Coming from France where things are somewhat expensive, we find many everyday items quite cheap here. Locally made goods, wine, beer, groceries, and gasoline are often not far off being about half-price compared to what we pay in Euros. Partly this is because of taxation; the VAT is only 14%. We’ve been using our cheap Canadian dollars (keeping our Euros for France). The local currency, the rand, has taken a hit because of concerns over the sustainability of the infrastructure (there have been wide-spread power failures), and in the month we’ve been here has fallen over 12% against the dollar, making things even cheaper. At these prices I don’t think we can afford to go home!