What Would You Do With 200 Pesos a Day....

I met up with my friends Ariel and Rachel last night. We went to a lovely dinner to celebrate their engagement. They met last year in Guadalajara and fell in love. Rather than return to England, Rachel stayed with Arial, a Mexican, and they live together in lovely Puerto Vallarta.

I learned from Ariel yesterday that the average wage of a hotel worker is 200 pesos a day. That is about $15 USD. Ariel worked as a hotel "animator" which is the person that conducts all of the guest activities throughout the day and evening, i.e. yoga, water aerobics, volleyball, dancing, you name it. Imagine 9am - 5pm, then back in the evening from 8pm - 11pm, all for 200 pesos a day. You can get by on this salary, according to Ariel, but it is difficult.

I wonder who owns these fancy resort hotels and I wonder how in good conscience they can pay their workers so little. I mean, why would you want to pay someone to just "get by"...? Someone at the top is getting rich...really rich. Foreign owners, perhaps? Or, Mexican?