A Scroll at Night to Super Aki

After walking to Walmart, I learned that Izzy was not a walking kind of girl, so that upped my timeline for getting some bus passes. The internet informed me that going to Oxxo was likely not going to help. They basically never had cards. That was unfortunate, since there were several near me. One blog post declared Super Aki as their savior after trying all the usual suspects, so we set out after the sunset (aka it was cool) to Super Aki.

The neighborhood was completely different at night. You should see the neighbors active and chatting. So many people were outside, walking, biking, and living life. Markets we hadn't noticed before were open and crowded with people.

I'm happy to report that I felt completely safe on this 30 minute journey through the backstreets.

We got to Super Aki and picked up a broom because bizarrely, the house didn't seem to have one. Izzy grabbed a yogurt. I also noted how the Super Aki has better produce for cheaper than Walmart.

Okay, off to the register. I was heartened by the Va Y Ven Sign. I didn't get to ask about it because all my cards were rejected. The debit cards and the credit cards. This is where my toddler Spanish broke down. The woman at the register had no understanding of what the translation app was trying to convey. She ran off and came back with the manager, who spoke English. This is where we had to explain that we had no cash, not in pesos, only dollars. Their ATM was broken, just like the Walmart, so we couldn't get help there.

The manager explained that if we wanted to turn our dollars into pesos, we could go across the street to the bank.

Oh. I'll be honest, I didn't even consider that a bank would be open at 8pm.

So... we go to the bank and promise to come back

The process of converting dollars to pesos was straightforward. The clerk took my passport and the dollars. She entered the data into her computer. Then, she handed me back the pesos. The conversion rate was insane at this bank. I got nearly 25 pesos per dollar. The normal rate is about 20 pesos.

I went back to the store. I made my most apologetic face at the clerk and started to pay at the register. The clerk looked at me confused.

To make a long story short, the manager appeared again, and I had handed over a 50 peso bill when I meant to hand over a 500 peso bill. Whoops.

The manager also told us that they were out of Va y Ven cards and our best bet was to find a vend machine downtown. Great. Well at least we have cash now.