I was out with a friend the other day and he informed me that we would be stopping to fill up the gas tank. While the attendant went to work, I saw that my friend had a 5BsF (approx. 0.92USD) bill on his lap. I looked at him, incredulous, and asked if he was planning on filling up the whole tank with that (it was only half-empty). He looked down at the bill and said "Yeah, I didn't have anything smaller to pay with!" My mouth still agape, I asked how much a tank was. He laughed and said gas was pretty much free. Another friend had mentioned once that when the government raised the price of gas by a minuscule amount, there were huge protests and they were forced to lower the price back down.
So the final cost of a 28.38 liter, or 7.5 gallon, fill-up was 2,75BsF, or appoximately 0.50USD. Geez, almost broke the bank! Must be why a metro ride costs 0,45BsF (0.08USD).
To give you an idea of what things cost here, an arepa (see previous posts) is around 12BsF, a newspaper 1-1,50BsF, a liter of milk around 5-6BsF, 10-15BsF for a loaf of bread... a tank of gas, around 5.50BsF, or about $1. Crazy!The price of gas, while seemingly wonderful for those of us who pay an arm and a leg to fill up the tank in the US and Europe, is not very positive in my opinion. While the excess of cars on the road also has to do with a lack of roads, I strongly believe that if gas were more expensive, there wouldn't be as many cars on the road. Parking at the mall or anywhere in town is nearly impossible; you can spend a half hour just looking for a spot in the parking deck! Plus, the pollution is intense in the city from the exhaust (no E-Check here!). Most people don't think twice about taking several cars when a group of friends go out and think it's strange that I'm always trying to figure out a way to carpool (it's ingrained into me). I have to catch myself when I consider offering gas money. It's almost an insult. :-P
Just another random observation from the place where anything can happen!
