muere" and you sit at a little candle lit sidewalk table with uncomfortable chairs, surrounded by beautiful people whoes cigarette smoke chases twirling street drummers and you order five regular sized bottles of beer and leave a really shitty tip.

But better to order two beers, leave a good tip, and then go to the cafe next door and get an avocado, green bean, cheese, egg and hearts of palm sandwich.

Option two. You go to a lovely and typically chaotic south american market piled high with vegetables and stray cats in Valparaíso, a crass and liberal port city. A good place to drink beer because all the Chilean wheat that fueled the California gold rush passed through here. You are in good company in a culture embedded in grain.

Here you sit at a wide plastic table in wide plastic chairs and your budget will allow for four liter sized beers and a decent tip. That is more than a gallon of beer, so the author recommends, and I am sure the Lonely Planet would agree, you chose one liter of beer, a few cheese and shrimp empañadas and a big bowl of mixed shellfish soup served with bread, a dinner plate of cut lemons and a not so spicy spicy garlic parsley sauce. (Feeds two)

Option Three: Any grocery store will do. You go in with your 6,200 pesos and walk out with three six packs and a half pound of pichanga (mixed pickled vegetables, olives, ham and cheese).

And the words for hangover: andar con caña.

-Z