one of these is not like the others

Sometimes I feel as if Barra de Navidad is in a time warp.

Of course, it is. That is one reason I like living here. But I was thinking of a very specific slice of anachronism.

In the eleven years I have lived here, I have seen several changes in Mexican bank notes. 

• 2010 --  Diego Rivera replaced Ignacio Zaragoza on the 500-peso note.
• 2011 -- The Bank of Mexico issued commemorative notes celebrating the bicentennial of Mexican Independence and the anniversary of the Mexican Revolution: a Revolution-era steam engine on the 100-peso note and Miguel Hidalgo on the 200-peso note. That last one is a favorite of mine because it is printed portrait rather than landscape.
• 2017 -- The Bank issued a commemorative 100-peso note honoring the anniversary of enactment of the Mexican Constitution of 2017.
• 2018 -- Benito Juarez replaced  Diego Rivera on the 500-peso note as the first step in issuing new notes for each denomination.
• 2019 -- The second step was to replace Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz on the 200-peso note with Miguel Hidalgo and José María Morelos y Pavón, in honor of the War of Independence.

I have written about the last few revisions. But there is always a time lapse between the Bank's announcement that new notes are on the way and when they actually show up in wallets here on the Pacific coast. That is why I was surprised last year to see the 500-peso show up in a San Patricio ATM last year within two weeks of being issued (money makes the words go round).

It took a bit longer for a local ATM to disgorge the new 200-peso -- on Friday. Almost four weeks since it was issued.

Actually, I am not the least bit surprised it would take that long for bills in circulation to make their way here. Even after printing new notes, the Bank allows the old versions to circulate as long as they are still sound. The ATM that delivered the new 200s to me also included a 500-peso Zaragoza note. It was issued (bit not necessarily printed), eighteen years ago.

The down side of all these notes is that they all quickly disappear as I trade past-hours toiled for my current needs of food and housing. All three -- the past, the current purchases, and the notes -- disappear too quickly. As do we.

But there will always be new notes in the batter's box. The new 1000-peso note will be issued next year. Not that we will see many of them here.

Just think of your wallet as a Mexican time tunnel.