Exchanging Currency

[QUOTE=ScottyDog23;436839]Hey,

My experience in Colombia and a dozen other countries is that ATM s are safe and offer a good rate.

Is this a good plan in BA?[/QUOTE]I do not think so. I guess that ATMs will in any case give you pesos at the official rate, while if you buy pesos in the street you'll have a much more favorable rate. I suppose that the same applies when one pays with a credit card at a shop.

BTW, I am going to BsAs for some days next Wed, after some years of absence. Do shops / restaurants accept cash payments in Euros / dollars? If so, what exchange rate can I expect?

Thanks!

[QUOTE=ScottyDog23;436884]Thanks for all the In-put..I will exchange on the street. Question...I plan to buy some antiques...will merchants give me 10 to One if I pay in Dollars?

Thanks in advance for replys.[/QUOTE]Alright Dog!

Some of the guys would be happy to help you exchange dollars at a favorable rate and some of the guys will actually buy them from you.

Enough about that for now.

Antiques:

The city is full of interesting stuff to take back home.

The most interesting stuff can't be imported into ANY country in the world or it can't be removed from Argentina.

Argento knows everything about this subject but he has been silent for quite a while. You may be able to PM him and ask him a few questions.

I have lived here for 8 years and even when I ask how much something cost, especially an antique in an antique store the prices quoted are ALWAYS in dollars but Nothing is clearly marked so who the hell really knows how much it cost!

If these assholes can rip you a New one in any particular manner down here they will never hesitate if you are a "Tourista!

That is a national pastime.

What's down here?

All sorts of shit! Some real, some fakes but with the internet and E-Bay you won't find any special deals but all this chatter may not mean a thing if it's just for personal use.

So how much is that little hooker in the window?

1500.00 .

1500.00 what? Pesos?

No, $1500.00 Dollars because Antigues and Real Estate are quoted in Dollars! BS!

Will they sell their stuff at 10 to 1 ?

Probably not!

Also, the stuff is scattered throughout the city.

San Telmo, Esmeralda St. , Libertad, etc.

Be glad to show you around.

Thanks,

TL.

My favorite story is about this guy I met down here recently and I asked him what he does for a living .

He told me that he Makes Antiques in China !

Very Funny !

[QUOTE=TejanoLibre;436899]Also, the stuff is scattered throughout the city.

San Telmo[/QUOTE]On Defensa in San Telmo there's a few places selling some properly amazing Art Deco furniture, but the last time I checked (3 years ago) it was expensive as hell. More expensive than London prices.

Scotty Dog / Out for Flesh.

ATM's and credit cards are a horrible idea in BA as they use the official exchange rate. Occasionally, shops and restaurants can be talked into a decent exchange rate for cash but it's uncommon since dollars are only in demand by relatively small part of the population. Plus I find a lot of people that think the official rate is the "real" rate and anybody wanting an exchange at the blue rate is being unreasonable. A wad of 100 peso notes will usually get you a lot farther than a wad of foreign currency in regular life.

Bring clean 100's (dollars or euros) and exchange them in one of the suggested cuevas. As long as you are not an idiot or horribly unlucky, you'll be fine.

Do not buy on the street without street smarts and good castellano.

Either hire Silver Star limo and Fred, the owner, to pick you up at the airport and he'll do the "blue market" exchange as part of his luxury service--very straight trustable guy who has been in business for years.

Or.

Arrange for TL to do the club tour with you. This is TL business. TL will charge you something--and he'll do it with you or if you are in BA and no interest in mongering clubs or prefer to learn the city on your own; take TL to lunch and he'll do you a favor.

Or PM Daddy Rulz and ask him pretty please with sugar on top and buy him a thank you drink.

[QUOTE=EasyGo;436907]Scotty Dog / Out for Flesh.

ATM's and credit cards are a horrible idea in BA as they use the official exchange rate. Occasionally, shops and restaurants can be talked into a decent exchange rate for cash but it's uncommon since dollars are only in demand by relatively small part of the population. Plus I find a lot of people that think the official rate is the "real" rate and anybody wanting an exchange at the blue rate is being unreasonable. A wad of 100 peso notes will usually get you a lot farther than a wad of foreign currency in regular life.

Bring clean 100's (dollars or euros) and exchange them in one of the suggested cuevas. As long as you are not an idiot or horribly unlucky, you'll be fine.[/QUOTE]I guess then that euros are also happily accepted (I expected that, but just want to make sure. I am coming from Spain).

[QUOTE=OutforFlesh;436920]I guess then that euros are also happily accepted (I expected that, but just want to make sure. I am coming from Spain).[/QUOTE]I'm from Barcelona, here since last Wednesday. I exchanged euros using a friend of mine who works in realstate business. He usually call someone to come to his office from the cueva for safety reasons. I was talking with that person from the cueva and he told me a couple of things maybe useful about exchanging euros. I'm going to write it in Spanish because my English is not good enough, I'm sorry:

1) El mercado del euro en Argentina no es tan liquido como el del dolar porque mayoritariamente se trabaja más en dolares. Eso hace que las horquillas entre venta / compra sean siempre algo más grandes o sea que te penaliza un poco (no mucho). Igualmente si vas a cambiar los euros a dolares en España tambien tendrás una comision o sea que... "lo comido por lo servido".

2) El billete de euro cuando más grande mejor. Por suerte yo traje billetes de 500 euros cosa que al chaval le gusto. En verdad cuando mi amigo de la inmobiliaria llamó para pedir cambio, no solo le preguntaron cuanto quería cambiar sinó tambien qué billetes eran. Una vez supo que eran de 500 nos dijo la tasa de cambio que fué más alta que para billetes de 50, por ejemplo.

I suppose when you go to the cueva they are going to give you the worst exchange rate possible anyway (that's Argentina! But if you can choose, try to bring with you big banknotes! You are not losing anything and you know like me that 500 euros banknotes in Spain have a lot of controls from "Spanish AFIP" so better to spend them abroad!

Here I'm if you need something!

Xavi.

[QUOTE=Gikubik;436921]I'm from Barcelona, here since last Wednesday. I exchanged euros using a friend of mine who works in realstate business. He usually call someone to come to his office from the cueva for safety reasons. I was talking with that person from the cueva and he told me a couple of things maybe useful about exchanging euros. I'm going to write it in Spanish because my English is not good enough, I'm sorry:

1) El mercado del euro en Argentina no es tan liquido como el del dolar porque mayoritariamente se trabaja más en dolares. Eso hace que las horquillas entre venta / compra sean siempre algo más grandes o sea que te penaliza un poco (no mucho). Igualmente si vas a cambiar los euros a dolares en España tambien tendrás una comision o sea que... "lo comido por lo servido".

2) El billete de euro cuando más grande mejor. Por suerte yo traje billetes de 500 euros cosa que al chaval le gusto. En verdad cuando mi amigo de la inmobiliaria llamó para pedir cambio, no solo le preguntaron cuanto quería cambiar sinó tambien qué billetes eran. Una vez supo que eran de 500 nos dijo la tasa de cambio que fué más alta que para billetes de 50, por ejemplo.

I suppose when you go to the cueva they are going to give you the worst exchange rate possible anyway (that's Argentina! But if you can choose, try to bring with you big banknotes! You are not losing anything and you know like me that 500 euros banknotes in Spain have a lot of controls from "Spanish AFIP" so better to spend them abroad!

Here I'm if you need something!

Xavi.[/QUOTE]Thanks for the superb info and advice. Yes, I was expecting that the difference official / blue was not going to be as wide for the Euro. But I wasn't expecting that big notes were going to make a difference. Actually I would expect that smaller notes were easier to resell / use later on. Unless you use them to stuff suitcases and make legally doubtful payments. Which of course won't be the case, right?

[QUOTE=OutforFlesh;436922]Thanks for the superb info and advice. Yes, I was expecting that the difference official / blue was not going to be as wide for the Euro. But I wasn't expecting that big notes were going to make a difference. Actually I would expect that smaller notes were easier to resell / use later on. Unless you use them to stuff suitcases and make legally doubtful payments. Which of course won't be the case, right?[/QUOTE]He told me this notes are "más prácticos". As you, I didn't understand... Anyway maybe difference is not so big with smaller notes, and maybe when you go to the cueva they tell you they don't care, you know how it goes in this city... Anyway I think it's worth knowing so, if you have any of this notes (and you are expecting to spend this amount or more) you can bring it with you. And for sure you shouldn't bring notes smaller than 50€, just in case.

You are from Spain and you are here for chicas? I can't believe it! Spain is a paradise if you compare with this country where everything is expensive and they want to suck with condom most of cases! A nightmare!

Good luck!

Xavi.

[QUOTE=Gikubik;436924]He told me this notes are "más prácticos". As you, I didn't understand... Anyway maybe difference is not so big with smaller notes, and maybe when you go to the cueva they tell you they don't care, you know how it goes in this city... Anyway I think it's worth knowing so, if you have any of this notes (and you are expecting to spend this amount or more) you can bring it with you. And for sure you shouldn't bring notes smaller than 50€, just in case.

You are from Spain and you are here for chicas? I can't believe it! Spain is a paradise if you compare with this country where everything is expensive and they want to suck with condom most of cases! A nightmare!

Good luck!

Xavi.[/QUOTE]I am in a business trip and want to make good use of my extra time.

[QUOTE=OutforFlesh;436929]I am in a business trip and want to make good use of my extra time.[/QUOTE]So like me. You have a PM. Good luck in the Cueva!

Xavi.

[QUOTE=MiamiBob;436908]Do not buy on the street without street smarts and good castellano.[/QUOTE]Odd, I did just that. Didn't exchange a lot of money at once ($200 my first day, $300 the next), but there are a million "cambio, cambio, cambio" guys out on Florida street, and have not had any problem spending the AR $100 notes I got from the first one just south of Cordoba.

I have rudimentary Mexican / American Spanish, and pretty much anyone with a year of high school Spanish can do it:

"Cuanto cada dolare?

"Nueve. Veinte".

"Bien. Tengo dos ciento".

(guy takes out the calculator, shows me 9.2 * 200 = 1840).

"Bien".

Guy counts out the money.

"Gracias".

That easy. If you're doing it in daytime with a bunch of people around, and not converting huge tons of money at once, what's the risk? A few bad bills?

[QUOTE=EdHandy;436939]
(guy takes out the calculator, shows me 9.2 * 200 = 1840).

"Bien".

Guy counts out the money.

"Gracias".

That easy. If you're doing it in daytime with a bunch of people around, and not converting huge tons of money at once, what's the risk? A few bad bills?[/QUOTE]

Two risks: a small one, that you'll get dodgy bills (admittedly I've never received one in 6 years of changing on Florida, but I always go to the places recommended on here, NOT to random 'arboles'.)

And the second one: the exchange rate available on the day you got 9.2 may have been 9.8 in the recommended places!

On today's news. Big rise in the official rate (up 15 c in one day) coupled with a huge drop in the blue rate (down 40 c in one day).

Resulting in Official = 6.16 and Blue = 9.18, bringing the differential down below 50%.

Damn.

Although pretty pleased with myself for having changed a huge wad last week. I'd have been 5,700 pesos down if I'd changed them today!

And even worse news (for those of us that only have banking in Argentina), the 'tax' on using credit cards abroad just went up from 20% to 35%.

I say 'tax', but this is just legalized robbery. So when I go to Canada for Christmas in 3 weeks time, if I take my lad to McDonalds and pay with my credit card, this government will add 35% and steal it from me. How the fcuk the people here let them get away with this sh1 t is one of life's great mysteries!