During desperate times, Mexican families turn to 'Aunt Pity' Washington Post
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The pawn palace, built of volcanic stone and eccentrically renovated over the past five centuries, once served as the treasure house for conquistador Hernando Cortés. Today it is where Mexicans trade in their wedding rings to pay for their children's school uniforms.
Ordinary desperation brought Evelia Medina to the Nacional Monte de Piedad, literally the National Mountain of Pity. What she needed was some quick cash. In her hand were two slim gold chains and a ruby teardrop ring. Due last week: her telephone bill.
"I would prefer not to give my jewelry away, but what is the alternative?" Medina said. The 43-year-old mother of three, who works as a secretary to a notary, was counting on a $150 loan, which she planned to repay by March. Or maybe April.
"Toys," she said. "They cost a lot." A Christmas shopping spree had killed her budget and brought her to the end of a long line to wait for an appraiser to tell her what her trove was worth.
The National Mountain of Pity is the cash shack of first and last resort for millions of Mexicans -- an estimated one in four families gets a micro loan -- and the business of bailing citizens out of their financial jams is booming.
