Money from Panama

[canyonwalker]

I've remarked before that I take home a small amount of money as a souvenir when traveling in other countries. It's the easiest memento to buy.... I don't even have to buy anything! Bringing home foreign currency from Panama late last month was complicated a bit, though, by the fact there isn't much of it. Panama's domestic currency, the Balboa, is pegged to the US Dollar, and dollars are accepted as official currency. Panama doesn't even print paper currency for the Balboa, just coins in small denominations.



Here's what I came home with. It's B/3.70. The coins at the top are dollar 1 Balboa coins. There's also a half-Balboa and two 0.10 coins. The latter get mixed freely with US dimes in cash drawers. And cash drawers also contain plenty of US quarters. I don't think a Balboa quarter exists. I didn't see one, anyway. And the coin-op laundry machine we used one night took only US quarters.

The 1 Balboa coins have different designs on them. The one in the upper left is the first I got. I was wondering, "Why does this look like a Swiss coin?" It's from 2017 and commemorates the centennial of the Red Cross (la Cruz Roja) in Panama.