I'm going to be in Argentina for 90 days. How do I make sure to use inflation to my advantage and not get screwed over by it? Where do I exchange USD for the blue rate? Am I going to get fucked over every time I use my card? Or is it worth it as long as there's no surcharge.
I feel like if I do things right I'll save a ton of money but I could also be a dumbass and lose a ton of money. So please give advice on how to use the crazy inflation to my advantage. Thanks!
Use Western Union, you'll get a better rate from them than the cambio guys. Western Union will nearly give you the blue rate.
Take US dollars in for when you need cash but Western Union isn't available. In BA, you can find tons of Cambio guys at Calle Florida. In other cities they're typically somewhere in the center. 100 dollar bills will yield you a better exchange rate than 20 dollar bills. The exchange rate you get from them will probably be similar to the card rate
>Am I going to get fucked over every time I use my card?
Card is okay, but it is a worse rate than you'll get at WU. Use card only when you're low on cash and don't/can't get anymore at the moment.
Just do not, under any circumstance, get money from an ATM, official exchange or bank unless its some dire emergency and its the only way to get cash. They will fuck you over with the official rate.
Awesome thanks so much for the advice.
I really need to set up a proper western union to save myself from these issues.
It takes like 5 minutes. Be prepared to go to multiple Western Unions before finding one with cash.
and I have to bring bags just for the cash? sounds like a bit of a problem. Probably better to just split my haul between bringing USD in hand and western union myself when good opportunities arise
>doing laundry, so not really doing fuck all
>oh let me go fill a wheelbarrow of cash from the western union
Just a small bag will do, Most of the money will be in denominations of what is effectively $2 bills, so do the math. I think I managed to fit $500 into my pockets, but it was quite a bulge so it isn't recommended
It really isn't difficult to get money out in a city as long as it is a weekday and it isn't a holiday. I ran into trouble once because it was a holiday on Thursday and Friday and not as many WUs are open on Saturday, so I was unable to find cash. Patagonia is probably a different situation though.
That's why you keep some US bills to exchange just in case. Most places also take card, and the rate is terrible. But try to rely on Western Union for most of your money
>multiple Western Unions just to get cash.
USD cash or Argentinian cash? I'd expect a USD shortage but not a Peso shortage.
Its not that there's a shortage of pesos in the country, its that to make a purchase you have to withdraw so many pesos that a location can easily run out of money if enough people go in one day.
This is unlikely to happen from Tuesday to Friday in Buenos Aires.
Thank you.
All I need to know. How much is a fat piece of steak there from the store and at a "local" restaurant (AKA Can wear jeans and a clean t-shirt to).
Thanks. I'm budgeting $100/week for food and was told amazing and massive empanadas there are like $0.50 each? Confirm?
I'm not going there to eat at Italian restaurant which I heard was the other cheap alternative.
Just had Venezuelan empandas today for 500 ARG pesos which if you converted USD to the blue rate is a little less than a dollar.
I bought a bottle of wine today at the grocery for 600 pesos which is a little bit over a dollar at the blue rate.
>Use Western Union
What is their fee per transaction?
It varies, I don't really know how.
The first one will be free, however after that there's a fee. Its based on how much money you get out but also on random factors that I never figured out. Sometimes taking out $200 would be a $7 fee, sometimes its a $17 fee. I never really understood it
Also, if you get $200 out at WU, you will be given a giant stack of cash, so be prepared (preferably bring a bag). Their highest bill is worth only $2 (maybe less now).
You won't be able to fit more than $30 in your wallet, and that will be stretching it. Just scatter your cash throughout your bag(s). But try to spend it all in Arg because its useless as soon as you leave the country.
I'd also recommend carrying a US $20 bill on you at all times, in case you get in a jam.
>highest bill is worth only $2
With inflation so bad, wouldn't local businesses prefer to be paid in USD rather than the local currency, as is common in other countries with collapsing currencies? If I only bring 100 USD bills, I would get the best exchange rate, but bringing a huge wad of five and twenty dollar bills would allow me to pay for meals and lodging in dollars, ostensibly benefiting the locals more. Anyone traveled through Argentina paying with dollars?
>You won't be able to fit more than $30 in your wallet, and that will be stretching it. Just scatter your cash throughout your bag
Holy shit, it's like Weimar Republic Germany.
Echoing what was said before, handle mostly cash, hundred dollar bills, and exchange them slowly, burn through one and then another. I would recommend against using credit cards, most places will handle cash and will even give you a discount since that means they don't have to report it.
When exchanging be ready to distribute the bills in like 5 pockets or some shit, the government is in denial on how fucked inflation is so I don't think there will be bigger bills soon.
I'm not sure how mercadopago works, or if there are purchasable credit cards like in the US.
I'm going to head there myself in some months, and it's being able to make it rain even though im broke as fuck.
Is there a way to buy citizenship there? Some anon posted a while back that there are ways just to fly in, register an address anywhere and claim citizenship
Those are the prices of a upscale steak restaurant, divide it by 500 to get a USD price now go figure some random places
I am now angry to have "been sent" to Kyiv and would like to publicly air that grievance.
I didn't want to be here in the first place.
And those is some random cheap bar/restaurant still in the city center
This is like a really expensive place, there are places that are still considered upscale that are significantly cheaper
Its better to convert into pesos that way you know what you are paying. Only pay in USD if you first agree upon an exchange rate. Some will advertise a dollar exchange rate.
There was one hostel where if you paid in dollars you would get the official rate, but they also offered conversions on the blue rate. That was really dumb.
Jeez, these prices really aren't any better than what I'd pay in the US.
$5 for a large pizza ain't bad though.
This is a notably expensive place, there are upscale restaurants that are far cheaper
how the hell is Argentina is nearing Venezuelan/Lebanon tier of inflation? They have cities are Buenos Aires and Bariloce, can't imagine the inflation is fucking them over. Are qt Argentinians putting out on the street like colombia yet? Such a shame, I wanted to go to Ushuaia one day.
They vote for excessive public services and more public jobs. Their people also all evade their taxes, stores will give you a 15% discount if you pay in cash rather than card. Basically the only way they can afford this is by printing money. And because nobody trusts their currency, they immediately try to exchange it for USD or anything really, which devalues it even more.
To give examples, their universities are free for foreigners as long as they know Spanish, and the Buenos Aires public transportation is better than any European capital's while being so cheap its effectively free.
>stores will give you a 15% discount if you pay in cash rather than card
This happens in Brazil too and from what I understand has actually to do with credit card rates. The discount is valid for cash, debit, PIX (similar system to debit in Brazil), etc. It's basically the vendor passing the cost of credit to the consumer, as well as some discount because the money is instantly deposited in the vendor's bank account (or in his hand).
How much do you withdraw from Western Union each time to make the $17 fee worthwhile?
Western Union fees are inconsistent. Sometimes the fee will be $17, sometimes to withdraw the same amount it will be $7.
This is what happens when you let southern europeans (which is what the population of Argentina is) run a country. Spain, Italy and Greece used to all be like this before the euro. Now they just get bailouts from northern europe.
Italy was the 4th largest economy in the world before the Euro.
It is the Germans that can't do anything right.
Nor the French. It's their centuries of socialist bullshit now masquerading as the EU/Eurozone that's led you to this point.
Now there's a whole continent ready to guillotine not just a country.
I'm watching these walking youtube videos and Buenos Aires seems to be doing okay. How is there monetary system then, are they doing what Lebanon is doing and just using USD?
Nah, we use pesos. But if you are lucky enough to save money you have to save it in usd, otherwise your savings will devalue. Most people would buy anything expensive using their credit card, so they will somehow "gain" the inflation.
I have a lot of techbros friends, so they can work for some foreign tech company. They get paid in dollars and they don't pay taxes for that work so you can make a shit ton of money that way. Cause a 1/2k usd salary might be low for us standards, but here you can save most of it.
>they don't pay taxes
How widespread is this and is it pretty easy to get away with living there as a foreigner if I don't have a job or assets in the country and bring dollars or transfer money in using western union?
yeah easy af, most of my friends do that. One of them is also a foreigner who's studying here. He goes back to his home country once or twice a year and he brings dollars that way.
There are plenty of ways of sneaking dollars to thee country. My friends who are from argentina have a bank account here, what they do afaik is saving in crypto, and when they need cash they use air.tm or any other p2p service where they can sell crypto to buy usdT or whatever, and then sell usdt to get ars. They loose between 10% to 30% of their money the commissions they have to pay using those services afaik, but they still make good money, cause Argentina is cheap af. So if you can bring cash you will be much more comfortable.
So, hypothetical if I were to travel to Buenos Aires now, what should I do in terms of carrying money? Should I just use my card for anything expensive, or should I convert some from USD to peso for cheaper expenses. Will I be carrying massive bundles of cash if I were to do that?
Nah the credit card thing is local perk, you don't have a bank account here. Imo you should bring cash (usd) and convert it, just don't convert it all at once cause it would be pretty uncomfortable.
When are you coming?
Western Union is easier and gets you nearly the same exchange rate as $100 bills and a better one than $20 bills and you don't have to worry about losing that much money
u sure?
Its cyclical.
Sometimes the WU is better, sometimes it isn't
I was reading on Reddit that prices in Lebanon are insane even when converted to usd. How true is this, I can’t seem to wrap my brain how people can live in a plave like Beirut with western prices and low wages
Yes, this is caused by poor quality or damaged infrastructure (high transportation costs), lack of local expertise (reliance on foreign companies), unstable political and legal environments (risky to invest) and very high borrowing costs (nobody trusts anything that has to do with Lebanon or wants to loan them money).
As far as how do people live? They don't. Lebanese can't afford jack shit right now. People are barely surviving.
>He thinks europeans are running the country
lol
It's mostly a mix between garden gnomes and mestizos, mostly the former, backed up by lower class and immigrant "gangs" and political groups that are incentivized by gibs and money.
what happened to the descendants of the 3rd reich, or are they concentrated only in Bariloce.
I could buy you dollars at a fairer price than any cuevita, are you interested?
Anyone Know if I could use crypto to my advantage? I got a bitcoin and a couple hundred Litecoin
you just get the blue dollar rate for crypto, basically the same as western union
How the dating life there for American/Europeans? Are the women just throwing themselves at you because of the economic situation?
The girls don't like anyone with darker skin then them, so most Americans will have a rough time
But if you are white, generally good looking, not fat, are you in paradise?
Don’t tell anyone gay, but on the DL Argentina is being called “The next Medellin- for white boys.” Take of that as you will.
Can you further elaborate brother?
The women there are Italian so very beautiful but they are also racist and don’t fuck black men and this makes the Fresh and Fit types seethe. It’s funny that blacks seethe about one country not wanting to fuck them when their home country of the US is the ultimate JBB country.
You are the man, thank you
Would an Argentinian woman want to stay in Arg with kids? Or would she be a passport chaser?
I'm thinking permanent residency by knocking a woman up there. Are Argentinian women as easy as Mexican girls?
>How do I make sure to use inflation to my advantage and not get screwed over by it?
Western Union loophole. If you send money for yourself by WU you receive pesos as if you were selling dollars in black market.
Best places outside of Buenos Aires to live for a few months? Prefer coast line but not requisite.
Best place within Buenos Aires for a safe but LOCAL experience - I don't want to be in the "Roma Norte" of BA.
Stupid question but if I pay with my US card and I have the option to pay in pesos or USD which should I pick?
pesos
But verify the rate you get on the card before you get to much.
I think visa immediately gives you the card rate, mastercard charges official exchange and than reimburses you, while the rest are just unusable there
So you don’t need to get cash if you have a foreign credit card? Did the Argentine gov implement the tourist credit card change?
Card rate is worse than the Western Union and cueva rates, but is significantly better than the official rate. Its better to use cash.
Get a credit card that doesn't charge foreign transaction fees, I use Visa United. I used to travel quite a bit with cash and always exchanging currencies whenever I crossed a border down there, but really, it's best to use the credit card with no foreign transaction fees, you're really not going to see much of a benefit with exchanging lots of cash, you won't get a discount just because you have their currency, but always carry at least a 100 bucks in their currency and use a good cc.
>you won't get a discount just because you have their currency
In Argentina, you basically do
I've travelled all over south america, exhanged currencies every time I crossed a border, if you think you're going to get a discount just cuz you have their currency as compared to a cc, you're just delusional. Those days are over. You have a greater risk of getting mugged of your cash than actually getting a deal that's worth the trouble...
Bro you don't know jack shit about Argentina.
The card exchange rate in Argentina is 473 pesos for every dollar, while Western Union gives you 540 pesos per every US dollar. You might could get more from Cuevas.
On top of this, many stores will offer 15% discount if you pay in cash because they aren't really into paying taxes down there.
Its hilarious how confidently wrong you are.
When I'm traveling in moto across south america the last thing I worry about is 15% discount in pesos, it costs me more time to actually think about it than whatever savings there may be.... You must be a very smart garden gnome.
Congrats.
I love when people get completely BTFO in an argument and then post pure cope lmao
It all depends.
If you are a poorfag or otherwise spending only small amounts of money, 15% isn't going to make a difference and isn't worth bothering with. But if you're exchanging or spending $1,000 say, you're going to want that extra $150 in your pocket.
You'd be really stupid not to.
Argentine currency issues aside, telling someone to rely on card in South America is South America is terrible advice, especially outside of big cities.
Even in Canada and in the US you get like a discount if you pay cash, basically tax free price. Not everywhere, but definitely many small businesses I dealt with. Even fucking Tim Hortons made a small discount when I said I was going to pay cash.
So a country like Argentina wouldn’t even be surprising if they do it all the time.