bajagrouper - 4-24-2006 at 07:03 AM
Can you remember the first time you visited Mexico,what year was it and do remember what the exchange rate was?
ncampion - 4-24-2006 at 07:06 AM
Far back as I can remember was 1979, I was crusing the Sea of Cortez with my wife in a 38' sailboat and the exchange rate was 12 pesos to a dollar.
That was the "old" pesos. We had a favorate bar in Cabo, we called it the "10 peso bar", that's how much a beer cost.
David K - 4-24-2006 at 07:19 AM
1965 and it was 12.50 pesos to the dollar (1 peso = 8 cents)
In the '50's---------
Barry A. - 4-24-2006 at 08:03 AM
----it was about 8 "old" pesos to the dollar, as I remember.
rts551 - 4-24-2006 at 08:07 AM
1959 - still about 8 to 1. I still have some "old" peso's and centavos around here somewhere.
Bruce R Leech - 4-24-2006 at 09:20 AM
1959 also
8 to 1
FACT
MrBillM - 4-24-2006 at 09:54 AM
Until the Peso was cut loose in 1976 to find its true value against the Dollar, it was FIXED by law for most of the 20th century at a rate of 12.50
pesos to the dollar. A peso was worth eight cents. A friend who had a house in Ensenada told me to always save my pesos for coffee at the
restaurants since a cup of coffee was either ten cents or one peso. When the outgoing President allowed the peso to float the rate initially doubled.
In February 1977 when I travelled to Malarrimo Beach, we stopped for pesos at the bank in Ensenada and the rate was approximately 24/1. That general
rate held until 1982. When I leased my property in Percebu, the week afterwards there was another devaluation that took it to approximately 45/1. At
some later date, the peso was allowed to FLOAT freely against the dollar and eventually rose to over one-thousand to one.
As an aside, buying a lot of pesos in 1977 turned out to be a good idea since there was a lot of turmoil over the dollar in the interior. People who
had lived their entire lives KNOWING what the value was, suddenly had no idea what it might be when they took it to the bank. Consequently, many
vendors refused to accept dollars and those who would did so only at a rate they were confident in.
Addendum: A reference I just checked says that the fixed rate of 12.50 (actual 12.49) was put into effect in 1954 so those who told me the fixed rate
went back farther may have been in error. I was nine at that time. Nonetheless, it remained fixed by law until 1976.
[Edited on 4-24-2006 by MrBillM]
Like I said, 12.50 to 1-----
Barry A. - 4-24-2006 at 10:15 AM
----thanks MrBillM