Where Can I Get Pesos To My Dollar Safely?

[LostinBA]

If you're anywhere near Las Canitas, there is a small place on Maure (near the corner with Arce) between the bread shop and COTO that is non-descript and safe. I got 7.6 there last week. Good luck.

 

[DRSG]

I have safely used a place near the corner of Cabildo and Congresso 4 times to change 1000 USD at a time. It's on the same corner as the Banco Argentino along Congresso. It has a blue frontage and is about 4-6 doors up the street. You go in and there is a stark plain white room with a podium and a double blue seat. The man there will direct you behind the white wall to a passageway with 2 "teller" windows where you can change your cash. I got 7.6 there just last week.

 

[EricLovesBA]

I got a guy who will send someone to your place. He prefers USD $1000 or more and hundred dollar bills, so be up front with what you have and he'll be up front with the rate. I did it over a month ago at 7.50. PM me for his contact info. Failing that, there is always xoom.com, which is at 7.18 now, but they charge fees so it actually works out to less (depends on how much you send). Also, xoom.com won't help with the cash you already have here.

I would be extremely cautious with this setup. You not only are putting your trust in the guy running the show, but in they guy he's sending to your place. It's like hanging a neon "cash here" sign on your door. Yes, it's a bit dangerous going to exchange money anywhere, but at least when you go to a cueva you can be watchful and low profile in that moment. But if your place of residence becomes a known dollar cash stash, you invite a robbery at any moment when you are unprepared for it.

 

[canadababe]

I am sorted - thank you all for your help!

 

[Rich One]

Very good postings, all options have risks!! When you leave the cueva they can warn their accomplices on a motorbike to mug you arounf the corner...!!

 

[HenryNisental]

Sorry, Galeria boston is located at Florida 138

 

[DerAchtundzwanzig]

Very good postings, all options have risks!! When you leave the cueva they can warn their accomplices on a motorbike to mug you arounf the corner...!!

I don't see why they would do that. They have more at stake than you do, since you can always go to AFIP and tell them there's a cueva functioning at that office (AFIP then sends an undercover agent passing for someone who wants to buy dollars illegally to prove it), so I don't see why the cueva would want to do anything to piss you off.

That is, of course, if it's a serious cueva, not just a guy who had a store in a gallery and thought he would just start exchanging US dollars. The cueva I've been going to for the past 8 months is by referral only - they won't even open the door if you don't know the password.

 

[Rich One]

I don't see why they would do that. They have more at stake than you do, since you can always go to AFIP and tell them there's a cueva functioning at that office (AFIP then sends an undercover agent passing for someone who wants to buy dollars illegally to prove it), so I don't see why the cueva would want to do anything to piss you off.

That is, of course, if it's a serious cueva, not just a guy who had a store in a gallery and thought he would just start exchanging US dollars. The cueva I've been going to for the past 8 months is by referral only - they won't even open the door if you don't know the password.

As the dollar delivery can be crooks so can the fly-by-night cuevas....!! Entregadores are everywhere as salideras...!!
Memories of the past...!!

 

[LostinBA]

I think there's a general misunderstanding of terminoology here. "Arbolitos" are money exchange houses where one goes to exchange one currency for another. Usually this means one buys or sells USD at the "blue rate". A "Cueva" is more complicated entity. They maintain accounts outside of Argentina and accept your transferred currency to their account (outside to outside) in order to give you that same or another currency inside Argentina. They may or may not provide pesos at the "blue" rate or give you the currecy you originally sent to them. They usually can and will accept pesos or other currencies to "send" outside the country although in reality the currency never actually crosses borders.

 

[BA_SFVisitor]

If you're anywhere near Las Canitas, there is a small place on Maure (near the corner with Arce) between the bread shop and COTO that is non-descript and safe. I got 7.6 there last week. Good luck.

I went to the place you recommended and thought the experience was painless. However, when I got home to look at the notes more carefully I noticed they had given me about $600 ARS in fake notes. I did try and check each note when I was there, but I didn't speak Spanish and I felt rushed. Maybe it's my fault for not noticing that the serial numbers on the left hand side were not vertical and in red. They were horizontal and in black across the bottom. Lesson learned . . .