Say you're making a quick trip (under 24 hours). How many dollars in cash do you bring? How many fives and singles? How many (if any) cash pesos is it good to have? Should you get pesos from an ATM or a casa de cambio? How much of a problem is it if you don't have small denomination bills in pesos? Do you use credit cards in TJ?
What's the max cash you can bring, without a serious risk that the cops will green light you getting robbed because of the cut they'll get?
@ilbbaicnl
I will play along and answer your questions.
Q: How many dollars in cash do you bring? How many fives and singles?
A: For a 24hrs visit $400 to $500 is more than enough, should cover you for a couple of arriba trips if you have the stamina. Four $5 dollar bills, two $10 dollar bills, five singles, the rest in $20’s is good
Q: How many (if any) cash pesos is it good to have? Should you get pesos from an ATM or a casa de cambio? How much of a problem is it if you don't have small denomination bills in pesos? Do you use credit cards in TJ?
Cash in dollars is king in TJ, no pesos required, just remember they like to bargain so you can offer half of what they ask and get a better deal on most transactions.
Nowadays almost nothing cost less than a dollar in the USA and TJ, even at the dollar stores.
Tip at least a dollar or couple of dollar if you get good services.
Don use credit card at strip clubs in general and certainly not in TJ
Q: What's the max cash you can bring, without a serious risk that the cops will green light you getting robbed because of the cut they'll get?
A: “Carrying over $10,000 USD cash when departing from or arriving to Mexico is legal. However, failing to declare it is a violation to the Mexican Laws”
As long as you are not flashing cash carelessly no one would know how much money you have for them to want to rob you, and as long as you don dress flashy the same applies.
Dress as a lower middle class or upper lower class American and behave like a well raised gentleman and you will be treated as a gentleman.
Go ahead relax and enjoy, have a good safe overnight trip to “The Happiest Place on Earth” (according to Krusty.)
We will expect a good report/discussion/article about your trip.
And remember Pics and Vids or it didn’t happen
Depends...u going? If not what’s the point?
But generally i take a little more $ than i budget. Ie how many arriba you got in you? Hotel, food, drink cost? How many fichas per night @ $10 each? Etc.
I usually take $100s, hidden in various areas. I do this when i travel anywhere, eggs in 1 basket idea. HK bartenders are my go to for change of $100. Also front desk will break $100 when i pay for room.
I'm thinking about going, not sure yet, sorry if you feel cheated that you answered.
Not at all. Just curious about the reason for the question.
You mentioned you had no plans to go to TJ back in Aug. tuscl.net
So if thats the case, no point in answering, snce you not gonna go. Similarly to the other guy asking about TJ, BG and other clubs, when he won’t/can’t go. So why ask. And from my perspective why answer. But im a weirdo like that.
Bottom line...use common sense and protect yourself. No matter if its Mex, Canada, Germany, another state, etc.
Good thinking. No matter how much you bring, the cops always think you've more cash on you than their monthly salary.
Unless you're well connected in Mexico, the police can leave your beaten or dead body by the side of the road at their discretion. They have a much freer hand to deal with petty criminals when they want to. When there are robberies and kidnappings in Mexico, either a very powerful gang is involved, or the police are green lighting it and taking a cut. It seems clear in La Zona in TJ, the right carrots and sticks are in place to stop the police from routinely green lighting violent crimes against tourists. But I wonder if certain low-ranking cops know certain meseros or bar girls, who tip them off if somebody is carrying, say, four figures in cash dollars. Because the cut from robbing that would be worth the risk of getting in trouble with the higher-ups.
@TJWalker
You watch too many action movies. Suggest that you go through the reviews for ZN clubs from the past few years and flag any that even mention getting stopped by cops, let alone getting abused by them. It almost never happens unless you're actively looking for trouble.
The worst case scenario would be something like this: tripadvisor.com
The irony is, the less Spanish you speak, the safer you are. They really, really don't want to arrest you. If they're convinced you don't understand they're looking for a mordida, they'll probably just let you go. But you REALLY don't want to get fucked up on anything but alcohol in Mexico. Without US drug demand and US gun laws, there would be much less lethal violence in Mexico. They see fucking us over bad for using drugs in Mexico as righteous payback.
IF you get stopped by the policea AND they want to frisk you IT IS RECOMMENDED by the tj experienced that you hold your phone, and money in one hand and your ID in another. just be aware that you probably will have to pay something to get released. keep a low profile and act courteous.
For the avg investor/saver there doesn't seem to be much of an alternative but to stick it out in the market; there doesn't seem to be anywhere to park your $$$ where one gets some kinda halfway decent return to ride out these seemingly uncertain times - I guess if one is close-to, or in, retirement, and one needs their investments to live-on, then I guess you'd wanna park your $$$ for now
^ wrong thread
i was scratching my head there for a moment…
I don't normally bring peso's, it just makes it harder to deal with and everything there is priced in dollars. I have heard a peso goes further than a dollar but to me it isn't worth the effort.
I usually bring about $300 for one evening trip. I try to bring a variety of $10s and $20s. I don't bring $1s, the mesero's can always make change. Make sure to save at least $5 to get back to the border.
Roughly, about $100 for fichas, $100 to $120 for one trip arriba (including tip), $30 or so for drinks (I am not a big drinker). That leaves $50 or so for other tips, transportation, and a little food it I get hungry.