how much money/pesos?

[1elephant]

hey all -

i'm less than 1 week out and i was wondering how much money people brought with them - both USD and other monies, specifically pesos. should we even bother getting pesos or will we use USD for everything?

this smiley is awesome:

thanks everyone!

[starchild]

Yay Lauren, so exciting!! We didn't exchange for pesos, U.S. dollars are taken everywhere I've been in PV. Plus, when you pay in dollars you usually get pesos back as change so you'll end up with them (be familiar with the exchange rate, street vendors will do a rough estimate so you may win or lose some change here or there, but it's pretty accurate). Dreams does exchange dollars to pesos, for free I believe. I wouldn't do it at the airport.

 

As for how much...it's hard to remember honestly. I brought maybe $200 in cash, about $60 of that in ones. He thinks he brought a few hundred in cash, and at one point did go to the ATM to reload. Go to a bank if you hit the atm. There is one near the flea market with glass-enclosed ATMs and armed guards (why not be safe, you know?). Also many businesses accept credit cards but not everyone, cash is best IMO.

 

We didn't spend much at all, because we didn't need to pay for food/drinks at Dreams (only tips). When we ate outside of Dreams it was at our WD and wedding, a few tacos and drinks here or there while shopping downtown. Taxi fare from Dreams to the malecon/downtown cost like $5 each way. Even with souveniers we spent very little because honestly, we didn't have the time!

 

Have fun )

[jean-marcus]

they will GLADLY take your american dollars ..

[coreyphil]

Quote:

Originally Posted by lauren c. hey all - i'm less than 1 week out and i was wondering how much money people brought with them - both USD and other monies, specifically pesos. should we even bother getting pesos or will we use USD for everything? this smiley is awesome: thanks everyone!

Holy cow Lauren --- 8 Days!!!

Ok - I'm not a lot of help - but friends have reassured me that ATM's are a plenty and you'll get a better exchange rate using them compared to exchanging them at a bank or hotel over there.

Are there any vendors that you must pay in cash on the same day? You might want to take that into account since there may be a limit on how much you can ATM each day ...

[sohappy]

They'll take your US dollars and give you back pesos but from what I remember you can never exchange your pesos for US dollars so you either use it or you're stuck with it. Something to keep in mind.

 

Contact your cc/debit card. You may get charged extra on top of the atm fee b/c considered international. I didn't want to carry a lot of cash so I just paid the atm fees.

 

Just make sure you have singles for tipping.

[starchild]

Quote:

Originally Posted by sohappy Contact your cc/debit card. You may get charged extra on top of the atm fee b/c considered international. I didn't want to carry a lot of cash so I just paid the atm fees.

Good point, I don't know if they charged DH extra for using his?
Also, when we travel we notify the bank/cc people where we may be using the card(s) and the approx. dates.

My SIL used hers in Jamaica then tried to use it a few days later in Barbados and it was frozen for fraud...it was a preventative service, but she had to call from the Caribbean and sort it all out to get access to her money...so calling ahead doesn't hurt!

[1elephant]

thanks everyone! i figured we'd bring a bunch of singles and whatnot and probably not get pesos...just wanted other opinions... hopefully i'll be able to get to the bank before we leave on tuesday - i don't even have time to post!!!!