It seems the dollar is facing extinction here in the Galapagos. If you buy something at a store they will leave you alone in the store and run to the business next door to ask if they have change. If the item is six dollars and you try to pay for it with a ten dollar bill they will ask for a dollar so they can give you a five dollar bill instead of giving you four one dollar bills. If you ask a restaurant to crack a five dollar bill so you can leave a tip, and I’m serious about this, they would prefer not to have a tip.
I asked a business owner if there was a problem with counterfeiting because all change seemed to come as one dollar coins but then you have to wonder who would be crazy enough to be counterfeiting one dollar bills. She said that perhaps in Ecuador counterfeiting might be a problem but as a business owner the local banks won’t even give her change for a twenty dollar bill in ones.
The only thing I can think of is that the water taxi drivers are manipulating the one dollar bill market. Go from your boat to shore it is one dollar and you better have the right change because they aren’t cracking a five dollar bill even though everyone is paying them one dollar coins or bills. Take a ferry from the shore to your boat and the same rules apply.
So it must be they’re the guys! They are the ones who are trying to corner the one dollar market. But to what end?
Sailing for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society
Chris Gourley
SnapShot