Atm Withdrawals, Schwab Cards And The New Exchange Rate...

[ElQueso]

[...]
I think this may be somewhat misleading, because AR$200 could be enough just to cover a taxi fare to and from a club at night. Now if your girls aren't buying a lot of drinks, have rides or whatever, that would make sense... but a night in boliches with covers, including cab fare from place to place can run AR$500 easily, and that's excluding dinner and assuming you stick to beer. [Double that at least if you're single and meeting girls or out with a girlfriend].

I didn't include my quoted text the above quote...

That was one reason I separated out the taxi fares from the drinking I did give the price for a pitcher of beer at a pretty popular drinking establishment (not a boliche) and the rough price of a drink in a club - I figured he could figure out how many drinks he might have and add up the price

On taxis - 200 pesos will get you an awfully long ways. "A taxi ride", to me, I usually think of as one way, so when I said 30 to 80 pesos I meant to get there, maybe I should have been more clear. My wife recently took a taxi to and from the border between Villa Soldati and Pompeya (near the far south end of the city) at night and spent about 160 pesos total - 80 pesos one way. That's a pretty good distance from Recoleta where we live. If someone is staying in Palermo or even Recoleta, I don't know anyone who regularly goes that far to find a club to dance or drink at considering there are hundreds of clubs in Recoleta and Palermo. Most people I know who go clubbing take a taxi to one place and end up hoofing it from one place to the next, but it does all depend on how far apart the places you're going are located. One's mileage (or kilometraje) may vary

Also, I should have mentioned that our girls usually take the bus so they don't have to buy a taxi, although often from Palermo they may take a taxi back when they're done. Maybe I'm too used to "club economizing" and left a feeling one could go partying for around 200 pesos total by mentioning our girls, which wasn't my intent.

90Days, most Argentinos and other expats from South America who I know party before they go clubbing because the drinks are expensive. It's called a "previa" (a pre-party). People sit around and mix their own drinks (often Fernet and Coke - yuck!) so they can get their buzz on without having to pay so much for drinks at the clubs.

But I think 20KRoads' estimate for a night out including drinks is reasonable for an expat if just in the drinks in clubs alone.

 

[90daysinargentina]

Oh, I totally get the pre-party idea, especially in the land of $15 cocktails of Southern California.

 

[EdRooney]

USD $15 = AR$200 = 14 litres of Toro Tinto.

¡Viva la Patria!

 

[ElQueso]

Is Toro Tinto like Mogan David 20/20 (otherwise known as Mad Dog 20/20)? Hehe. I blame a horrible encounter from my youth with MD 20/20 for me not liking wine to this day...

Viva la resaca!

 

[TwentyThousandRoads]

That was one reason I separated out the taxi fares from the drinking

Hah... sorry. I went back and looked at your post and realized you had broken out the taxi prices from the drinks. I didn't see that when I read it the first time, maybe it didn't load? Or I was completely blitzed and blacked out for a minute

Through my non-scientific experiments I've found that any local wine over 40 pesos at the Chinese is going to be at least drinkable, and anything under 40 pesos makes my eyeballs throb for the next 24 hours. Then again, a doctor here told me that a bottle of wine a night was a 'barbaridad'... they don't just have one at lunch and two with dinner like the French. The mention of Fernet and cola makes me shudder too, but it works great on floors and furniture! Pretty much depends which major organ you're willing to damage to save a few bucks heheh.

Back on the ATM front...
The limit at this point seems to be 1500 pesos at Citi. Visa (thus Schwab) are skimming pretty heavily on the exchange rate now, too... every other country I've traveled they give a very good rate (almost the forex spot price). Not here... they're currently at $12.94. That's a peso less than blue.

 

[semigoodlookin]

Taxi fares really depend where you are. When I travel in a taxi I expect to be paying at least 100 pesos. I travel from Versalles to Devoto and it will cost 60-80, it's a 10 minute ride.

Of course, always tell your driver to avoid the autopista even if it quicker as it hikes the price considerably. We travel from Versalles to Florida fairly regulalry and pay about 150 pesos in a taxi (sometimes more in a shitty old clapped out remise funnily enough). Last time we paid that price to go and then decided the autopista home and paid 230 pesos, paying the toll too.

Regarding drinking. If you are heavy drinker then you will need plenty of purples in your pocket if you are solely drinking at an establishment. Pre-partying is the idea, I have been doing it since I was 13 so wouldn't have it any other way. Although tese days one liter of beer usually comes with a recovery time of a few days, so I could probably get through a night at a bar with 50 pesos.

 

[Rich One]

I didn't include my quoted text the above quote...

That was one reason I separated out the taxi fares from the drinking I did give the price for a pitcher of beer at a pretty popular drinking establishment (not a boliche) and the rough price of a drink in a club - I figured he could figure out how many drinks he might have and add up the price

On taxis - 200 pesos will get you an awfully long ways. "A taxi ride", to me, I usually think of as one way, so when I said 30 to 80 pesos I meant to get there, maybe I should have been more clear. My wife recently took a taxi to and from the border between Villa Soldati and Pompeya (near the far south end of the city) at night and spent about 160 pesos total - 80 pesos one way. That's a pretty good distance from Recoleta where we live. If someone is staying in Palermo or even Recoleta, I don't know anyone who regularly goes that far to find a club to dance or drink at considering there are hundreds of clubs in Recoleta and Palermo. Most people I know who go clubbing take a taxi to one place and end up hoofing it from one place to the next, but it does all depend on how far apart the places you're going are located. One's mileage (or kilometraje) may vary

Also, I should have mentioned that our girls usually take the bus so they don't have to buy a taxi, although often from Palermo they may take a taxi back when they're done. Maybe I'm too used to "club economizing" and left a feeling one could go partying for around 200 pesos total by mentioning our girls, which wasn't my intent.

90Days, most Argentinos and other expats from South America who I know party before they go clubbing because the drinks are expensive. It's called a "previa" (a pre-party). People sit around and mix their own drinks (often Fernet and Coke - yuck!) so they can get their buzz on without having to pay so much for drinks at the clubs.

But I think 20KRoads' estimate for a night out including drinks is reasonable for an expat if just in the drinks in clubs alone.

Also Cute girls get in free at El Alamo, plus some drinks on the house, and May also receive invitations from other patrons..!

 

[Ceviche]

Abundance of taxis, super cheap taxi fares, extremely polite and straightforward taxi drivers ..is one of the glories of living as a expat in BA.

 

[ElQueso]

Also Cute girls get in free at El Alamo, plus some drinks on the house, and May also receive invitations from other patrons..!

Yes,but our girls never accept free entradas and never accept drinks from strangers!

Ah hell, what world did I just awaken into! Hehehe

Actually, I don't know that they get in free in Recoleta because in The 'Mo Recoleta, the entrada-taker is usually a woman inside...the big guy outside is just the guy who controls whether they get in or not. The 'Mo Palermo might be a different story and they do go to both. (and there's a good Argentine reason they changed the name to The 'Mo BTW).

 

[Nitale]

Citi's ATM/Recoleta (today); got 1,500 pesos @ 12,31 exchange rate (local ATM fee of 79,24 pesos). Banelco not accepting foreign banks' debit cards --- not yet - why, I wonder. Nothing to do with my US bank, not their doing.