Exchanging money has been a straightforward process everywhere we have been so far. Most places we have just used our credit cards in order to acquire airline miles (thanks Chase for the free flight to Europe!) although we have visited the ATMs in most countries to carry a little cash. Either way, there has been an official exchange rate so it hasn’t mattered whether we used our credit cards or cash for purchases. Things are a bit different here in Argentina where cash is king. For starters, most places only accept cash so you would think visiting the ATM is the logical way to go about it. However, there is the official exchanges rate of 8 Pesos per dollar and an unofficial exchange rate for US dollars in Argentina called the blue rate. The blue rate is much stronger at 12 Pesos per dollar but can only be exchanged by taking US dollars to a cueva (cave) or by visiting one of the guys on Florida street whispering “cambio, cambio” as you walk by. While the people on the street offering to convert money come with obvious risk of being ripped off, the cuevas are fully established businesses that function in a grey area of Argentine law. The blue rate exists because of the financial collapse Argentina experienced in 2001. After this, the Argentinians were rushing to move their savings to US dollars so the government made the purchase of foreign currency difficult and expensive which led to the creation of the blue rate.
Unsuspecting street for a cueva!
Finding the cuevas is not as easy as going to the ATM. After some research we heard about one from someone who had used it about 6 months ago and decided to try and locate it. After a short subte ride and a nice walk through the San Nicholas neighborhood we finally found the street that it was supposedly on. We walked down the street until we found the store we were looking for called Jewelry and Exchange. There was a small window showing off a few pieces of jewelry but the rest of the storefront window was impossible to see through, thanks to its frosted glass. We rang the buzzer as we were instructed to do by the unknown source online and a lady opened the door, said a few words in Spanish, then led us to a small windowless room. We took a seat and a man came in and sat down at the desk immediately. He knew exactly what we where there for and he told us that the blue rate was 12 Pesos to the dollar and asked us how much we wanted to exchange in a sort of Spanish/English mix. To our surprise, no one kicked down the door to arrest us all and send us to prison for life for being involved in illegal currency conversion. Instead, the guy simply walked out after we had agreed on the amount to exchange and returned with our new Pesos. We left the building and walked past a police officer who could have cared less what the two gringos exiting the Jewelry and Exchange (which we are pretty sure doesn’t sell jewelry) were up to. It was exciting, much more so then going to the ATM and trying to figure out how much money you are taking out, and it also instantly made Buenos Aires 33% cheaper!
Argentine Pesos
Since you are not allowed to take USD out of the ATMs in Argentina, you either have to bring enough cash with you for your entire trip, or you must go to one of the neighboring countries to get USD from their ATM. Luckily for us, Uruguay is only a 1 hour ferry ride away. Colonia, Uruguay is a popular day-trip from Buenos Aires and the short ferry ride is a mere $67 round-trip. Now, obviously we were already going to go to Colonia to get another stamp on our passports but now we had a day-trip with a mission!
Before we could add Uruguay to our list of countries visited we had to purchase the ferry tickets. Sounds simple enough, right? Wrong! Nothing is all that simple (or logical) here and purchasing ferry tickets was no different. First, their website does not accept foreign credit cards which is a bit odd for a company selling international ferry tickets. Their website mentions a day-trip promo but the when you click on the link you are taken to a contact form. I emailed the company asking to make reservations using the day-trip email. I was given a phone number and told to call and make reservations. Obviously it wasn’t a working phone number; that would have been too easy! So we finally decided to just visit their office and buy them in person. We went to their website to get the address for their office but in true Argentine fashion, it wasn’t listed. After a thorough Google search we were able to find their address on a culinary tour companies website. Having finally tracked down the ferry company’s site we went and purchased tickets for the following day assuming the actual ferry ride would be less confusing then getting the tickets. Wrong again! Turns out our ferry company, Seacat, actually just sticks you on another companies ferry, Buquebus! And of course, despite the name, Buquebus is a ferry company!
Luckily the rest of the trip went smoothly and Buquebus was a very well organized company with a huge, very nice ferry turminal and modern ferries. The ferry ride was quick and calm and there was even a duty free shop on-board. We arrived in Colonia completely unsure of what to expect but were very pleasantly surprised. Colonia turned out to be a wonderful little town that we could have easily spent a few days exploring and enjoying its many sidewalk cafes.
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