What is the difference between chilis for curry and chile peppers for Mexican food?

What specific kinds would you use for the two genres of food? Where are they in the store?What is the difference between chilis for curry and chile peppers for Mexican food?
This is a good question, and while these cultures take their chiles seriously and purists only use certain ones, many of them can be used interchangeably, especially when people end up living in a place where they can't get what they used back home. I know that Mexicans have a LOT of different chiles (fresh: jalapeno, habanero, serrano, etc., and dried: pasilla, guajillo, and smoked: chipotle, etc., just to name a few). I worked with Indians and Mexicans and the Indians would use the fresh jalapenos and serranos, and dried cayenne that the Mexicans used to make their Indian food. I'm not sure of the names of the traditional chiles used in Indian food and curries, or if they're available in U.S. markets. I know they also used the small Thai chiles (also called bird chiles/peppers) to cook with, too. If you're talking about Caribbean/Trinidadian curry, they use scotch bonnet peppers/habaneros (be careful!! They are HOT!).

You can find most of them in the fresh produce section of some stores, and many of the dried ones can be found in the Latino section of the packaged goods in most stores these days. If you want to cook these types of cuisines, I would ask people from Mexico or India/Pakistan/Bangladesh/Trinidad/etc. what they use at home. You might be surprised (as I was) to find that many Mexicans (and other Latinos) use the canned/jarred peppers to cook with.

I would recommend that you just buy some and taste them and see what YOU like. My sister and I are always suggesting new chiles to each other and sharing when we buy a lot of one kind.

Also, as long as you're interested in chiles/peppers, try some of the Peruvian ones (aji amarillo and panca and rocoto--watch out for that rocoto!!!); they're really good, and are available in processed/pureed form in jars in many international aisles of regular grocery stores. OK. That's enough out of me. Have fun.What is the difference between chilis for curry and chile peppers for Mexican food?
The first answer is all correct. But I am reminded of my first steps into Indian cooking. Many Indian cook books refer to chile peppers without an explanation. For the first six my Indian cooking used chili powder. Sounded right! But it was the Tex-Mex blend!! I had invented a fusion of India- Mexican cuisine. I developed a taste for this mistaken cuisine!