Money $ Money

Today I was in the market making some last minute purchases before heading back to Canada. I was asking a shopkeeper what he thought about the new money. He just sighed and said, "We live in a country of great wonders and surprises. We have to learn to accept the changes and not be too surprised by them."

So here is what happened a couple of weeks ago. Without any warning in the news, the bank issued a new 10 and 20 Cordoba bill. This set a slight ray of panic among the residents of Nicaragua particularly among those who have small shops along the street or in the market. People were treating the new money like a hot potato trying to get rid of it as fast as they got it. Many people were doubtful because the new bill only has one signature when bills, according to international code, are suppose to have two. Also people didn't really believe it was any more valuable than Monopoly money. A couple weeks after the new 10 and 20 Cordoba bill came out we started seeing new 100 and 200 Cordoba bills as well. They all have different sizes and are plastic coated. They look pretty cool, I must say. I took a picture of our three options for 10 Cordoba as of today. The top one is the old 10 Cordoba bill. I actually had to do a little asking around for this one, but it wasn't too hard to find. The coin is also 10 Cordobas and it was issued less than a year ago to replace the old bills. It must have been a trial because they clearly didn't circulate enough of them. The last bill is the new one that just came out.