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1. Roughly the same
Nothing really.  Perhaps in an upcoming Tuesday Trivia we’ll have some other products that are the same so we’ll keep the category around for future use.

2.  More expensive in Mozambique
SpeedStick Deodorant is $7.75 and even finding it is near impossible.  We looked in every shop in Xai Xai and couldn’t find a stick of antiperspirant/deodorant save for this one store that carried a few Speed Sticks (not my choice back home but I’ll take what I can get if this is the only option).  They have spray deodorants which in my humble opinion do about as much as carrying around a can of Lysol and spraying it at people – in other words, it doesn’t help you in the sweating/smelling category at all, just tries to “mask” your smell.  But in this climate I need deodorant so we bought the Speed Stick.  We’ve found its also hard to find it in Swaziland and South Africa – I guess the spray stuff is definitely the norm.
Lay’s Potato Chips are $2.53.  This is the gas station size that was 99 cents but I think my dad (who works for Lay’s) says that size recently went up in price to $1.19 or something like that but still that’s half the price of what it costs in Mozambique.  You cannot buy anything bigger than the gas-station size here and while at first we thought that was a bad thing we realize now that it’s a good thing – with such high humidity you can’t keep chips from going stale with a “chip clip” on the bag – the only solution is to eat the whole bag at once when its opened.  By the way, they have unique flavors of Lay’s -
A six-pack of Coca-Cola is $4.00.  But this one is kind of the trick question of the bunch because a single can is only 67 cents.  The six pack is more expensive than the States but the single can is less expensive (I think cans of coke now sell at 75 cents in vending machines).  The point to realize here is buying in bulk for a cheaper price doesn’t really exist in Mozambique.  Sure you can buy the bigger bag of flour but it is the same price as buying 4 smaller bags of flour that equal the same amount as the larger – you can buy the bigger bag of rice, but its the same price as buying 4 smaller bags that equal the amount of the larger – you can buy a 24 pack of Coca-Cola but it would be the same price as buying 24 individual cans.  While at first this seemed confusing and even counter-intuitive I realized that I think like an American – buy in bulk, store in bulk, plan way ahead, and do a good bit of what my friend Jim Vermilya calls “spaving” (spending to save – ie: buying lots of what you don’t really need simply because its a better price).  Well in a developing world country there aren’t any of these values – when you’re thinking only about the next meal and perhaps the next day, you’re not thinking of two days or a week down the road at all – so buying in bulk doesn’t make a lot of sense.
1 Liter of Boxed/Shelf Milk is $2.10.  Fairly inexpensive in our book but still more pricey than milk in the States as you’d get 4 times more milk in our gallon jugs at the supermarket.  However this isn’t powdered milk (it’s actual “liquid” milk) and Isaac loves it (we’ve heard of some children who don’t like the “shelf milk” because the process to allow it to keep on the shelf for so long means heating the milk to an extremely high temperature and the taste can be a bit different – but Isaac may even like this milk more than the milk in the States).

3. Less expensive in Mozambique
Johnson and Johnson Baby Shampoo is only $1.06.  We were shocked thinking we’d either not be able to find baby shampoo here or have to pay too much so were prepared to use our own shampoo on Isaac and then we actually looked at the price.
NesCafe Instant Decaf Coffee is $5.93 and I think in the States its usually around $8.00 give or take for the same size.  As you’re probably already aware, coffee here is instant coffee – there aren’t a lot of places to buy ground coffee for a coffeepot.  But Lyndy and I both like the Nescafe instant coffee you can get here – Lyndy used to always have to have cream in her coffee in the States but likes this kind black with no cream or sugar.

4.  Can’t even find in Mozambique
Index cards.  We looked all over and thought about bringing more ourselves (for flash cards for learning languages) but thought they’d be easy to come by.  We ended finding some in Swaziland after we were told it would be difficult to even find them there – but we did find them for $3.15 – so more expensive than the States and not even in Mozambique.
Storebrand Diapers are $18.50 which is close to what you’d pay in the States but you can’t buy the off-brand in Mozambique as Pick-N-Pay the store that sells them only exists in Swaziland and South Africa.  You can buy Huggies and Pampers here in Mozambique (depending if they have any in stock and what kind) but they are somewhere around $25 or more (for 45 or so diapers) and we found the off-brand kind from South Africa worked better anyways so we stocked up.  Pray for us as we’ll begin the potty-training next month so we won’t have to be buying many more diapers – with God’s help.