Relative Prices

Today I tried yet another Bolivian restaurant in the Metro DC area. There are still plenty of others on my list to try. However, I usually have stuck with the familiars where I know I cannot go wrong. The one thing that I still cannot get used to is the relatively high prices one must pay for to get Bolivian food. Obviously this is the case because of the higher cost of living in the United States. Yet it still kills me to think that I can be paying 1/8 of the price of this food, often higher quality, back in Bolivia.

For example:

Salten~as: Bolivia $0.40 / United States $2.50
Silpancho: Bolivia $1.50 / United States $9.00
Sopa de Mani: Bolivia $0.50 / United States $ 5.00

So considering those prices here in the States, taking chances on new restaurants can sometimes be costly. Today's silpancho was regular, certainly not worth the 3 mile drive and nine bucks from my pocket. It looks like I will go back to my usual place for the forseeable future.