Financial Considerations
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Food and meals are expensive in restaurants:
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Bottled water costs $1 in the boutiques, and up to $3 in hotels and restaurants. For souvenirs and gifts, be informed that you will need to bargain the prices down with sellers to about 1/2 to 1/3 of the original asking price. Imported products and items are not cheap. Gasoline is very expensive. A rental car costs $130 - $150 per day.
For your pocket money, Mali Trips recommends that you send money in your name to Mali through Money Gram, Western Union, or a Malian transaction company in New York called MTT. Call us for their number. They offer a better exchange rate and transaction fee than the fees and currency rate from a bank. Traveler's checks and credit cards will cost you a lot for transactions and money conversion.
