Currency Exchange Can Cause Anxiety When Traveling Alone in Mexico
It’s takes awhile before you think in pesos.
Updated June, 2023
Currency cognitive dissonance
If you are new to Mexico, one of the most anxiety-provoking aspects at first is handling money. It doesn’t last long, but for me the discomfort was completely unexpected.
If your Spanish isn’t good, you may feel under pressure to move a transaction along and don't want to look like an idiot at the register. Mexicans usually are very patient, however it’s easy to feel self-conscious, which can lead to making math errors.
Simply knowing the exchange rate won’t completely the eliminate uncomfortable moments before you can take a deep breath, slow down and think calmly in front of sighing vendors, cashiers, and taxi-drivers. I didn’t anticipate is how the difference in the denominations (500 and 20 peso notes can both be blue) and the difference in how the bills and coins looked would throw me off.
You likely know that tipping in Mexico is 10%. You might have the proper tip in coins, but when was the last time you left a tip in coins at home? To this day I find myself wildly over-tipping because it still feels wrong in my heart to use coins even though my brain tells me it’s perfectly acceptable.
Anticipating cash needs
Mexico still has a cash culture. As Americans, we are less and less in touch with our money. You might, for example rush into a Mexican ATM thinking you’ll need, say, $100 dollars for dinners, another $60 dollars for that sight seeing tour, and $40 for incidentals. You round that up and withdraw $4,000 pesos based on 19 pesos per dollar.
You invariably run out of money too soon when you go out. Why? Because you tend to under calculate both your cash needs and what things will cost in Mexico. Things do tend to cost much less, but not always as much as anticipated. I often find myself bailing out friends who are visiting (as I myself was bailed out when I first arrived) who come up short. Always carry 500 pesos more than you think you could possibly need.
Mexico’s cash culture was a source of frequent, now amusing, past ATM fire drills during my first year. Over time I learned to anticipate my needs the same way one learns to anticipate indirect pronouns before the verb in Spanish.
I’m comfortable admitting all this now I have seen so many confused tourists at ATM machines. At times, ATM’s spit out smaller bills. I can see how they go a bit blank calculating on the spot how many pesos they’ll need and how much they really have in their hands when holding a stack of bills (just like I did).
When I used cash for major grocery shopping, it felt like what the Civil War South must have felt like after the war. I found myself handing over a pile of bills with "big" numbers on them; 100’s, 500’s, adding up to thousands of pesos! …..or $100 dollars actually, but it felt like so much more!
Don't be embarrassed if your math skills aren't what they used to be. Few people’s are, as I’ve seen at Walmarts, where expats usually shop, all over Mexico.
You’d be well-served to study the money as well as the exchange rate when preparing for your trip. The newer blue 500 peso note looks much like a 20 peso note. A new 20 peso coin looks very much like the old 10 peso coin. Only with experience will you know what 2,300 pesos really means in terms of value, and what you should pay, in pesos - which is different from knowing that it exchanges to $139 dollars.
Money and banking precautions
Your memory of common banking practices, pin numbers and login information can freeze up on you too. It’s a phenomenon several expats have confessed to me (You have to confess first, or get them drunk - otherwise they’ll never admit it). Do have them written down and secured safely.
Like the U.S., ATM’s in Mexico have a cash limit, about $400. The amount is determined by your bank, not the Mexican bank. It’s a good idea to check with your bank what your withdrawal limit will be before you go.
Always have at least $1,000 pesos at hand in case your favorite ATM runs out of cash at a time when it’s not convenient to go on the hunt for one, especially around the 1st or 15th when Mexican workers get paid.
When you withdraw money, the ATM will ask you if you want to accept the exchange rate. If you’re like me, when you see this, you’re likely to think if you say no, the whole transaction will be declined. It won’t.
Decline the exchange rate! The transaction will continue to process at the current market rate rather than the bank’s exchange rate, with is much higher, even four pesos to the dollar higher! Avoid ATMs outside major banks, as they charge more for the service and are more likely to be tampered with (not common, but be aware.)
Quick access to cash in an emergency
I highly recommend having two bank accounts back home, and that you take debit and credit cards from each. If you lose your debit card, it will make things much less stressful if you have another one.
You can do an online transfer of money from the account attached to lost card to the other bank. This has saved me on not one but two occasions. Once I lost my debit card and once an ATM did not return the card. I’ve also had places not take one credit card, but take another, either though both were from major banks. Online event tickets and such usually only accept cards from Mexican banks.
You probably don't routinely take cash advances on your credit card so it’s easy to forget to set up the separate PIN numbers for your credit cards that will enable you to make cash withdrawals in the event of an emergency.
Some banks have a system of sending emergency cash that require you to pick it up at a FEDEX office. FEDEX has much more restricted hours in Mexico than in the US. Pretty stressful to be expecting cash, arrive and have to wait until the next day because you actually expected them to be open at 3:00 p.m. on a Tuesday.
Banking processes are a part of your life, no matter where you are. Even with all these considerations, revel in the knowledge that it's easier and safer moving money between borders and accessing your money in another country than it's ever been.
Helpful link:
Currency converter, peso to dollar
Suggested link:
Ten reasons to have a housemate in Mexico - probably none you’d anticipate.
Kerry Baker is a partner in Ventanas Mexico which provides resources and insights to moving to Mexico, including "If I Only I Had a Place: An Aspiring Expat's Guide to Renting Luxuriously in Mexico."
Most recently, she published “The Mexico Solution: Saving your money, sanity and quality of life through part-time life in Mexico” and The Lazy Expat: Healthy Recipes That Translate in Mexico, a cookbook for travelers, snowbirds and expats trying to eat healthy in Mexico.