Us Dollars Or Honduran Lempiras?

[Colo Hippie]

Forgot to mention - most restaurants/shops/vendors do not want any US dollars bigger than a 20. The resorts will take 50's & 100's and usually the dive masters will take the bigger bills for tips

 

[KathyV]

My suggestion is to bring a good supply of small bills in $US money. It frequently seems that vendors often don't have exact change and they often round charges and change in their favor.

 

[seeker242]

Seems to me it doesn't matter as far as cost goes. But I think it's easier to use lempiras. Using
lempiras, you don't have to stand there, converting exchange rates in your head, and wondering if you got ripped off or not. Especially if you are using the taxis.

 

[Oldbear]

I did some things ahead of time on credit cards...paid the fee.

I took a fair amount of cash with me.

We also used the corner ATM on Utila (when you get there you will know which corner). I did not have any issues with the ATM other than it kept running out of cash. But that is NOT to say it has not been hacked since or will be in the future.

 

[Oldbear]

Has crime come to Utila? My feel for Utila is now 10 years stale, but I wandered all over the place at all hours of the day and night for six weeks, and felt it was one of the most peaceful, friendly places I have ever visited. What could someone possibly hope to steal from the penniless backpackers in town? The 20 Lemps in the guy's pocket left after Quiz Night at Bundu Cafe?

I am four years out myself and when we were there for a month we felt pretty safe to wandering the main street at night. But you still knew bad things could happen to you if you ventured to the "wrong" part of the island (but this is pretty much everywhere). Twice the power was cut off to the island by the government trying to keep drug trafficker's from planning their planes on Utila according to our landlord. And about a year later Captain Vern was murdered for his unwillingness to traffic drugs. But overall we felt safer on Utila than on Roatan and on Roatan we kept to the resort after dark.

I am still planning my next rip back to Roatan (CCV), overall I feel fine there; I feel safer than in must major US cities.

 

[Doc]

I am still planning my next rip back to Roatan (CCV), overall I feel fine there; I feel safer than in must major US cities.

Kind of apples and oranges, an unequal comparison....
CoCoView is an unusual and exceptional situation. It is on it's own private little islet, and it's well protected on every edge 24/7 by professionals. Throughout the Bay Islands (as anywhere in the world), there is quite a degree of "security theater", which can impress tourists (or make those who are aware laugh). In this case, it isn't a performance, nor do most visitor guests even perceive it's presence. Locally it is known as "Cocotraz".

Lempiras
Converting them is no harder than figuring how much a 20% "tip" would be. A factor of 20 is close enough to know you're in the ball park. Just try to understand that what may seem like "them trying to get over on you" for something less than a US Dollar could be attributable to ten different reasons, or it could be that they are indeed trying to pad the bill by 75 cents US. When you consider the local standard of living, that might be a big deal.

A perfect example: Occasionally you will be approached by kids who have a small handful of US Coins that some well meaning departing visitors had handed them. The $.60± cents worth of coins in their hand are locally quite useless, but if you accept them and give them a US Dollar, everybody is happy.

In that US visitors are much more inclined to "tip" than those from any other country, that is a local understanding and perception which you might consider as well.

We all have different experiences and needs. I am big on AI, and CCV in particular. I can keep money in my room, not even in the rusty safe, not worrying- and the resort and dive shop knows what $100 bills are, as will most visiting merchants and artisans. Even though everything is paid for in advance, I usually carry $600+ in USD cash for tips and whatever. Two $100's, a bunch of 20's and 10's, then at least $100 in 5's and 1's. That's my experience and my needs by going AI, other versions of vacation (non-AI) will require different volumes of denominations and bills.

Credit/Debit Cards and electronic cash...
If you "must" use an ATM for whatever reason, establish a separate "vacation debit card account", so that IF it does get hacked, you're somewhat insulated by the total value. There was an ATM located on West End for many years that was universally known as a hacked machine, right next to one of the single most popular day-dive ops. It confounded me that no local ever painted a warning on it, lack of courtesy or cajones. It was eventually pulled out like a bad molar, which tells me that the problem was more endemic than location specific. But again, everybody knew it was hacked- except the tourists. There have been long standing issues with credit card use at even at some of the three upscale grocery stores, the airport and banks, too. I simply would not use plastic for any reason.

 

[Bunnymom9]

Kind of apples and oranges, an unequal comparison....
CoCoView is an unusual and exceptional situation. It is on it's own private little islet, and it's well protected on every edge 24/7 by professionals. Throughout the Bay Islands (as anywhere in the world), there is quite a degree of "security theater", which can impress tourists (or make those who are aware laugh). In this case, it isn't a performance, nor do most visitor guests even perceive it's presence. Locally it is known as "Cocotraz".

Lempiras
Converting them is no harder than figuring how much a 20% "tip" would be. A factor of 20 is close enough to know you're in the ball park. Just try to understand that what may seem like "them trying to get over on you" for something less than a US Dollar could be attributable to ten different reasons, or it could be that they are indeed trying to pad the bill by 75 cents US. When you consider the local standard of living, that might be a big deal.

A perfect example: Occasionally you will be approached by kids who have a small handful of US Coins that some well meaning departing visitors had handed them. The $.60± cents worth of coins in their hand are locally quite useless, but if you accept them and give them a US Dollar, everybody is happy.

In that US visitors are much more inclined to "tip" than those from any other country, that is a local understanding and perception which you might consider as well.

We all have different experiences and needs. I am big on AI, and CCV in particular. I can keep money in my room, not even in the rusty safe, not worrying- and the resort and dive shop knows what $100 bills are, as will most visiting merchants and artisans. Even though everything is paid for in advance, I usually carry $600+ in USD cash for tips and whatever. Two $100's, a bunch of 20's and 10's, then at least $100 in 5's and 1's. That's my experience and my needs by going AI, other versions of vacation (non-AI) will require different volumes of denominations and bills.

Credit/Debit Cards and electronic cash...
If you "must" use an ATM for whatever reason, establish a separate "vacation debit card account", so that IF it does get hacked, you're somewhat insulated by the total value. There was an ATM located on West End for many years that was universally known as a hacked machine, right next to one of the single most popular day-dive ops. It confounded me that no local ever painted a warning on it, lack of courtesy or cajones. It was eventually pulled out like a bad molar, which tells me that the problem was more endemic than location specific. But again, everybody knew it was hacked- except the tourists. There have been long standing issues with credit card use at even at some of the three upscale grocery stores, the airport and banks, too. I simply would not use plastic for any reason.

 

[Bunnymom9]

Well, its been decade since I've been on the forum, but last year the baby girl (the one who used to show bunnies!) got her PADI open water at the Splash Inn on Roatan --she was there as part of a research trip. I went along as duenna and dive buddy. We used US dollars for everyday cash, mostly small clean bills that I brought with me in a cash belt, and got lempira as change and spent that in due course. A $20 was tough for the local divers' bar to exchange, but no problem for tipping the dive staff. Most places have prices in both.

Instead of using a credit card for 'big' expenses like hotel and scuba bill, I used bank transfer. This is a preferred method of payment in Australia, too, and the hubby being from there its a familiar process.

I wouldn't dream of using an ATM on Roatan if I could avoid it, both because of fraud and concerns over making myself a short term target, as anyone watching the atm would 'know' I was carrying a wad of cash. As usual, I only carried a little bit of money around with me at any one time, although I felt perfectly safe walking around the neighborhood of the Splash Inn, which isn't really 'West End'. The daughter reported no harassment, although another single woman around at the same time (who wasn't diving every day) said she got unpleasant attention.

 

[cleung]

If I'm going to get Lempiras back as change anyway, I might as well just bring US dollars so I won't end up with too much Lempiras I can't use anyway.

 

[Nettie-NZ]

Was in Utila a couple of years ago.

I generally have a policy of using local currency when in a country - so all cash purchases were Lempiras, but most of my bigger expenses (accomodation etc) were based in US dollars and paid by credit card. Remember that the greenback is probably the one of the most forged currencies in the world, so that's another reason to use cash in local currency.

My credit card got skimmed at an ATM in Utila, but that's a couple of years ago now. Not sure if anything much would have changed tho - the risk is still high. It wasn't too much of a problem to withdraw cash at the bank, but I guess the queue length can vary...