"HOW MUCH FREAKING MONEY IS THIS?" How to Convert Costa Rican Colones to Dollares The Easy Way

So!

I'm about to teach you the best hack in the history of all of the best hacks, at least when it comes to converting currency and at least when it applies to the country of Costa Rica and at least when you are DISGUSTINGLY BAD AT MATH LIKE THE REST OF US—this will help your brain to not actually explode, which is a nice perk for all of us.

When you get here, you're going to be confused at first. You're going to be all, "Wait, why does a banana cost one-hundred thousand dollars?!" You're going to see all of this colorful Monopoly money, in all of these big numbers, and to top it off, there will be toucans on the money! And monkeys! And sloths! And all the things that don't go on money! (Says the girl whose country puts human cadaver heads on theirs.) But real talk: buying a stick of gum is going to equal thirteen minutes at the cash register while you pull up your phone, trying to look nonchalant but actually Googling, "HOW MUCH FUCKING MONEY IS THIS?!" ("Fucking" optional.)

Good news, Fast Eddie: there's a quick shorthand you can use to get a rough approximation of how much money you're spending in U.S. dollars—even if the exchange rate fluctuates. You ready for this wizardry? THE TRICK TO ALL THAT IS LIFE IS…

…SLASHING THE ZEROS AND DOUBLING THE NUMBER BEFORE THE COMMA.

If the cashier tells you that your box of condoms and a bottle of booze costs 10,000 colones...drop the zeros after the comma to get 10...then double that to get 20. And there you have it: 10,000 colones is approximately twenty U.S. dollars.
If your dinner out at the restaurant inside an old airplane costs 60,000 colones, drop the zeros to get 60—and then double the number before the comma (60) to get a rough approximation of $120.

And if a banana actually costs 100,000 colones? Don't do the math: run.

The same, of course, applies to the reverse: if you want to take a hundred bucks out of an ATM in colones, divide a hundred in half to get 50, and then add three zeros for a grand total of 50,000 colones. ISN'T THIS THE BEST AND DON'T YOU LOVE SLASH HATE THIS GAME?