Dear Carl And Lorena,
What’s the deal with Frommer’s $$ a Day? Has he freaked or what. His guide in 1989 was Mexico on $30 a day! 1990 on $30 a day; 1991 on $35 and THEN 1993 on $50!!!??? Also the Retire in Mexico on $400 a month is now $600!! I can not believe that prices have inflated against the dollar that much!
Kindest Regards, Barry Segars, Summerville, SC

We asked Don Merwin, of Choose Mexico about current prices in Mexico.

 

Dear Mr. Segars,
What's the deal? Prices in Mexico do move up (and down). One reason is that, in recent years, the Mexican government kept the peso artificially high against the dollar. When inflation drove prices in pesos higher and higher, dollars were valued not at what they were worth, but at what the Mexican government thought they should be worth. As a result, everything became much more expensive for Americans, especially tourists.
The 1994 edition of Choose Mexico bore the subtitle "Retire on $800 a Month." By the end of 1994, even this became a less conservative estimate than we would have wished. Then suddenly, the peso was allowed to 'float' and dropped from just over three to the dollar to almost eight to the dollar where it is today. Although there has been some inflation, many items cost people with dollars less than half what they cost in late 1994.
The fifth edition of Choose Mexico will be out in April 1997. This time we're taking no chances that the dollar figure will soon be outdated and lead people to plan retirement there on too small a budget. Its subtitle will be "Retire on $600 a month." We feel that is an honest minimum for comfortable living and will hold up even with a moderate amount of inflation in Mexico. If you figure out what that comes to in 1985 dollars, (the year we quoted that $400 minimum), you can see that Mexico is a bigger bargain than it has been in a long time.
Don Merwin, co-author, Choose Mexico