Siempre Viajando

No. If that were possible you'd be seeing a huge flood of pesos into the US.

And I doubt you can change them at the "blue" rate either, in the US. I suspect Argentine pesos are worthless in the US.

You CAN change Argentine pesos into Chilean pesos (which are fully convertible into dollars or Euros or whatever) in Santiago, Chile, at something close to the "blue" rate. But I'm certain that the official exchange rate is meaningless outside of Argentina.

britenbsas

There are some places in London which are buying AR$ at the official rate (plus their margin of course) and I've brought a wad of pesos back to change a couple of times. The place I normally use is currently offering AR$16.99/£

Gaucho100K

Well yes... but, NO.

In reality, this depends on where you are in the US and who you know. Its fair to say that for the average FTer, AR$ currency in the US is going to be pretty much worthless.

However, in locations like MIA or LAX, if you know the right people in the Argentine community you will be able to trade AR$ currency at rates that are comparable to the current Blue Market rate plus the appropriate spread for the fact that you are placing the trade in another Hemisphere. The spread will vary depending on how unstable/volatile the Blue rate is trading in Buenos Aires.

SoFlyOn

Ah. Argentine expat vultures. Got it!

Duke777

Went to Calle Florida to exchange some AR$ today at lunch. No one saying "cambio". Walked a few blocks and didn't hear anything. Is there a major crackdown in force?

spainflyer

Dude! They saw you coming! They don't want to buy pesos; they want to buy dollars!!

Duke777

Haha my bad. US$ for AR$. This morning, I was able to exchange. Not at a great rate, but anything is better than 8.5 and ATM fees.

spainflyer

Yes, the rate has dropped over the past couple of days -- from about 15.70 to 14.60. What this indicates, I don't know, but certainly it is not the overall strength of the Argentine economy. On the other hand, the MerVal is very strong.

GUWonder

Places that were giving us 14.60 or so closer to the start of the week were giving us 14.20 today. Not a big difference to us, as we are running this mainly to rack up points/miles on the cheap by paying in ARS cash for hotel stays that would otherwise still take place.

When should we expect a higher denomination ARS note to take the place of the 100 ARS note?

Gaucho100K

The need for AR$200, AR$500 and AR$1000 notes is long overdo, but it seems unlikely that the CFK regime will introduce these notes during the current term of government as this would be seen by most as a clear acknowledgment of the rampant level of inflation.... the logistics of transporting cash in AR$100 bills has gotten silly.... still, few think that anything will happen until the K-Gang leaves the Pink House.

jaymar01

From Slate Magazine:

The Cash Hustlers of Buenos Aires
Getting your dollars in Argentina is now as easy as ordering a pizza.

http://www.slate.com/articles/news_a...ill_bring.html

GUWonder

I've got a wad of AR$ I would like to exchange into GBP and would like to reverse my blue dollar exchange. Any suggestions on where to look in London.

Anyone else using the blue dollar exchanges to rack up hotel or airline points? Accor, for example, has some interesting promos running now and tying that up with settling ARS-denominated bills with blue-dollar-exchanged ARS can help make trips to Argentina even more of a bargain for as long as this dual exchange system is maintained.

britenbsas

I've used Best Foreign Exchange several times - they have branches in Victoria, Liverpool Street, Cannon Street, the Strand and Hammersmith.

http://www.bestforeignexchange.com/E...ange-rates.php

Whether they buy AR$ depends on the day - sometimes they do, sometimes they don't! It's not consistent enough for me to want to risk exchanging $ or £ when I'm in Argentina and bringing the AR$ back to London with the aim of making a profit.

I have a friend arriving from Argentina tomorrow with a wad of AR$ and called them today to check - they confirmed they are currently buying at a rate of AR$16.99/£ which is way better than the AR$23/£ currently being offered in the cuevas. Normally the exchange rate shown on their website drops to zero to indicate when they aren't buying.

NickB

How easily/well do Euros (rather than USD) trade in the cuevas? Will I take a significant hit in exchange rate terms in selling euros rather than US dollars and would I be better off changing my euros to US dollars and take these to Argentina instead?

My exchanging euros to dollars first here will typically entail an additional 2.5-3% hit in terms of exchange rate loss so if the "premium" to be paid in spreads for EUR/ARS rather than USD/ARS is not more than 1 or 2%, I would probably be better off taking euros. If the premium to be paid is more (or if it is significantly more hassle to find a cueva accepting euros), then the double conversion EUR>USD>ARS would still be worth it.

britenbsas

You won't have any problems whatsoever in changing them but will definitely take a hit in the exchange rate. I changed GBP300 last week @ 19.1 = ARS5730. Had I changed the GBP into USD in the UK before arriving in Argentina, I'd have had USD465 which would have given me ARS6230 so about a 500 peso hit.

If changing larger quantities it will probably be worthwhile changing to dollars first depending on the relative exchange rates at the time.