San Miguel is a tourist economy. In the 1950’s ex-GI’s came to live here to learn art and live cheaply. Since then American tourism has gone up 10 fold and the Mexican people profit from the visitors. The native people sell things like dolls and homemade bracelets. Some carry their products on their backs in the streets, no kiosks or anything. Others, however, have little kiosks on the side of the street or shops (often in their houses) throughout the city.
The Mexican currency is measured in pesos. One U.S. dollar equals 12.5445331 Mexican pesos. That means candy bought for one peso and sold for a dollar would yield about a 92¢ profit. Ninety-two cents doesn’t seem like that much, but 100 Pixi Stix sold for a dollar each gives you $92.00 in profit, proving that volume is an important factor. This makes me want to be a candy entrepreneur. It also makes me realize how big businesses like Walmart buy from other countries where things are cheaper and sell them in America for a higher price.
San Miguelans have come to rely on American citizens to travel to their city. The recent fall in the economy has stopped a lot of people from traveling because they don’t have the extra money to vacation. The kinds of things that they sell in San Miguel aren’t things that people necessarily need, and so if people are on a budget, many of the stores will not make any money. Several stores in San Miguel have shut down because of this.
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