From Anchorage to Ushuaia by Bike

It’s been three months here, and we just realized that we never told you anything about the prices in Mexico.

The exchange rate has been  about 1€ = 17 pesos during our trip. [Trans. note: $1 CAD = 12 pesos; US $1 = 15 pesos as of March 1, 2009].

So here are a couple of prices to give you an idea:

• Hotel room, two people with a private bath: from 150 pesos
• A main dish in a restaurant: between 40 and 120 pesos
• A lunch menu, including soup, main and a drink (called Comida corrida): 35 pesos
• A croissant or pastry: 3 pesos
• Half a pound of pasta: 2.50 pesos
• 1 kg of avocados: 15 pesos
• A bag of 10-12 oranges: 10 pesos
• A soda (600ml): between 6 and 10 pesos
• A taco: between 5 and 10 pesos
• 1 kg of mangoes: 10 pesos
• Movie ticket: 42 pesos
• Admission to the zoo: 20 pesos
• 1 hour in an Internet café: between 5 and 15 pesos
• Cab ride: from 20 pesos
• A trip on a “collectivos” (Volkswagen minivans refitted to hold up to 17 people): 4,50 pesos, for as far as you need to go along their route and do not change vehicle
• A hand-embroidered shirt: 100 pesos
• A liter of gas: 8 pesos
• A stamp for France: 14 pesos [Trans. Note : to go to Canada it was 11 pesos]
• Bottled water – either big containers with 19 l, or jugs of 4 l, or bottles of 1.5 l or 600 ml, their all pretty much the same price: around 15 pesos
• Doctor’s visit: 20 pesos

Electronic goods and toiletries are generally prices the same as in France

PS: We visited Tuxtla Gutierrez, but it wasn’t particularly exciting – except for the fact that it had all the amenities of a big city. We got lost in the big supermarkets that we hadn’t seen in quite some time (normally, we just stop in little convenience stores since big stores are generally not an option – either too far or non-existent); we wandered around the mall that was just beside where we were staying; and we took public transportation to visit some of the areas of the city (of course, since we don’t know where the combis are going because there are no definitive maps nor routes, it sometimes happened that we stayed on the same bus to end up exactly where we started!).

We also went to the Zoologico Miguel Alvarez del Toro, called the “Zoomat” for short. The zoo had all the animals of the Chiapas: everything from m!!onkey!!s to pumas, including turtles, crocodiles, parrots, and snakes. We got to see some interesting birds but also the effects of extinction in the region… and we came face to face with at least a dozen local snakes, some of which are venomous. Certainly enough to make us forget about bush camping for the next little while!

We were also able to visit one Microfinance Institution where no one spoke either French or English, and so we had to conduct the interview in Spanish. We actually managed quite well, and we were very proud of ourselves. Especially when you think that we’d never studied Spanish until arriving in Mexico three months ago!

Sara