The dollar tops 18 pesos at some Tijuana exchange houses, up from under 17 in February

Your dollars go further in Tijuana than they did earlier this year. In a round of the city’s exchange houses (casas de cambio) published Thursday, Nov. 12, El Imparcial found them buying dollars at 17.97 to 18.06 pesos, an average of 18.02, and selling them at 18.20 to 18.40. TV Azteca Baja California’s morning snapshot the same day listed exchange houses at 17.70 to buy and 18.10 to sell, and Banco Azteca branches at 17.00 and 19.19, a reminder that the rate depends on where and when you change.

It’s a turnaround from February, when the dollar sold for less than 17 pesos at Tijuana exchange houses, about 16.98, with a buying rate near 16.77. El Imparcial said then that the last time the dollar had sold widely below 17 pesos was December 2015.

Business at the counters has been steady, the person in charge at an exchange house in Hipódromo Agua Caliente and an exchange-house worker on Bulevar Agua Caliente told El Imparcial, but both expect more demand for dollars toward the end of the year, with El Buen Fin and Black Friday sales and with residents crossing to shop in the U.S.

What it means if you’re visiting

• The buying rate (compra) is what you get for your dollars; the selling rate (venta) is what you pay if you buy dollars back.
• Compare a few places before you change money: rates differ between banks, exchange houses and stores, and can change through the day and with the amount and the cash on hand, TV Azteca noted.
• Don’t change money with strangers on the street.
• El Buen Fin sales are on this weekend (our story).

What’s on this long weekend: our picks and the calendar.