There’s a nasty, cumbersome reality to the money situation down here in Argentina. The economy here is wildly volatile, and so too, then, is the Argentine peso. Because of this, US dollars are undervalued by the Argentine government, and overvalued on the streets (because it’s a stable investment against the volatile peso). So, you have all these juggling rates to deal with:

Official Exchange (currently 8.7 pesos to the dollar)
This is what you’ll get taking your US bills to an exchange house, or with credit card usage and ATM withdrawal.

Dolar Blue (currently around 12.8 to the dollar)
This is the black market exchange you can get on the street, which I will explain the ins and outs of shortly.

Tarjeta / Tourist credit card (currently around 11 pesos to the dollar)
I see this rate as kind of the Rosetta Stone. This is what Argentine credit card holders get for the peso when spending with a credit card internationally. That is to say, what the world economy demands from the value of the peso. Or, closer to the actual buying power of the peso.

I despise dealing with money here. It makes me seethe.. And part of the reason is because you end up having to go way out of your way to get a few more pesos out of your dollar, which feels awful and slimy. Here’s the rub, though: you’re not just getting better buying power for your money, you’re getting something closer to the actual value of your money. If you’re not willing to go way out of your way to deal with it, you are giving your money away.

“Sounds like a hassle, is it worth it?” Hell yeah it’s a hassle, and you don’t know the half of it yet, and unfortunately, yes it’s absolutely worth it. Simply put, your money is worth around 40% more on the blue dollar than the official rate. So, with a proverbial wave of the wand, you can transform your $500 into $900.

And here’s the bullshit you have to put up with it to make that happen:

The Caves on Florida Street:
Near downtown, hidden in plain sight are the money changers on Florida street. In a rolling procession of rumbling syllables, the words “cambio cambio cambio” seem to come at you from every corner, though it’s not often easy to tell who is saying it. You approach any of these hundreds of street agents (using the same selection criteria you might chose when picking a seat partner on a crowded bus) and they will tell you the rate they’re willing to pay for your dollars, and then whisk you away, sometimes several blocks, to a “cave” – usually a tour office, though once a closed news stand, where a guy with a calculator and a characteristic lack of emotion will swap moneys with you. The street guy gets the percentage over the cave’s rate as a commission, so there’s some negotiating you can do as well. It all sounds like it can be dangerous and predatory, but there are really no reports of it outside of the occasional fake bills. Remember, this operation is more or less of out in the middle of everything, in broad daylight. The caves then sell the dollars to traders and investors.

The US dollar is basically illegal in Argentina – not to have, but to obtain it – so then how do you get USD? You have two options for this:

1) You bring it with you from the states. Not ideal for obvious reasons. Plus, people want fresh, clean, starchy-crisp $100s, which means care of your bills during the trip. So, no stuffing them in your socks and underpants.

2) you go across the “river” to Uruguay where the ATMs dispense $100 USD. BELIEVE THAT! For $30 per direction in tickets, and an optional couple of nights in a hostel, you can get the 1 hour ferry to Colonia de Sacramento Uruguay and get in a long line for a Uruguayan ATM that spits out Uruguayan pesos… and dollars. So.. A couple might end up spending about $200 for a weekend in Uruguay on an unpleasant errand. Is it worth all that trouble.. Sadly but enthusiastically, yes.. And you get a sweet weekend holiday out of it. Of course, the fact that most any business in Uruguay will accept USD, argentine peso and Uruguayan peso is another massively confusing marvel of economical logistics.

So, that’s the money situation. I wanted to talk about it now because I don’t want to talk about it later, and more importantly, because our weekend in Uruguay was AWESOME in it’s own right, and I didn’t want to filthy up our wonderful weekend in Colonia with this sleazy nonsense. The place deserves to be more than a trip to the ATM, and we will treat it thus in a following post.

Onward!