allset2travel

Thanks.
How about my second questions, anyone?

jason8612

for your Q2 you will hear people yelling "Cambio Cambio" all down Calle Florida in BA. They all offer quite similar rate. They will usually take you to a kiosk or shop back where the owner will change the money for you.

A few tips what we did:
- We checked online and found the blue rate being around 9.8 for the day we wanted to change.
- We went with new $100 bills. Rumor has it you get a better exchange for it
- Before we went there, we looked online how to tell fake bills from real ones. apparently the main 3 things to look at is the watermark, the strip and the paper feel. Also, the fake notes are printed on computer paper with a marker line to make the metal strip (quite poor)
- We changed a small amount the first day (about $500) to feel out the place. Then the next day since we knew where the point of changing was, we just went directly to the same person and changed more. We also checked the bills so we knew they were legit.
- Don't feel bad for checking each bill in the shop. We did, and a lot of people did.
- You can usually find a place by seeing a lineup of locals.

So overall, we didn't have any issues at all. And we got a good rate (better than Xoom and of course the hotel rate)

If you don't feel comfortable, Xoom is a good option also. But they only have 1 point in BA and are open Mon-Fri only.

A lot of local restaurants and shops will offer a decent dollar blue rate. Most restaurants that we went to offered 9/$. 9.7 was a bit better

But for comparison if you were to change $500
Official/credit card rate of about 6.5/$ - 3250
Blue rate of 10.5/$ (actually seems to be 10.8/$ currently) - 5250

Meaning you'll get 2000 more pesos. Which at the official rate that's $300

allset2travel

Jason,
Thank you for the details. Very helpful not only for me, but for all those who browse here. ^
I think the Mod should consider making this a "sticky"

loofa133

We just got back from 2 weeks in BA and had zero problems getting the blue rate. We converted at the Ortiz location mentioned here before which is open from 9-5 M-F and also converted on Florida St. a few times. We also used a service who came to our apartment once. The Ortiz St changer is particularly humorous since they have a cop guarding the place and the cop opens the door for you.

We had no issues at all converting and did not get any fake bills. All of the places we used were professional looking exchanges and we didn't do exchanges on the street.

We also used US dollars to make purchases in several cases at the going blue rate.

I will note that nearly every purchase we made was negotiable in price. If we paid in pesos we often got 10-15% off by asking (even at some restaurants). If we paid in dollars, we got the blue rate for the dollars, but no discount, so it made sense to convert our dollars to pesos at the blue rate and then negotiate a discount off all purchases in pesos. So my advice would be to ask if there is a cash discount when buying anything. Even at the fanciest stores, there was.

Another interesting fact - tax free still exists at some stores. My wife bought a ton of clothes and the tax refund is paid at the peso government market rate (not the blue rate). So a win win when paying for stuff with blue pesos and getting the tax back in dollars converted at the non-blue rate.

jason8612

Thanks!

Also, I could recommend asking the hotel staff if they want USD for ARS. They might agree at the blue market rate. They get a good deal (as I think the buying USD is like 2ARS over the selling rate) and you are less likely of having issues.

allset2travel

Yes, indeed.
I think I will try to pay my hotel bills with pesos if they offer reasonable rate (or I use the pesos obtained via blue rate exchange).
Thanks again.

SoFlyOn

A map of Calle Florida showing where the arbolitos are for exchanging currency:
http://www.lanacion.com.ar/1655459-p...a-city-portena

allset2travel

Thanks for the link.

Wow, pretty amazing that blue dollar rate hits 11 pesos.

Despite translation, not sure I understand fully. Is the government sort of cracking down near Florida street?

Schultzois

I usually change with a person I have known many years and who brings the pesos to my house (and usually offers a Very good rate - generally as good as or better than any of the downtown places) but as he's on vacation for a few weeks, I used the place mentioned above based on reports in this thread, and an independent reference from a visitor I met who had changed there successfully.

Simple, easy transaction. $10.80 this morning on a small exchange (couple hundred dollars), and although I think I would usually have a better rate with my usual guy (guessing $11 or so), I would have to change more with him for it to be worth his while to come to me. So, when I want to make a small, quick exchange, this is now my place.

Given the volatility (today's rate to buy dollars has already reached 11,45 by some reports), I will personally stick to changing small amounts for now.

Schultzois

I'm still curious about the exchanges mentioned (and will go to PDP in a couple days). If bkkth actually managed to buy AR pesos using dollars at anything near the rates at which Uruguayan exchange houses were buying AR pesos (13+) then I'm curious indeed, and may take some of my dollars to change for AR pesos there on my last day before coming back to Buenos Aires. Not counting on it, but would be nice!

Gaucho100K

For those going to Uruguay, you should be able to draw US$ cash from ATM machines. Else, you can draw Pesos Uruguayos and then purchase Dollars to bring over to Argentina.

SoFlyOn

N.B. During the tourist season, it's highly likely that some ATMs will run out of dollars over the weekend. The ATMs are restocked around 1pm on Monday afternoons. So it's best to go during the week, avoiding Monday mornings.

You will have to pay a surcharge I think of ~US$5 per transaction (and whatever your own bank charges per transaction). Note too that a maximum of US$300 is allowed per transaction, but you can do multiple transactions at the same ATM up till your daily limit. If you can use a debit card that refunds charges, you will be much better off!

Flying Machine

Nice to know I was able to assit. Yes, a very straight forward place to exchange.

SoFlyOn

For those of you that would like to exchange USD for pesos at a good rate (pre-negociated), and have them delivered to where you are staying in BsAs you can PM me for a reference.

I've known this person for many years, as have many other FTers who can also provide you with a personal reference.

For safety and security reasons (as well as legal), I'm not willing to post more information about this service on this thread.

dhring

Hi, I will be arriving on a Friday evening and would appreciate any recommendations/advice for convenient and reliable exchange on Saturday in or near Palermo. PM is fine. Gracias in advance.