It was a bad sign a ouple months ago when torillas jumped to 15 pesos a kilo. It went hand in hand with other price increases and now you can hardly go to a restaurant without seeing new prices on stickers covering up the old ones.
This weekend, I got a double shock. Torillas have decreased in size! I took the owner of an organic restaurant in Guatemela and her party to Monchi's, which I had heard so much good about. We were all disappointed and it was all based on the tortillas. Tiny, like appetizers. 15 pesos for a very plain, small taco.
The worst was we had to ask for utensils because they wouldn't hold the filling. Should have used two! Really, most places have done that all along.
Then this morning, I stopped for pulled pork tacos at Helena's near me, a street stall. She was out of tortillas and a woman from Yucatan working there was designated to go get. She'd heard they were expesnive here. 10 pesos? Helena and I both laughed at the rube. 15! The shocked look was priceless. They are adding a peso if you don't go with your own basket or towel just for the paper. 16!
It really is inexplicable why they would be some 60 percent more here. Our corn is from the same basket, the same agricultural zone, although in Yucatan there is more mom and pop corn being taken as needed to the mills. Nevertheless...
And so, also, the price of gasoline. And now were are on summer gasoline that costs more and gets less mileage, a corn ethanol added to it.
So, the price of bringing everything to the city, and then ferrying it to the island, is up. Tourist expenditures are down, so who makes up the shortfalls? Local consumers, of course. So the guy down the street has to charge more for his work and why not? The waiters and others who get tip money can afford to pay it. It's a never ending circle. Inflation.
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