Just by way of warning:

When it comes to exchanging cash: We were in the Amex office in March of 99 and pulled out the crisp $100 USD bills that were given to us at the airport by a well-meaning mother as gifts...nothing is more scary than hearing the woman behind the counter say, as she holds the bill up: "Creo que es falso". We took the bill back and, thankfully, avoided prosecution as international counterfeiters. Our mother had gotten the bills from good ol' Bank of America. I know we all usually travel with cheques de viajero, but just in case you get something like we got, check it out and avoid any "international incidents"!!!

Today's exchange rate: 197.78pts / US Dollar. WOW!

WOW!!! I hope it stays like that until December 15-25, when I will be there. It's dangerous though. Last time (with 150-160 ptas to the dollar in May 1998) everything was so "cheap" that we spent a ton of money. So watch out!!

the peseta has hit 201pts to the dollar today, never thought i would see that happen.

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Spain Page!! Check it out! http://www.geocities.com/missmadrid98

It is still at 201! I wonder how long this will be? A few weeks? A few months? A few years? What are the economists saying?

As I'm always saying, all this depends on the Euro. For all intents and purposes, the peseta no longer exists as an independent currency on international markets. So if you want to (try to!)predict the $/pta rate you have to look at the Euro. It's weak and falling. Some strong economies (e.g., UK, Denmark) which would help strengthen it have not joined it, while relatively weak economies (e.g., Greece) are trying to join, which can only weaken it further. Short to medium term, it looks in for a rough ride. Longer term depends on so many political factors it's impossible to guess.

Just to remind non-Euro members(if you need it!), your $ (or whatever) is going up against all Euro currencies, and you will enjoy exactly the same relative advantage (barring differences in rate of inflation) in France, Germany, Italy, Ireland etc.

Well, so much for the strong dollar / weak Euro. The Dollar reached parity with the Euro today. Yahoo Story . Spain is now 15% more expensive for Americans than it was in April.

This reminds me of my first trip to Spain in 1992-1993. In my first week in the country the dollar plummeted to 85 pesetas (the equivalent to .51 Euros) and then rebounded to 126 pesetas by the end of the school year (the equivalent of .77 Euros). (There was no Euro back them). I hope we don't see rates like that any time soon.

Caminante, did you hear about the "parity" of the US dollar and European euro on NPR (National Public Radio) as I did today?

I remember reading threads/posting here back when it was about, what, 1.6+€/US$? My goodness.. THOSE were the days... but those days are gone.. at least for the time being. Well, that's how things go, UP and then DOWN. Now it's almost like traveling across ANYTOWN, USA and getting the same price. In some regards, it's a good thing because it's easy to make the conversion in our heads.

I've spoken to some Spaniards and they STILL have problems thinking in Euros, always quoting pesetas.

Still, $35 or 35 € for a hostel room in the capital of Spain doesn't sound too bad considering many are paying 100+€/$ for a room at a hotel.

Saludos, MadridMan

While a weak dollar is not great for tourists going abroad, one must also remember that it means that Europeans will be able to afford our goods, and that means a more stable marketplace and employment arena for all of us.

And for those few of us, who had a heck of a time figuring out change in pesetas, it sure will be easier when conversion is one to one!

You're certainly correct MM, there are not many capital cities where one may stay at $36.00,
at a very nice hostal. Likewise, one can stay at a lovely hotel like el Suecia (where Ernesto H. used to sleep) for a $50.00 Bancotel voucher. Certainly not anywhere here in Florida.