Buenos Aires, where dollars are king

We arrived at our final stop in South America, Buenos Aires, after a short ferry crossing from Colonia de Sacremento in Uruguay. Watching the city come into view on the far side of the river was definitely a mixed emotions thing, I am not going to miss the endless packing and unpacking but the day to day experiencing new things is definitely going to be a loss.

On the advice of several people we have spoken to on the road we arrived carrying dollars. I was a bit confused/worried about this as no one mentioned this when we were in Mendoza or Salta, and also because if we withdraw dollars we pay an exchange fee and then (in sane parts of the modern world) you pay another fee when you convert the dollars into whatever currency you are using.




In Argentina this no longer applies, the exchange rate is currently quoted as 5.1 pesos to the dollar and around 8 pesos to the pound, if you withdraw from and ATM or use your card this is what you get, however on the street you can get rates of around 8.40 pesos to the dollar. I am a typically nervous person who doesn't like to take risks so I was worried about this exchange however most hotels, restaurants and shops will change your money at a rate of 7 pesos to the dollar. I bought a leather jacket while in Buenos Aires and as part of the negotiation you get a discount for cash and can get the dollar rate as 8 pesos to the dollar with very little persuasion.

The upshot is that by withdrawing dollars and taking no risks in changing them into pesos we got an effective rate of 10.5 pesos to the pound, if you have argentine friends they will probably take the dollars off your hands for 8 pesos (12 pesos to the pound) so take plenty of money (in dollars) and don't use your credit card unless you have to!

This also explains the dollar madness we saw in Uruguay. An Argentine using the cash point to withdraw dollars in Colonia gets them at the quoted buy rate of a dollar for 5.3 pesos. He then takes these dollars on a small ferry ride to Buenos Aires and wham, the 530 pesos he spent to get 100 dollars is now worth over 800 pesos! Now I am sure there is a loser in this transaction (I have a feeling the Argentine banks are probably taking a bath on this somewhere along the line) and so this situation probably won't last forever but right now you'd be crazy not to take advantage.

I know this is a food blog but I wanted to cover the situation as 1) i find it crazy and fascinating and 2) it has only been happening for the last 4 months and not a lot has been written about it online, my excuse being that by doing this we were able to feel much better about eating out at the fabulous restaurants in Buenos Aires safe in the knowledge we were getting excellent value for money.