Paying with USD
 

As each day passes, the pesos devaluation is in full effect. Officially through the Official rates, the currency has devalued roughly 15% in 2012 and 5% thus far in 2013 vs the USD.

I trying to figure out if paying USD at restaurants, shops, etc will get you that much further of late, will it?

I hope 2013 is not like 2000-2001 for BA, just starting to get more into this as my trip there is upcoming in 2 weeks.

Yes, US Dollars will be widely accepted, and you can expect to get a far better rate than the official 5,08-ish pesos per Dollar.

Your best bet is to exchange the money you want to spend in one chunk rather than trying to negotiate rates at every place you go to. The best ways to do this are at the cambios on Florida St or using Xoom to transfer money here for pickup. If you change a larger amount, you should get better rates too. Just remember to bring crisp, new hundred dollar bills.

I've read on here about numerous instances of receiving fake pesos in exchanging on Florida St. or with guys just walking around and offering to exchange. How common is this? I am reasonably confident I could spot a fake U.S. note, but not nearly so with Argentine Pesos, which from the little I've ordered and receive, seem far easier to counterfeit than USD.

There are many reports of this on various Bulletin Boards. There is really no straight answer to your question. I think its best to lay out the facts and then each person needs to make his/her own (hopefully informed) decision.

This board has plenty of information but also check Trip Advisor, where you will have a ton of information and also first hand reports of how different experiences went.

I would refer you to my thread and post on cuevas:

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/argen...ge-cuevas.html

I suggest you change money at a cueva. It's not risk free but its much less risky than dealing with some guy who's there today, gone tomorrow on Florida.

You will get the best rate. Then you can pay for everything in Pesos and not be trying to peddle foreign currency in restaurants, etc.

Last time in BA i changed a little money at the airport at a terrible rate to have pesos for transportation to the city. Do the taxi drivers take US$?

They may.... do you speak any Spanish..? You may need to be able to communicate to make sure you agree on an exchange rate for your Dollars. Not saying its impossible, but there are better options... like get a little Pesos from an ATM and bring down cash in US$ to get Pesos once you are in town... else you could pay a car service from Manuel Tienda Leon and use your credit card to pay for that, and deal with the forex trade once you are in town.

From today's Clarín website
 

"El dólar paralelo tocó ayer los $10 en las cuevas del microcentro porteño..."

So, the Argentina peso is now valued at around a dime. No end in sight to the widening of the gap between the official and unofficial exchange rates as the "chavization" of the economy continues.

For foreign travelers there is certainly plenty of incentive to take the risk of receiving a few bad bills, to avoid changing money at the increasingly ridiculous official rate.

Yes, there is quite a bit of money to be saved if you pay in US$ or Euros cash, or if you can get Pesos at the blue market rate. Spreads are now very wide apart, so remember that you will not get the sell rate (which is the rate that is published everywhere), and that if you bring another currency that is not the US Dollar, the rate will be less favorable as you will be arbitraged against the Dollar before you get converted into Pesos.

It is best to have a local connection to a reliable exchange service and thereby mitigate the risks of trading "on the street".

How long before most tickets start becoming like Venezuela with restrictions on who can purchase them and from which point of sale?

Im sorry but Im not up to speed on whats going on in Venezuela, could you perhaps elaborate...?

Most international air carriers have something like this in the fare rules.
TICKETS MAY NOT BE SOLD IN VENEZUELA. TICKETS MAY NOT BE SOLD USING A VENEZUELAN ISSUED CREDIT CARD.
(international fares-example SQ TPE-KUL)
FOR TICKETS ISSUED USING VENEZUELA ISSUED CREDIT CARDS FIRST SEGMENT MUST BE ON THE TICKETING CARRIER AND TRAVEL MUST COMMENCE IN VENEZUELA.
(CCS-IAH UA)
Similar capital restrictions (that were actually much worse) were placed under Chavez but I'm not sure about the new leader-they should still be there, though.

A friend just called United in Argentina. They informed him they will no longer accept pesos for payment either in person or online. All transactions will be in USD, so if true, it looks like getting the blue rate may be over unless you have an Argentina credit card and can pay in pesos.

No pesos cash accepted makes sense.... but the transactions will still be denominated in Pesos, although for all practical purposes, the Peso per-se is dead because once a non resident has to use Plastic the rate becomes the official 5.x thereby killing the savings..... so yes, semantic details aside this means GAME OVER.