Ok, this is it, my mind is made up, I am not going to change it – I am giving up my addiction to the US dollar. From now I will only deal with the Costa Rican Colon.

Why, you ask?

The Costa Rican currency has proven itself to be stable and durable. It is not affected by any outside forces, like the threat of a war. It has also proven to be strong against the greenback.

But most of all I am just tired of the ups and downs of the dollar exchange. One day it is this, the next day it is that, sometimes lower, sometimes higher, but always never the same.

Today, for instance is payday in Costa Rica. And like it did two weeks ago, and two weeks before that and two weeks before that, and so on, the dollar exchange dropped, meaning it takes more of my hard earned dollars to pay my employees and in the coming days to pay my utilities.

You see most of my income comes from US dollars, then converted to Colones to pay for, besides the foregoing, groceries, gas, etc.

So, from today on I will insist on being paid in Colones.

Sorry, the only currency that works for me is the Colon, the “rojo” (the ¢1.000 colones), the “tucan” (the ¢5.000 colones) and the rest of the notes and coins. In fact I am pretty excited to see the new ¢20.000 notes so I won’t have to carry a big wad of bills for a little amount.

This also means that those who want to pay me have to make the trip to the bank to get colones. And it will be up to them to worry about the daily fluctuations in the exchange rate as my colones will always be worth the same, like when I present a us$20 bill at the supermarket cash and the process of figuring what the day’s exchange rate.

No, my ¢10.000 colones will always be ¢10.000 colones. No less. No more.

So, for all of you who owe me money, take note, I will not accept your dollars!