Mexico's currency is called the Peso and comes in coin denominations of 5 cents, 10 cents, 20 cents, 50 cents, 1 peso, 2 pesos, 5 pesos, 10 pesos, and 20 pesos. The type of pesos that fold come in $20, $50, $100, $200, $500, and as of November 2004 a new $1,000 note.

Peso means "weight" in English. It's not hard to see that the peso got its name from the weight of the metal that made up the coin. The Mexican Peso was inspired by the colonial Spanish gold bullion, or piece of eight, that were the obsession of the pirates of the day.

Mexico uses the "$" to proceed the peso, the same as in the U.S. (though Canada uses C$). This can lead to some confusion over price, particularly because in Acapulco sometimes quotes in U.S. dollars.

The current code for the Mexican Peso is MXN.

The 20 and 50 pesos notes are indispensable as it seems that it can at times for people to deal with a 200 peso note much less a 500 - even in sizable restaurants. It's also good to keep a lot of 1, 2, and 5 peso coins in your pocket as one must constantly be on the ready to tip.

Be aware that the 500 peso note and the 50 peso note are both a red color and can be confused.

The Mexican Peso has been remarkably stable for the last decade. With NAFTA and its ever tightening relationship with the US economy and the US dollar, there haven't been the wild fluctuations of the past. In 1998, the peso hovered around 7 to the U.S. dollar. In 2003, it was about 10 to the dollar, and today it's about 11 to the dollar. Things weren't always so stable.

In 1993, Mexico adopted a new currency called the Nuevo Peso which was the equivalent of 1000 of the obsolete old pesos which had lost their value in a series of devaluations and currency crashes. In 1996, Mexico dropped the "Nuevo" and just started referring to them as "pesos." The currency collapse of 1993 was no small matter as it was hypothesized it had the potential to spread to other counties (which was termed the Tequila effect) and destabilize the entire global economy. Though controversial at the time, the eventual $20 billion U.S. loan to Mexico proved effective.

Exchanging money in Acapulco is a pretty simple process. You can do it at any bank, but the best rates are typically found in the little exchange houses in the Golden Zone. You can't miss them with their flags blazing and the word "Currency Exchange" plastered over the edifice. In Spanish, they're known as "casas de cabmio."

In Spanish the exchange rate is called the "tipo de cambio."

"Divisas" is the word used for foreign currency or its exchange.