Anywhere To Change Money On Weekend?

[polostar88]

Simple question, all the usual places are closed I think and have been closed most of this week or opened at weird hours. PM me if necessary...thanks!

 

[AngelinBA]

Walked down Florida and Lavalle sts last night. Just about the only people around were those saying "cambio, cambio"

 

[domthegreat]

Anywhere in Palermo/Belgrano? If so, PM me please. Thanks!

 

[Matt84]

Florida should remain open

 

[French jurist]

+1 for Florida. You won't get the best exchange rate though today.

 

[Eugenia]

I am in the same boat wondering how 100 pesos will last me until Monday lol

 

[MRP]

Below is a link to a great service for exchanging money even if you don't have euro / dollar cash. Already tested and it works fine. The only condition is that you have an European bank account. Not sure if they're active over the weekend, but you can send them a whatsapp message or call them. If you have cash go to Florida 948 for a fair deal (my experience).

http://www.mobilewechselstube.com/

 

[polostar88]

I am in the same boat wondering how 100 pesos will last me until Monday lol

Sounds like our only options are going on otherwise deserted Florida and taking our chances there, or else asking a taxi driver who seems "safe"...

 

[ajoknoblauch]

http://www.connectargentina.com/#!argentina/c1oqt is open on Saturdays, at Malabia 1223 and Arenales 2253.

 

[ElQueso]

After 8 years here and more than enough messages related to changing money on Florida, I don't understand why people think Florida is "taking a chance". Particularly when comparing with a taxi driver who seems "safe" to send you to a cambio.

Any taxi driver that tells you where to go to change money will at best be sending you to a place that he may get a bit of a cut for referring you to them. Considering that taxi drivers are well known (not all of them! not even most of them) for trying to switch big bills on unsuspecting passengers for counterfeit bills, it would feel like a crap shoot for me...

Florida will not give the best prices on the weekend, but they are open. Change enough to get through the weekend. Next time remember to change money ahead of time. In this case ahead of time might be before the 10 days or so through "las fiestas" starting about the 23rd and going to the 2nd or 3rd of January at least. (Edit: I just realized that the 2nd and 3rd of January are falling on weekend as well...best to wait until the 6th maybe, this year. Although, I probably won't go change money this week and haven't seen how the prices are in actuality at cambios versus the rates posted on dolarblue.net).

Also, if you can find some locals (often lower-class workers, believe it or not) who need to buy dollars, or maybe even the owners of the apartments you're renting, etc, that can be a good backup. I've sold about $800 USD in the last couple of days to people who are trying to save money or need dollars for a trip, etc. I even had a plumber come over to fix an issue early in the week who was happy to accept a crisp, clean $100 USD note for his services (which were just about right at $1300 pesos). He then told me about his cousin who was looking to get dollars for a trip because AFIP wouldn't give her what she needed. Those Argentinos and Mercosur foreigners who buy dollars from me at times, prefer to buy from me because I treat them like money changers - not like I'm trying to earn money from them. Anyone who wants to buy dollars from a cambio will pay much more, almost always, than the "sell" price listed for selling pesos. I give the average between buy and sell, which is pretty much what most cambios sell pesos for.

Granted, the latter is a bit more difficult to accomplish for people who are here fairly recently and maybe for a fairly short time. But Florida street, in a pinch, is always there except for rare occasions that AFIP makes it too difficult to do business for the smaller, street-level cambios.

And you never know - there was a young woman standing on the street at Santa Fe near Talcahuano the 24th selling pesos and giving a good price for dollars (surprised me). We did business (I needed a little more than I'd changed previously) in a subsuelo galeria off the street.

There is also Junin in front of the cemetery (along restaurant row, mostly between Guido and Vicente Lopez) where there can be folks selling pesos, but those are at very touristy prices, usually as much as a whole peso or more below acceptable prices. On Florida you can often bargain and get them to move upward with their prices when they realize you're at least a tourist who understands the pricing of the blue market, but on Junin they don't bargain much, even with quantity.