For tourists with dollars, a drink costs as little as 25¢ and a five-course dinner only 80¢. American cigarettes come to 11¢ a package, Argentine steak 25¢ a lb., a taxi ride across town 10¢, a shoe shine 1½¢. Outside the capital, tourists can live in a first-class hotel for $1.50 a day, with meals.
This low-cost luxury flowed from no horn of plenty. It resulted from an Alice-in-Wonderland exchange situation. The official exchange rate is 6.5 Peruvian soles for one U.S. dollar. But because there are not enough dollars at this rate to meet the need, the visitor can...
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