The two Mexicos. One has Starbucks.

This won't exactly come as a news flash, but it's really cheap to travel in Mexico.

At a fancy restaurant down the street from my hotel you can get a steak, appetizer and a drink for about $35. It got me thinking. Maybe everything is discounted. Maybe for $100 a pop I could get my whole family iPads for Christmas! They could deal with the Spanish instruction manuals.

I started Googling around. Last week I tweeted how this Pan American Games has an official nightclub. Turns out, they also seem to have an official mall. The Galerías Guadalajara is a relatively new development in a rich part of town. The Games' Scotiabank Aquatics Centre was built just a short drive away. In fact, frequent shuttles run between the two. (On a quick serious note, this mall and aquatics centre have been a source of anger for some locals, who say it is a prime example of how the government invested in wealthy areas and ignored the poor areas. You'll read more on that from me later on.)

I headed up to the Galerías today. The three-story complex was full of athletes and coaching staff. Here's what I found: almost everything in Mexico is cheaper than in Canada. But the more high-end the merchandise, the more comparable the pricing to American/Canadians standards. In fact, for the very expensive brands, items are MORE expensive here. I guess the logic is: if you're from Guadalajara and you're shopping in Coach, you've got money to burn. The class divide here isn't so much a divide as two separate countries living alongside one another.

Watch the steeply rising scale:

In this city, a bottle of water at the corner store is about $1.15, compared to $1.75 at home. 

A 15 minute taxi ride is about $4.50 (with tip) versus $15 in Toronto.

An IMAX movie ticket is $5. Back home you're going to drop about $15.

A Grande Latte at Starbucks in Mexico costs $2.90, compared to $4.25ish at home.

Converse sneakers in the Galerías ran about $42. On Queen St. W they're around $60.

A Madison style Coach handbag costs $480 here. In the US (Canada will be more expensive remember) the purse only costs $400.

An iPad 2 in Guadalajara costs $550. In Canada, an iPad starts around $520.

I spoke with an elderly woman today who lives in a home with no roof who lives on about $300 Canadian each month. I think sometimes when we hear figures like that, we assume those people must live in a place where the cost of living is next to nothing. Surely $300 to them is more like $2000 to us. But that elderly woman lived around the corner from some of the American-style shops quoted above. To those who raised concerns about the geography of investment, 76-year-old Aurora would likely agree with you.

Comments

[Oscar]

Robyn, what made Guadalajara prices cheap is that the currency has devalued around 14.5% since August 1st. local prices take time to catch up, but will get there..

Galerias is a mid to upper middle class Mall, for a taste of what an upper middle to higher class mall looks like, visit the Andares Mall and its flagship store and you'll see the disparity with prices, Guadalajara by itself is a divided city, from Federalismo Avenue to the south lies the lower income part of the city if you will, whilst from Federalismo to the north, especially Zapopan municipality is the higher income part of the city. As a Torontian and a formerly Guadalajara resident, I can tell you there are places in GDL you would wish to have it in the GTA, the Tec de Monterrey, private University is worth a visit. and try a coffee from "La Flor de Cordoba" or "Cafe Punta del Cielo", forget Starbucks.