I'd bet the $9.50 you saw was the current rate of exchange, and it was hidden round the back so the guy had something to point at when people complained about being shortchanged
The exchange rate was $9.50. That's the answer. Duh. You saw the $9.50 correctly and there is no other explanation. I told my friend about this and he came up with the answer. They simply posted the exchange rate in case you wanted to pay with US dollars. For once I cannot take credit for a brilliant answer. We all could not see the forest for the trees in this case. I remember when you HAD to have pesos to pay this toll, but that was many years ago. The workers did their own money changing at outrageous rates. I heard stories of people turning around and going back to get pesos or simply canceling their road trip to Chichen.
Steve, that too is entirely possible. The dollar HAD at one point, dropped below 10, but it recovered fast (thanks to Calderon) and I believe it was more like 10.30 by the time I used the Autopista. I'll check on this.
While your all going on about exchange rates, maybe someone can answer my question - the exchange rate that features on sites like xe.com and yahoo is always the middle exchange rate, i.e. the average in between buying and selling, so i want to know how to work out roughly want the buying rate for us dollars is when say the exchange rate is 10.795 as it currently is? Is there a forumla or is it just down to the banks/companies discretion? I get paid in US dollars and always get excited when i see the rate shooting up but in reality when i go into town some establishments are nowhere near that, whereas i would expect something like 10.5 i see 10.25 but i do find the rate gradulally gets better as you work your way back out of the hotel zone down Tulum and then onto the banks where they have the best rates. So basically if an exchange rate was advertised on xe.com as 10.8 what would the buying and selling rates be, roughly 10.6 and 11 or is it much more complicated than that?
I don't know if I can answer that question, but what I do, is use my Bank of America ATM card, at a Santander or Scotiabank ATM, and receive pesos. To date, the rate I get from BoA has always been better than that of the bank.....and there are no fees. That's how I (hope) to get a little extra buying power. Other than that, it appears that in Cancun and surrounds, one just has to be on their toes and learn which stores give favorable rates, either in pesos or dollars.
