ZIMBABWE :(

hahaha, we found out that the BBC called it a "non country" while we were gone.
if you can imagine what it would be like to travel to a country that is in entire economic collapse, you probably don't need to read this. but it's really something. some travelers go to places like this for the thrill of it; we were there because we planned to go through it and Mozambique to get to Malawi. after a few days of learning through and through that we cannot afford to eat if a loaf of bread is $2 and a little bottle of water goes for about the same. and we'd probably end up stuck in each town for a few days before we acquire the social networks necessary to find out when the next bus comes to the next town. and that it's impossible to walk five minutes without being hassled to purchase anything for anything. and it's not just the difficulty of traveling that would have been a pain in the ass, but finding food and accommodation, and a proper bank.

funny story
the actual exchange rate for the USD to the ZimDollar is about 1:100billion, and the rate increases exponencially. they dropped 14 zeroes before we got there, and 19 zeroes a few months before that.
the deal, though, is that all ATM's have a fixed rate of $Zim40,000 to the USD.
Our friend Mark used to run overland trucks from Nairobi to Capetown. standard trip, but back then they went through Zimbabwe - now they avoid it because it's too much of a hassle.
anyways, one of his buddies with the same job had a couple on one of his trips who wanted to check out zimbabwe. so the guy told them explicitly, "don't do anything while you're there. walk in, look around, and get out."
so these idiots go in, look around, and spot an ATM. now the max zim$ you can get out is 400,000. so they dropped USD1000 and got their pretty zim dollars.
and went to a restaurant. where they found out that their zim dollars weren't even worth one coca cola.
imagine how much their hearts sank. and there's nothing they could do about it. and there are tons of stories of idiot tourists who've done this. 1000pounds, couple hundred dollars.
if only someone would have told them that zimbabwe doesn't use zim dollars anymore --- they use USdollars.
idiots