I moved here last year and getting set up with banking was not easy. I hope you have connections with someone in getting a bank account. Until I met someone who was willing to stick their neck out for me, each bank asked me for certified letters of recommendation from 3 bank accounts/credit card companies in the states. Perhaps you might want to bring those with you BEFORE you leave. Once I was here, it was a lot harder to get those letters sent to me. Once I had the accounts....I chose one in pesos and one in dollars, I was fine. I wired an inital $10,000 and another $3000 after that. That was what I used to start living with. Then I just used the credit cards and ATM/Check card of my accounts in the states. I continue to do that because like Ken, I am not all that trusting of the banks here. I was okay with wiring the 13,000 because I knew it would be gone fast as I was buying things for my apartment etc. I am fine with a smaller amount of money, but definitely would not keep a lot in a dollar account here. I even bought a new car with my Check card! Also you will find that a lot of businesses will accept US checks. I pay my utilities to my condo administration with a check. It's much better than changing pesos into dollars all the time! best advice I can give is eliminate banking here as much as possible. The lines are REALLY long, the customer service REALLY sucks and there's all sorts of stupid taxes and charges taken out of the account. Your money is definitely safer where it is.