Problems con los bancos en Xela

Thursday was spent trying to get money to pay for school. I had paid the deposit through PayPal online with a credit card and figured that I would pay by the week that way as well, as it was extremely simple and did not require me to carry a lot of money or travelers checks. But when I arrived on Monday, I found that if I paid with credit card, there would be a 12% service charge for each payment or $19 more a week. My other options were to pay with cash, travelers checks or a personal check. Since I had read that travelers checks were not widely accepted, I had decided not to bring any, nor had a brought personal checks, leaving me with the final option of cash. But according to my teacher, the ATMs only allow you a maximum withdrawal per day of 500 quetzals or $64, which meant that I would have to go to three ATMs each week, paying $1 each time, which was much less than the $19 with a credit card, but also much more of a hassle. Extremely frustrated and not quite sure what to do, I talked with my teacher, who recommended buying travelers checks here with a one percent service charge and paying that way. Elated with that option, I asked him if he would go to the bank with me that morning to get the checks. One of the other staff members recommended a bank in a mall some distance away that offered a much better rate than local banks, so my teacher and I hopped on his motorcycle (bring back fond memories of SE Asia for me) and headed to the mall.

We arrived at the bank and my teacher excused himself to go to the bathroom while I waited in line. I was called before he returned and told the man who was helping me that I wanted to purchase traveler's checks. He said that he would be happy to get them for me but that his boss, who had to be present at such transactions, was not there and would not return until 2:00, and could I come back at that time. I agreed, and pleased with myself for conduction the entire, if brief, conversation in Spanish, went out to wait for my teacher. When he returned, I told him what happened and said that I did not mind coming back on my own in the afternoon. He said that I was welcome to do that, but that there were three other banks in the mall and that we could try all of them. I asked if he thought the rates would be the same and he said that the believed that they would be, so we went upstairs to Bank Number 2. After waiting in line for about ten minutes, we explained the situation and were told that I could not use a debit card there to purchase the checks, that I would need to get cash from the ATMs, with which I could purchase the checks. Looking a my teacher with a look of complete exasperation, I explained (what he already knew) that I could only get 500 Quetzales out of the ATM and there was no way I could get enough money for the month. He looked at me sympathetically, thanked the woman and lead me to Bank Number 3.

Bank Number 3 would take a debit card, but did not take VISA, only Master Card, leaving us to return to Bank Number 1, where I was going to ask if I could indeed use my card to get the exact amount of money that I needed, before I made the trip all the way back that afternoon.

On the way down the stairs, my teacher came up with the idea of simply taking all the cash that I needed in Quetzales directly from the teller and paying that way. Wondering why we hadn´t though of that before, I found myself back in Bank Number 1.

When we explained the situation to the man who had helped me earlier, he told us that I could take out up to 500 US DOLLARS out at the ATM, not 500 Quetzales and if I wanted I could take $500 out of the ATM and get the rest from him. Happy to finally have a solution, but incredulous that we had gone through so much when I could have simply taken $500 out of the ATM in the first place, I gave him my passport and my ATM and received enough for thee weeks tuition.