Paying for goods and services on Isla Mujeres

Many Americans enjoy the convenience of paying for goods and services in Dollars whilst holidaying on Isla Mujeres. It avoids the hassle of having to change up money and worry about getting the right exchange rate. Added to that it's a currency they understand so they don't have to do any mental arithmetic when purchasing items or paying a restaurant bill in Pesos.

However, in doing so the holiday spending money won't go anything like as far. When renting an Isla Mujeres home, it will normally be priced in Dollars, so that's easy but virtually everything else will be priced in Pesos, and if something in the shops is priced in Dollars you can be pretty sure it's priced in Dollars, in their interest not yours. There is practice on Isla Mujeres, Cancun and indeed in most tourist areas, to say for example, 500 Pesos or 50 Dollars. Nice and simple but a really terrible exchange rate; they are offering a rate of ten to one, whereas the current rate 18.6 Pesos to the Dollar, making 500 Pesos 26.81 Dollars, rather 50, so you are paying almost double for the convenience of paying in Dollars.

This practice is favored particularly by taxis at Cancun airport. The solution is to change the Dollars into Pesos at the airport. As you come out of the customs area in the airport, on turning right there is an HSBC cash machine on the left hand side that dispenses Pesos. There are many people as you exit the airport touting for taxi business. It's then a question of negotiating. For those who feel more secure dealing with an official taxi company, there is a taxi office further down on the left hand side. If there a fewer people exiting the airport, you can usually get a better deal.

Once on Isla Mujeres there are various options for changing Dollars into Pesos, but over the years the bank that has proved to be the most consistent and reliable is CiBanco. Which is on the opposite side of the road to the terminal building, about one hundred yards north, they always offer a fair exchange rate. For anyone wishing to use their credit card to withdraw cash, there is an HSBC cash machine inside the supermarket in the center. As it is within the premises there is no risk of your card getting cloned.