The meaning of money

Part of orienting yourself to being in new country is figuring out the meaning of money in your new location.  

Basically, you need to understand what things cost. 

This isn’t as simple as knowing the exchange rate.  Things can and are priced very differently in different countries.  For example, the last time I was in Germany I was struck by the fact that non-alcoholic beverages in restaurants were priced much higher than they would be in Canada.  So while your food might cost about the same as it would in a Canadian restaurant, your pop or your tea might well cost twice or three times as much.  As far as I can tell there is no fundamental reason for this to be so – grocery store prices for these things in Germany are about the same as they are in Canada – it’s just the common practice. 

It's taken awhile, but after a week we’re starting to figure out how much things cost, and how much things should cost here in Mexico today.  

Back when we visited Mexico in 2011/12, everything seemed to cost 10 pesos (or 10 pesos part 2), and the “meal of the day” at cheap restaurants started at about 35 pesos.

Things are much more expensive now.  For example, the comida corridas are being advertised starting at 60 pesos, and I haven’t seen a thing priced at 10 pesos.  For a tourist, this has some advantages.  Having a 500 peso note is no longer frustratingly useless! 

But while you’re getting acclimatized, there are awkward interactions.  When I go to the convenience store for bottled water, do I need a handful of change or a bill? How much food should I be ordering in a restaurant?  How much should I be tipping?  How much should a taxi ride cost?

On the Wednesday after we arrived, we had lunch in a nice restaurant just off the central square (Zocalo) of Mexico City.  I picked one thing from the menu section labelled “entradas” (an entrada is an entrance, so I assumed it was an appetizer), and a soup.  Harvey ordered a salad, an entrada, and what we assumed was a small main course dish.  My “appetizer” was priced at about $10 CDN (140 pesos), and my soup at about $6 (90 pesos).  I ended up with about twice as much food as I could possibly eat.  So did Harvey. 

Tips are an even worse example.  When we arrived at our hotel in Mexico City at 2am, we were kind of dazed.  Harvey gave the bellboy who carried our bags up to our room a 20 peso note.  We got indifferent service for the rest of our stay.  Oops.  Too little.  We recalibrated, and left a 50 peso note as a tip for our room cleaner at our next hotel.  She stopped us in the hallway afterwards and thanked us effusively.  Perhaps too much!  Oh well.  For $3.50 CDN we made her day.

Cab rides….we haven’t encountered a metered cab yet.  So you’re at the mercy of the driver.  Our ride from our hotel in Mexico City to the bus station cost $250 pesos.  $17 bucks, not bad right?  Maybe, but it’s three to five times as much as we’ve paid for any cab ride of a comparable length since. So, our first cab driver (tellingly, called for us by the offended front desk at our first Mexico City hotel), took advantage of us.  At the time, we didn’t know better.

It's a journey.  And part of figuring out how to operate in a different country.