Anywhere To Change Money On Weekend?

[Joe]

Just make the rounds of the Chinos in you're neighborhood, if you don't want to slep all the way to Florida...

 

[polostar88]

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.

I didn't mean that I'd let a taxidriver take me somewhere, I'd be very paranoid about that. No, I mean the taxi driver would exchange it for me himself, on the spot; one did on the way into town from Ezeiza. As for Florida being safe or not, consider that the poster asking that question is a girl who doesn't know the area, who needs spine surgery, and who you'd be encouraging to visit an otherwise empty downtown on a weekend night to exchange money with total strangers.

I think places will be open this week on Monday, Tuesday btw, but not sure.

A general question; the woman at a cueva is friendly but always asks me if I live in BsAs. This is making me nervous...anyone have any idea why she would be doing this?

 

[nlaruccia]

I didn't mean that I'd let a taxidriver take me somewhere, I'd be very paranoid about that. No, I mean the taxi driver would exchange it for me himself, on the spot; one did on the way into town from Ezeiza. As for Florida being safe or not, consider that the poster asking that question is a girl who doesn't know the area, who needs spine surgery, and who you'd be encouraging to visit an otherwise empty downtown on a weekend night to exchange money with total strangers.

I think places will be open this week on Monday, Tuesday btw, but not sure.

A general question; the woman at a cueva is friendly but always asks me if I live in BsAs. This is making me nervous...anyone have any idea why she would be doing this?

But if you answered her and told her if you do or don't live in BsAs, why does she keep asking you? Just tell her: voy y vengo. About having taxi drivers change your money, or anyone that you don't know for that matter, make sure they don't give you fake peso bills.

 

[Roxana]

I didn't mean that I'd let a taxidriver take me somewhere, I'd be very paranoid about that. No, I mean the taxi driver would exchange it for me himself, on the spot; one did on the way into town from Ezeiza. As for Florida being safe or not, consider that the poster asking that question is a girl who doesn't know the area, who needs spine surgery, and who you'd be encouraging to visit an otherwise empty downtown on a weekend night to exchange money with total strangers.

I think places will be open this week on Monday, Tuesday btw, but not sure.

A general question; the woman at a cueva is friendly but always asks me if I live in BsAs. This is making me nervous...anyone have any idea why she would be doing this?

Friendly or not friendly, your priority is the exchange rate the cueva offers to you.

 

[polostar88]

Friendly or not friendly, your priority is the exchange rate the cueva offers to you.

What can this mean? Did you read what I said? Her repeated questions are making me nervous.

 

[Silvie]

A general question; the woman at a cueva is friendly but always asks me if I live in BsAs. This is making me nervous...anyone have any idea why she would be doing this?

She probably likes you.

 

[kevinbryan]

I found that if you go into "Galerias" you can exchange in the open public and at a decent rate without much harranguing. ..theres one in Once on the pasteur stop that if you ask around they will tell you.