15,000 Kwacha for coffee . . .

. . . Oh, yeah, thanks. One of the fun parts of travelling is negotiating the different currencies and exchange rates. It only becomes a challenge if you're tired or distracted or are on a long trip passing through several different countries. One time I almost paid $200 for a Christmas decoration in Budapest because I lost sight of the exchange rate of the forint (I had momentarily and erroneously calculated it out as $20, which was more than I wanted to pay but not insane). The exchange rate between the Zambian kwacha to the dollar is around 5000 kwacha to the dollar, which is easy to calculate but a little off-setting. So, when I slept through breakfast this morning I came down to grab a cup of coffee (the ubiquitous Nescafe) and read the Times of Zambia. The pot of coffee came to 15.000 kwacha, which is $3 and about what you'd think for a nicer hotel - same with the 50,000 kwacha cheeseburger (with egg on top - similar to the $30 cheeseburger I had last year in Dubai, and harkening back to the egg burger I popularized in college) I had for lunch today at the Jacaranda Restaurant here at the hotel.