On the price of things

“I live in the most expensive city of the world”. Many different people, living in many different cities, often share this same thought. As I found out I was coming to Luanda, I naturally inquired on living costs, only to find out I was moving out of the UK and into an expensive place. Just how expensive is it? Well, according to some, it is the most expensive of all (click here and scroll down to the table), which is quite amazing, for a country in the 17th lowest rank of the UN human development index. More challenging than the amazing prices people ask for things over here, is however the inexistence of some other things you often take for granted. Much shopping is facilitated when you have a car, though. Not only because it allows you to go to that far away supermarket which has the toothbrush you’ve been wanting to buy for 2 weeks, but mostly because of the kids who go from car to car on the endless car jams, selling everything from cigarettes, bread and water (varying between the bottled and plastic bag versions) to irons, glass tables and small trees. It´s the informal economy filling in the gaps.