Quick check on understanding of current currency situation

[baires2024]

Hi everyone. I haven't been to Argentina since 2021 and am just trying to sanity check my understanding of the current situation on the best way to manage money as we'll be back in BA for a month or two next month. Thoughts/confirmation/disagreement on any of the below?

• This (La Nacion) is the best place to check current rates; this is the current Mastercard rate and this is the current Visa rate you'll get when paying with those cards at a merchant.
• Avoid using ATMs.
• Bring crisp $100 USD bills to exchange at cuevas.
• Send yourself money via Western Union to get whatever peso cash you need.

Questions -

• Using the above Mastercard calculator, they are giving the following: 1 United States Dollar = 834.6 Argentine Peso. This seems closer to the official rate today and not the MEP or Blue Dollar rate. Am I missing something?
• Is it still worth bringing $100s to exchange at cuevas or is getting pesos via WU a better deal lately?
• We won't be doing tours or many touristy things but, as a foreigner in everyday life, are there things people will insist I pay for in USD? What happens if we run out of USD?
• Looking at buying Buquebus ferry tickets or bus tickets (eg BA to Villa Gesell) online, is it worth worrying over trying to wait and get tickets in person in cash once in BA (though I know there would be a slight discount for paying in cash) or should I just use my card (and get the MEP rate)?

TIA for any help. The currency situation has only gotten more confusing since December's changes and since my previous trips to Argentina! Really appreciate it.

 

[Nutrition_Nomad]

Been here a month and never once been asked to pay for anything in USD when in person. I have online, but in person, pesos cash is still the norm

 

[AdrianB]

Regarding the cards rate you probably put it in the calculator wrong. You need to put that the transaction is in ARS and card is in USD. Today you get 0.0009863 so 1/0.0009863=1013

WU has been consistently better than blue for the last 1-2 months.

 

[baires2024]

Thanks for the replies.

And to confirm one more thing - if we bring USD (in crisp condition) and use them to pay a person (for accommodation, meals or whatever, if they request it and we have them to spend), should we get whichever rate is higher at that time between WU or blue dollar? (Otherwise, we'd just be better off exchanging them at WU instead of paying said person with them.)

 

[gringoexpress]

nobody wants your dollars unless you're buying something of high value and have crisp 100 bills. In any other case, they're gonna look at you like you're a three headed extraterrestrial and then you'll have trouble making change because "dollars" are only 100 dollar bills and anything else (like a $20 bill) isn't actually dollars to them.

don't exchange cash at western union, they'll rip you off.

either exchange your cash at a cueva, send pesos to yourself paying with your card in usd with western union if the rate that day is better, or just find a cueva where you can exchange usdt for pesos and avoid the whole hassle.

Thanks for the replies.

And to confirm one more thing - if we bring USD (in crisp condition) and use them to pay a person (for accommodation, meals or whatever, if they request it and we have them to spend), should we get whichever rate is higher at that time between WU or blue dollar? (Otherwise, we'd just be better off exchanging them at WU instead of paying said person with them.)

 

[obiwanderkenobi]

@baires2024 You should be paying pesos for nearly everything. Long-termers may occasionally encounter a landlord who wants to be paid in dollars, but for day to day life, pesos are still what you pay for food, hotel, tourist activities or anything else. You pay for everything either with physical pesos or by using your Visa/Mastercard (preferably try to bring a card that doesn't charge any foreign transaction fees).

The whole point of either bringing physical dollars or sending money via WU is to use your dollars to get as many pesos as possible. Until recently, bringing physical dollars got you the most pesos because:

• The blue rate at cuevas was slightly better than WU
• The blue rate at cuevas was often 100 to 150 pesos per dollar better than Mastercard and Visa
• The blue rate at cuevas was 600 to 700 pesos per dollar better than the official government rate

Since the election, the order of precedence has been tweaked a bit. Lately, WU has had the best rate, often 100 pesos per dollar better than the blue dollar rate for exchanging dollars at a cueva. For example, two weeks ago I sent myself $100 via Western Union when WU was at 1244 and the blue rate was at 1150, so I got more pesos from Western Union than what I would have received by taking a $100 bill to a cueva.

At the moment, I'd say there's really no reason to bring lots of dollars with you if you're only going to be here for a couple of months. To maximize your savings, pay for as much day to day stuff as possible in cash with pesos (and go to WU when you need more), and for your lodging and everything else just use your Visa/Mastercard.

The only thing here I use physical dollars for is to pay for my apartment, because it's my landlord's preference. Otherwise I'd have absolutely no need for physical dollars. I just top off my supply of cash in pesos every couple of weeks by going to WU, and use my Visa card for the occasional large purchase or nice steak dinner.

Hope this helps.

 

[baires2024]

Really helpful - thanks v much.

 

[pixer12]

and everything else just use your Visa/Mastercard.

 

[denviochi]

Coming to BA in a few days. I've read that for tips, locals prefer $US to pesos. Should I bring small denominations for that purpose?

 

[obiwanderkenobi]

Coming to BA in a few days. I've read that for tips, locals prefer $US to pesos. Should I bring small denominations for that purpose?

No. Small denominations of USD are difficult for the locals to exchange, and many cuevas will either refuse to accept them or devalue them significantly. Nobody here truly wants USD unless it's a crisp $100 bill.

Maybe it would have made sense a few months ago when the blue dollar was nearly triple the official rate, as a local could possibly find a cueva willing to accept them, and possibly get more pesos in return than what the dollars are officially worth. But the current difference between the dollar blue and dollar official is negligible, so to most locals it's just going to be a headache as they can't immediately use them for anything and they're likely to lose more pesos in the exchange process than if you had just given them pesos to begin with.

If you want to tip, bring a couple $100 bills (or however much you might need for the duration of your trip) and exchange them as needed at a cueva (or possibly with your hotel if they offer a decent rate). Western Union at the moment is 1.118 and the dollar blue is 1.070, so if you wanted to you could avoid bringing physical USD altogether and just send yourself pesos via Western Union instead.