New Money

I just read that a new 500 peso bill will enter circulation in Mexico today.

(image taken from the web)

One side has a portrait of national hero President Benito Juárez.  (He is already featured on the twenty peso bill.)  In honor of the nation's natural heritage, the reverse side shows a gray whale.  This new bill will replace the existing 500 peso note which honors painters Diego Rivera and Frida Kahlo.  (I never thought that the likenesses of those two were very good.)

(image taken from the web)

The 500 peso bill is what I always dread receiving at the ATM.  Even though it is only worth a little more than $25 US, it seems that small businesses never have change for it.  Whenever I use the ATM in Mexico, I immediately go into the bank and ask to exchange the 500s for something smaller.

I read in the same article that in next two years new 200 and 1000 peso bills will be introduced.  The reverse of those notes will also feature ecological themes.  (By the way, I have never seen a 1000 peso bill, and many businesses will not even accept them.)

Finally, on another blog I read of plans for a new 50 peso bill.  The blogger did not mention whose portrait will be on the front (presently it has Morelos, a hero of the War for Independence).  However he showed the design for the reverse side which has a picture of an axolotl.

(image taken from the web)

An axolotl is a highly endangered amphibian related to the salamander.  It lives in the waterways of Xochimilco on the south side of Mexico City..  The blog did not mention when this new bill will enter circulation.