Peso blues

Eek! (from www.xe.com)


The Mexican peso has been at record lows against the dollar recently, according to the News. Many factors, such as the world economic crisis, unemployment, imports and exports to the U.S. and inflation affect the exchange rate.

“The Mexican currency has weakened 32 percent over the past six months, the biggest decline among the world's major currencies,” the News says.

I’m working and getting paid in pesos, but I pay my credit cards, student loans and car in dollars, so I cringe a little whenever I see the peso becoming worth less and less. Almost every bank posts the exchange rate in big, arbitrary digits on their windows, and since I came here in June those numbers have gotten higher and higher. Back in August you could buy a dollar with 9.5 pesos, but now it takes about 15.5. In other words, I’d have to work 88 hours more per month to earn what I made back in August. Ouch.

Changing pesos makes no cents

I think pretty soon I’ll have written about enough annoyances to put together a list of the 10-most irritating things about Mexico.

Here’s another: Nobody has change in this country. I was in line at a bank yesterday and THREE people in a row asked for change. The teller refused to give any of them change. In a bank! Luckily, I didn’t need change. One time I took 2,000 pesos (about $200) and switched them for 20-peso bills (about $2) at a bank. The teller turned white and quickly glanced around to make sure her boss wasn’t watching, but for those two weeks I didn’t have to bother with vendors telling me, in their nasally chilango accent,

“Pos no tengo cambio joveeen” (I don’t have change, young man [but in a nasally, exaggerated, sing-songy accent]).

I frequently diss them in my posts, and some times they deserve it (but I have a story about a good one which I will post shortly) but taxistas are among the worst offenders. Unlike vendors, who finally give in and grudgingly give you cambio, even if it´s their last bit, taxistas will downright take advantage.

“No tienes cambio brother?”

“No, neta no lo tengo (No, I really don’t have any)”

“….Utz pues, solo te puedo dar cinco pesooos (ootz, well, I can only give you five pesooos),”

You hand your money over reluctantly and you get out of the taxi four pesos poorer than you should be.

Carry change. Lots.

In that same vein, even stores rip you off. Many prices in supermarkets are listed in one-hundredths of a cent, while the lowest coin in Mexico is a ten-cent dime (.007 dollars). So if you buy a kilo of apples for 22.46 pesos, you’ll get charged 22.5 pesos. Those .04 pesos, which are worthless, add up, and multiplied by the number of things sold, well…

That’s like if U.S. vendors started listing their products at $3.238, for example. While the shopper would think it would cost $3.23, the register would ring it up as $3.24.

Votes, pesos and cacti

One of the great things about Mexico (among many) is the variety of fruits and vegetables. It´s guayaba season right now and Wednesday I got a kilo of the small, green bittersweet fruits for about 5 pesos. It´s also nopal (cactus), carrot, apple, avocado, orange (as always), tangerine and onion season, among others. Unfortunately, when you eat imported fruits and veggies in Minnesota, most of the time they taste bland, with little texture and crispness. Apart from that, they´re probably genetically modified. When I was a freshman, I was in the cafeteria with a buddy from Kenya and he was complaining that the skin on the orange he was eating was about an inch thick. "It´s probably genetically modified," he said.

Speaking of modified -- holy crap, the peso hit 14.30 to the dollar on Wednesday!!! The global markets taking a hit from the US´ sinking economy. Just last month, the peso was at a multi-year high against the dollar -- 9.50. at this moment its´13.05 to the dollar. To give an idea -- I pay 2,500 pesos per month for rent. I paid the equivalent of $263 greenies last month, as opposed to $175 this past Wednesday, when my rent was due. Of course, I get paid in pesos, so it doesn´t matter as long as the rent is the same. I suppose a lower value of peso is good for gringos converting dollars into pesos. But I doubt it will be for long, as inflation will probably catch up and the price of everything will rise.

Anyway, I got my ballot E-MAILED to me the other day. How cool is that? You don´t even have to leave home to vote, at least in Minnesota. Each state is different, but you can register and request an absentee ballot with little reason other than "I will be away on election day" and voilá, print, vote and mail (postage paid). I think Minnesota is one of only four states that pays your postage.