What it costs

Agraz per a 250 g punnet

Éxito · Conquistadores · The Andean blueberry, smaller and sharper than the ordinary one. 63.60 pesos a gram, almost the same as imported blueberries.

Gold pineapple per 500 g

Éxito · Conquistadores · Per kilo 6 200 pesos. The oro miel variety, the sweet yellow one.

Hass avocado per 500 g

Éxito · Conquistadores · Per kilo 11 500 pesos. Next to it the big Colombian avocado is sold by the piece.

Large avocado per a piece

Éxito · Conquistadores · The big Colombian avocado is priced by the piece, not by weight. One is enough guacamole for four.

Bacardí Añejo per a 700 ml bottle

Éxito · Conquistadores · 96 pesos a millilitre. The mandarin version comes to 54,900, or 78.43 a millilitre.

Bananas per 500 g

Éxito · Conquistadores · Per kilo 3 480 pesos. I bought 0.855 kg and the receipt says 2,975 pesos, so the label and the till agree.

Blueberries per a 125 g punnet

Éxito · Conquistadores · 62.09 pesos a gram, which works out at 62,080 a kilo. I bought a punnet and the receipt matches to the peso.

Potatoes (papa capira) per 500 g

Éxito · Conquistadores · Per kilo 4 420 pesos. Capira is the commonest Colombian variety, the red one.

Broccoli per 500 g

Éxito · Conquistadores · Per kilo 8 840 pesos. Sold as whole heads in film.

Margarita Onduladas crisps per a 190 g bag

Éxito · Conquistadores · Ridged, tomato flavour, 36.87 pesos a gram, the cheapest crisps on the shelf. Margarita is a Colombian brand and it is everywhere.

Natu Chips plantain crisps per a 105 g bag

Éxito · Conquistadores · 76.20 pesos a gram. Margarita potato crisps come to 36.87 a gram and Pringles to 127.83: plantain sits in the middle and tastes the best.

Bimbo sliced bread per a loaf

Éxito · Conquistadores · Sliced, the Bimbo brand. Six burger buns cost 9,380.

Grilling chorizo per a kilo

Éxito · Conquistadores · Chorizo parrillero, fresh rather than cured. Sold in whole coils and grilled, not sliced onto bread.

White onion per 500 g

Éxito · Conquistadores · Per kilo 5 160 pesos.

Red onion per 500 g

Éxito · Conquistadores · Per kilo 3 980 pesos, cheaper than the white one.

Courgette per 500 g

Éxito · Conquistadores · Per kilo 4 400 pesos. Called pepino zukini here.

Figs (brevas) per 500 g

Éxito · Conquistadores · Per kilo 18 760 pesos. Cooked in sugar and eaten with fresh cheese, the traditional Antioquian dessert.

Granadilla per 500 g

Éxito · Conquistadores · Per kilo 15 200 pesos. The sweet cousin of passion fruit: hard orange shell, jelly seeds inside, eaten with a spoon.

Fit Cook granola per a 300 g bag

Éxito · Conquistadores · Made from seeds, grain free. 155.17 pesos a gram, the priciest thing by weight I bought that day.

Guanábana per 500 g

Éxito · Conquistadores · Per kilo 9 660 pesos. The big green spiky fruit, soursop in English. It goes into juice and ice cream.

Havana Club Especial per a 700 ml bottle

Éxito · Conquistadores · Cuban rum, 119.58 pesos a millilitre. Nicaraguan Flor de Caña Gran Reserva 7 costs 96,800.

Heineken, six bottles per a pack of six 330 ml bottles

Éxito · Conquistadores · 4,025 pesos a bottle, twelve percent more than a local Poker from the fridge. Imports show here on everything, beer included.

Beef grilling steak per a kilo

Éxito · Conquistadores · Tabla, a steak for the pan or the grill. Beef is the priciest meat here: more than double the price of chicken legs.

Beef solomo per a kilo

Éxito · Conquistadores · Solomo extranjero, roughly sirloin. The most expensive item at the counter.

Seedless white grapes per 500 g

Éxito · Conquistadores · Per kilo 27 000 pesos. Imported, and it shows: nearly five times the price of local fruit.

Pears per an 800 g pack

Éxito · Conquistadores · 12.63 pesos a gram. Local bojacense pears loose work out at 10,620 a kilo.

Pink Lady apples per a 1 kg net

Éxito · Conquistadores · A one kilo net of mixed apples costs 16,780, half as much again.

Green apples per 500 g

Éxito · Conquistadores · Per kilo 14 900 pesos. Apples are imported fruit here and cost more than mango.

Jack Daniel's Tennessee Honey per a 700 ml bottle

Éxito · Conquistadores · 192.43 pesos a millilitre, nearly twice the local rum. Imported spirits are taxed hard in Colombia: the Apple and Fire versions cost 134,600.

Dejamu Greek yoghurt per a 420 ml tub

Éxito · Conquistadores · Plain, unsweetened. The collagen version costs 19,850 for 422 ml, a third more for the same amount.

San Martín kefir per a 400 ml bottle

Éxito · Conquistadores · 39.76 pesos a millilitre.

Heinz ketchup per a 567 g bottle

Éxito · Conquistadores · 39.60 pesos a gram.

Kinder Joy per one 20 g egg

Éxito · Conquistadores · 410 pesos a gram. The most expensive food in the whole shop by weight.

Coconut per 500 g

Éxito · Conquistadores · Per kilo 7 500 pesos.

Sweetcorn per 500 g

Éxito · Conquistadores · Per kilo 12 860 pesos. Sold on the cob, for grilling and for soup.

Chicken fillet per a kilo

Éxito · Conquistadores · Boneless, skinless breast. The most expensive part of the bird.

Chicken breast per a kilo

Éxito · Conquistadores · Whole breast with skin, weighed at the counter. The boneless fillet costs 31,070 a kilo, a quarter more.

Chicken legs per a kilo

Éxito · Conquistadores · The cheapest meat in the shop. Lower thighs without the parson's nose cost 18,800 a kilo, skinned ones 19,300.

Juan Valdez organic coffee per a 1 kg bag

Éxito · Conquistadores · Whole bean, one kilo bag, 145.50 pesos a gram. The dearest coffee on the shelf and the best value within the brand: the same thing in a 454 g bag works out at 179 a gram.

La Bastilla ground coffee per a 390 g pack

Éxito · Conquistadores · The ordinary supermarket coffee, 50.77 pesos a gram. This is what most people drink, not specialty.

Oma whole bean coffee per a 300 g bag

Éxito · Conquistadores · 154.17 pesos a gram. On offer at 37,000, a 20 percent cut. Promotional labels here hang over the regular one and change every week.

Pergamino Lomaverde coffee per a 360 g bag

Éxito · Conquistadores · This is the one I bought. A Medellín roaster, single farm, 114.72 pesos a gram. Specialty coffee in the country where coffee grows costs what ordinary coffee costs in Europe.

Doria lasagne per a 400 g pack

Éxito · Conquistadores · Pre cooked sheets, 31.76 pesos a gram. The half pack works out at 34.80 a gram.

Tahiti lime per 500 g

Éxito · Conquistadores · Per kilo 5 300 pesos. A one kilo net costs 5,300, which is exactly the same.

Kraft mayonnaise per a 443 ml pack

Éxito · Conquistadores · 53.96 pesos a millilitre. The smaller 354 ml pack costs 22,350, or 63.14 a millilitre: you pay extra for buying less.

Mamey per 500 g

Éxito · Conquistadores · Per kilo 5 760 pesos.

Mandarins per 500 g

Éxito · Conquistadores · Per kilo 8 560 pesos. Imported ones in a one kilo net cost 11,240.

Almonds per a 100 g bag

Éxito · Conquistadores · 146 pesos a gram. Brazil nuts come to 144 a gram, practically the same.

Mango per 500 g

Éxito · Conquistadores · Per kilo 11 500 pesos. In the supermarket. On the street and at the market it is considerably cheaper.

Rama margarine per a 500 g tub

Éxito · Conquistadores · 30.40 pesos a gram. The smaller 220 g tub works out at 23 pesos a gram.

Honey per a 500 g jar

Éxito · Conquistadores · The cheapest on the shelf, from Huila, 16.60 pesos a gram. Branded honey runs 58 to 60 pesos a gram, nearly four times as much.

Melon per 500 g

Éxito · Conquistadores · Per kilo 3 500 pesos.

Watermelon per 500 g

Éxito · Conquistadores · Per kilo 2 900 pesos, the cheapest fruit in the shop. Sold whole or cut open.

Minced beef per a kilo

Éxito · Conquistadores · Huevo de aldana, minced from one specific muscle. Mincing does not cut the price here: it costs almost as much as a steak.

Cape gooseberry (uchuva) per a 400 g punnet

Éxito · Conquistadores · Sold husked. 13.76 pesos a gram. Colombia is the world's biggest exporter, so at home it is cheap.

Carrots per 500 g

Éxito · Conquistadores · Per kilo 2 600 pesos. The cheapest vegetable on the shelf.

Colanta butter per a 250 g block

Éxito · Conquistadores · Unsalted, from the Antioquian cooperative Colanta. 61.80 pesos a gram, twice the margarine next to it.

Nescafé Tradición per a 170 g jar

Éxito · Conquistadores · Instant. 181.77 pesos a gram, dearer than whole bean specialty coffee from a Medellín roaster.

Old Parr 12 per a 750 ml bottle

Éxito · Conquistadores · Scotch, 193.47 pesos a millilitre. The one litre bottle costs 196,900, or 196.90 a millilitre: the bigger size is not cheaper here. Old Parr is a status whisky in Colombia, given as a gift.

Extra virgin olive oil per a 500 ml bottle

Éxito · Conquistadores · The Frescampo own brand, Spanish oil, 33.90 pesos a millilitre. Branded Borges in the same size costs 32,700, double.

Gluten free oats per a 500 g bag

Éxito · Conquistadores · 16.63 pesos a gram. Next to it granola sits at 155 pesos a gram, nearly ten times as much for the same base ingredient with honey.

Bell pepper per 500 g

Éxito · Conquistadores · Per kilo 13 760 pesos. Sold loose from a crate, red and green at the same price.

Papaya per 500 g

Éxito · Conquistadores · Per kilo 4 740 pesos. The ordinary kind, not the small sweet one.

Poker beer per a 330 ml can

Éxito · Conquistadores · The cheapest Colombian beer in the fridge by the till, 10.88 pesos a millilitre. Águila is 3,670, Pilsen 3,840, Club Colombia 3,800 to 3,900. The gap between the cheapest and dearest Czech beer is wider than it is here.

Poker beer, pack of twelve per a pack of 12 cans

Éxito · Conquistadores · On offer down from 34,350, or 8.51 pesos a millilitre. That is 2,575 a can instead of 3,590: the pack is a third cheaper than a single from the fridge.

Canned beer per a can

Éxito · Conquistadores · On the receipt a liquor consumption tax of 504 pesos was added on top, so really 4,094.

Green plantain per 500 g

Éxito · Conquistadores · Per kilo 2 360 pesos. The base of Antioquian cooking: patacones, tajadas, soup. I bought two at 4,000 each.

Tangelo orange per 500 g

Éxito · Conquistadores · Per kilo 12 300 pesos. A one and a half kilo net costs 11,680, a third cheaper.

Raffaello per a 30 g pack

Éxito · Conquistadores · At the till. 201.67 pesos a gram.

Cherry tomatoes per 500 g

Éxito · Conquistadores · Per kilo 23 000 pesos, nearly four times the price of ordinary tomatoes.

Chonto tomatoes per 500 g

Éxito · Conquistadores · Per kilo 5 900 pesos. Chonto is the everyday cooking tomato, also called aliño here.

Cola & Pola refajo per a 330 ml can

Éxito · Conquistadores · Beer mixed with cola, a Colombian classic with lunch. Cheaper than the beer on its own.

Ron Medellín 8 años per a 750 ml bottle

Éxito · Conquistadores · The local rum, 35 percent, 106.67 pesos a millilitre. This is the bottle everyone here has at home, and it is named after the city.

Ron Medellín Dos Maderas 18 años per a 750 ml bottle

Éxito · Conquistadores · A commemorative edition for 105 years, aged in brandy and bourbon casks, in a wooden case, 800 barrels. 365.47 pesos a millilitre, three and a half times the ordinary Ron Medellín beside it.

Castellano risotto rice per a 500 g pack

Éxito · Conquistadores · 37.80 pesos a gram. The same brand's jasmine is 12,450 and its sushi rice 13,000: risotto rice is the priciest everyday rice here.

Curly lettuce per a 200 g bag

Éxito · Conquistadores · The hydroponic one in a 170 g box costs 3,440, twice as much for less lettuce. What you pay for is shelf life.

Mezclum baby salad mix per a box

Éxito · Conquistadores · A gourmet leaf mix with baby spinach. I bought it and it is on the receipt. The version with sunflower seeds next to it costs 15,940.

Dejamu skyr per a 375 ml tub

Éxito · Conquistadores · Full fat, unsweetened. 41.20 pesos a millilitre.

Sunflower oil per a 2 l bottle

Éxito · Conquistadores · 9.30 pesos a millilitre. A 900 ml bottle of another brand costs 19,050, or 21.17 a millilitre: twice as much for less than half.

Sprite per a 1.6 l bottle

Éxito · Conquistadores · 3.54 pesos a millilitre. Sweet fizzy drinks are the cheapest liquid here, cheaper than a litre of milk and far cheaper than water in a small bottle.

Don Julio Blanco tequila per a 700 ml bottle

Éxito · Conquistadores · The priciest shelf in the shop. The Añejo costs 291,300. The small 375 ml bottle comes to 129,900, a third more per millilitre.

Tree tomato per 500 g

Éxito · Conquistadores · Per kilo 13 800 pesos. A sour fruit that makes the most common juice served with lunch here.

Wheat tortillas per a pack of 8

Éxito · Conquistadores · Medium size, 240 g. Ten large burrito ones cost 14,500, which per gram is almost identical.

Tuna in water per a three pack of 240 g

Éxito · Conquistadores · Éxito's own brand, 57 pesos a gram. Zenú is 81.26 a gram and Éxito's own in oil 76.29: the own brand is a third cheaper.

De Cecco pasta per a 500 g pack

Éxito · Conquistadores · Imported from Italy, 29.70 pesos a gram. Nearly four times the local La Muñeca for the same weight.

Pork chop per a kilo

Éxito · Conquistadores · Cañón de cerdo, the loin cut. The same price as a whole roast from the same piece.

Pork leg per a kilo

Éxito · Conquistadores · Cut into slices, weighed at the counter.

Pork tenderloin per a 500 g pack

Éxito · Conquistadores · The Supercerdo brand, vacuum packed. That works out at 30,640 pesos a kilo.

Pork shoulder per a kilo

Éxito · Conquistadores · The cheapest pork at the counter. Papada, the jowl, goes lower still, to 15,480.

Pork belly per a kilo

Éxito · Conquistadores · Tocino carnudo, the meaty belly. Dearer than the chop, because it becomes chicharrón, without which no bandeja paisa exists here.

JP Chenet Merlot wine per a 750 ml bottle

Éxito · Conquistadores · The cheapest French wine on the shelf. Little goes below sixty thousand here, so a litre of drinkable wine costs about seven pounds.

Viña Tarapacá Reserva wine per a 750 ml bottle

Éxito · Conquistadores · Chilean cabernet sauvignon. Wine here is on a three for two offer almost permanently, so the real price is closer to 59,200. Colombia barely grows wine and all of it is imported.

Hindú black tea per a box of 25 bags

Éxito · Conquistadores · The commonest tea in Colombia, 40 g. Green tea in fifty bags costs 31,650, twice as much per gram.

Beetroot per 500 g

Éxito · Conquistadores · Per kilo 4 960 pesos.

D'Origenn 80 % Huila chocolate per a 50 g bar

Éxito · Conquistadores · Cacao from the Huila department, 404 pesos a gram, the priciest chocolate on the shelf. The seventy percent version costs 18,800. The wrapper shows an animal from that region, not a landscape.

Lök chocolate per a 70 g bar

Éxito · Conquistadores · Single origin Colombian cacao, 340.72 pesos a gram. It comes in sixty, sixty five and seventy five percent, and with stevia. The cacao grows a hundred kilometres away and the bar costs what it costs in Europe.

La Muñeca spaghetti per a 250 g pack

Éxito · Conquistadores · The cheapest pasta on the shelf, 8.37 pesos a gram. A 1.5 kg family pack with six shapes costs 11,600, or 7.74 a gram.

Plums per 500 g

Éxito · Conquistadores · Per kilo 11 640 pesos. Colombian, not imported.

Whole mushrooms per a 250 g box

Éxito · Conquistadores · 42.89 pesos a gram. I bought a smaller pack at 10,400. Sliced ones in a 500 g pack work out at 37 pesos a gram, a tenth cheaper.

Sliced mushrooms per a 500 g pack

Éxito · Conquistadores · 37 pesos a gram. Six portions, the Setas de Cuiva brand.

Oběd (polévka, hlavní chod, desert, pití)

Laureles

Arroz sofrito with prawns per a set lunch

La Casa del Alimento · La Casa del Alimento · Item number six on the set lunch menu. The price covers a starter, the main, dessert, a drink and coffee, so it cannot be compared with the price of a main course back home. A ten percent voluntary service charge was added to the bill, and paying by card carries a five percent surcharge.

Grilled tilapia per a set lunch

La Casa del Alimento · La Casa del Alimento · Item number seven on the set lunch menu, also with everything. Tilapia is a freshwater fish farmed all over Colombia and the commonest fish on a plate here.

Ginger lemonade per a glass

La Casa del Alimento · La Casa del Alimento · Ordered on top of the set lunch, which does include a drink, but this one is charged separately.

Croquetas de yuca per a portion of three

Provenza, El Poblado · El Poblado · A starter in a Provenza restaurant. The same thing costs a fraction in a local canteen; this is the tourist zone price.

Red wine per a glass

Provenza, El Poblado · El Poblado · Chilean wine in Provenza. The whole bill for three items came to 99,098 pesos, including a ten percent voluntary tip and eight percent consumption tax.

El Niño Sin Padre, Cervecería Torrealta, IPA, 5,5 %

Pergamino Café – Laureles

Pošta, 8.6 kg balík, 230 km

Medellín, Conquistadores · Conquistadores

Clorox bleach per a 3.8 l jug

Éxito · Conquistadores · Chlorine bleach. The rival Blancox in the same size costs 14,250.

Rexona deodorant per a 150 ml can

Éxito · Conquistadores · A twin pack of 300 ml costs 33,900, a quarter less per millilitre, and was on top of that discounted 25 percent.

Household rubber gloves per a pack of two pairs

Éxito · Conquistadores · Size 8. A single pair of the cheapest line costs 2,700, branded Eterna kitchen gloves run 6,620 to 11,750.

Gillette Fusion5 razor per one

Éxito · Conquistadores · The razor with one cartridge. Two replacement cartridges cost exactly what the whole razor costs, 38,450, and 26,915 on a 30 percent offer.

Washing up sponges per a pack of two

Éxito · Conquistadores · The Eterna brand, double sided. On a twenty percent offer at 5,440, plus a pay for two take four deal. A single sponge of another brand costs 1,620.

Bouquet of flowers per a bouquet

Éxito · Conquistadores · A large bouquet of chrysanthemums, gerberas and foliage, wrapped in cellophane, from the flower counter inside the supermarket. Colombia is the world's second largest exporter of cut flowers, and what shows is not the price so much as what you get for it: at home this would cost several times as much.

Bivien liquid soap per a 400 ml bottle

Éxito · Conquistadores · The AromaSense line, pomegranate and passion fruit. For hands and body.

Pampers nappies per a pack of 44

Éxito · Conquistadores · Baby Dry, stage 1, 1,725 pesos each. The local Winny brand comes to 1,165 each, a third cheaper.

Ariel washing powder per a 3.3 kg pack

Éxito · Conquistadores · 12.60 pesos a gram. A five kilo AKO costs 45,500 and a four kilo eco line 48,700, so the gap between brands here is smaller than the gap between sizes.

Bin bags per a pack of 30

Éxito · Conquistadores · White, 43 by 48 cm, bin sized. 147.34 pesos each. White is the colour for recyclables here, so the shop's choice is not accidental.

Industrial bin bags per a roll of 10

Éxito · Conquistadores · 65 by 100 cm, thicker, for restaurants and hotels. 2,000 pesos each, thirteen times the price of a small bin bag. This is the format anyone needs who puts waste out on the pavement to the collection timetable.

Ekono toilet paper per a pack of 12 rolls

Éxito · Conquistadores · Éxito's own brand, three ply, 396 metres. 37.38 pesos a metre, the cheapest on the shelf. The dearest, four ply Familia Expert, costs 115.39 a metre.

Oral-B toothbrushes per a pack of two

Éxito · Conquistadores · 13,550 pesos each. A single brush costs 11,950, a pack of three 37,450: the twin pack is the worst of the three options.

Colgate Luminous White toothpaste per a tube

Éxito · Conquistadores · Normally 25,350, on offer 19,762, a cut of 6,588. Plain Colgate Triple Acción meanwhile costs 6,550 for 75 ml and 4,585 on offer: the whitening line is three times the price.

Sensodyne toothpaste per a 90 g tube

Éxito · Conquistadores · Complete Protection+. The whitening line in 65 ml costs 36,350, that is 559 pesos a millilitre.

Listerine mouthwash per a 500 ml bottle

Éxito · Conquistadores · Cuidado Total, 67.10 pesos a millilitre.

Ajax floor cleaner per a 5 l jug

Éxito · Conquistadores · Bicarbonate, orange and lemon. 9.06 pesos a millilitre.

Head & Shoulders shampoo per a 375 ml bottle

Éxito · Conquistadores · 60.40 pesos a millilitre. The 800 ml bottle costs 40,700, or 62.82 a millilitre: the big pack is not cheaper here.

Herbal Essences shampoo per a 400 ml bottle

Éxito · Conquistadores · Pequi and avocado, the bio:renew line. Normally 36,900, on offer 29,520, a cut of 7,380. Bought on offer.

Sluneční brýle sajú

sajú · El Poblado