Dirty money

The Ethiopian currency is the birr, valued at 12.5 birr per USD. Erica and I were dismayed when we first exchanged our crisp dollar bills for the limp, crumbling, dirt colored birr notes. Seriously, it looks like every bill has passed through every hand in Ethiopia. We have, from time to time, received bills that appear to be fresh off the presses, with under 10 creases and a discernible color....but this is a definite exception to the norm. I think we've gone through an entire container of hand sanitizer just for the post-money touching cleaning ceremony.