As if a deadly pig flu wasn’t enough to deal with, Mexicans were hit with a 5.6 magnitude earthquake today.  The silver lining in all this is that the US dollar can now buy more pesos.  Last time I was in Mexico I gave the exchange lady $100 and she gave me a gum wrapper.

MEXICO CITY (Dow Jones)–A 5.6 magnitude earthquake shook Mexico City early Monday afternoon, sending frightened residents into the streets and saturating phone lines, but causing no apparent significant damage.

The quake rattled nerves of Mexicans already coping with an outbreak of the swine flu that has killed an estimated 149 people.

The combination of the higher death toll from the flu and the quake weakened the peso, which had lost nearly 5% from Friday’s close to MXN13.975 per U.S. dollar.

In other news, 70 year old Mexican ladies have balls of steel.

Mexicans, accustomed to earthquakes, largely shrugged off the tremor, worried more about the killer flu. "Ah, we’re accustomed to earthquakes around here," said Leopoldo Garcia, a 70-year-old retiree walking around the city.

via WSJ