ARGENTINA: JK: High Finance

 As one might expect, when you go to a new country you have to adapt to their currency. That means learning to do some mental gymnastics to convert the local currency to your home currency every time you go to pay for something. Simple right?

The official currency in Argentina is the Peso. The three letter code for Argentine Pesos is "ARS". The official exchange rate is around 1 USD = 192 ARS. If you take money out of an ATM or use your credit card you get close to the official exchange rate. So far so good.

But, Argentina suffers from high inflation and currency devaluation. Apparently locals try to hold their savings in US dollars, and specifically in cash. The government has decided to limit how many ARS locals can convert to USD each month. This has created a black market for people wanting to own US dollars. 

This black market is called the "Blue Dollar Market". There is a whole different exchange rate one can get when using US dollars to buy local Argentine Pesos. I was told the Blue Dollar rate can be almost DOUBLE the official rate.

Blue Dollar Rate

 

Devaluation Vs USD

So how do you do it?  If you look like a tourist (they see me coming a mile away) people on the street will subtly call out "Cambio". Cambio means currency exchange in many places around the world. These shady guys are willing to give you more than the official rate for your USD's. But, they want nice clean crisp $100 bills for the top rate, they might take $50's at a slightly lower rate. I was told they sometimes take 20's and Euro's - again at even lower rates. Imagine how uncomfortable your mattress becomes with stacks of $20 bills under it compared to nice neat $100's. This Blue Dollar exchange practice is not legal, but not exactly illegal either.

I needed pesos so I steeled myself for a meeting with a dodgy Cambio guy. But wait - the internet came to my rescue. Some obscure travel blogs suggested a solution. If you go to a Western Union storefront in Argentina you can "wire" yourself USD and they will give you ARS at near the Blue Dollar rate. I doubled checked this. Other bloggers confirmed the concept. I checked the Western Union main website. They don't explicitly say what the exchange rate will be - but confirmed the process of getting local currency. I opened an account with WU online. I registered the debit card associated with my travel bank account and initiated a transfer to myself to be picked up in Buenos Aires. The confirmation receipt showed I was going to get 367 ARS for each USD (versus the 192 official rate). 

I went to the main WU office in Buenos Aires. I waited in line with at least 100 other tourists. After about an hour I was at one of the cashier windows. I showed my transaction receipt and my passport (you have to prove your identity AND prove you are a foreigner). The cashier stuck a HUGE wad of pesos into a cash counting machine. He handed me my 150,000 ARS, asked me to sign a receipt, and I was done. Oh, by the way, the largest Argentine bill is 1,000 ARS. He had given me 100 x 1,000 ARS and 250 x 200 ARS. This is a stack of bills 5" thick.

I've never had the need for Western Union's services. I always thought WU was for immigrants sending money from the US "back home" to banking back waters. Well I don't think that any more. 

The journey continues...

WU storefront