Money, Money, Money

Like traveling to anywhere else, money is always a concern, but especially in a foreign country! Depending on where you are traveling to, you may be able to use your bank to withdraw money. For instance, last summer I traveled to Italy with my family and my bank had what they termed at "sister banks" where we could avoid foreign fees. I called and checked for Buenos Aires however and there were no "sister banks". It costs about a $2.50 USD ATM charge as well as 3% of the transaction. I am not positive what the transaction fee is if you use it at a restaurant or shopping, but I know there is a better way to get the most out of your money! If you are staying here for a long time you could look into opening a bank account here, but I am not familiar with that process. I do know that CitiBank is VERY popular around Buenos Aires, so you could look into their foriegn fees. However, I do not suggest relying on cash withdraws for money while you're here!
Blue Market Money Exchange
There are two different ways to exchange money in Argentina: legally and illegally. The illegal exchange market is called the "blue market" but it comparable to the US black market. I do not fully understand why it is illegal to exchange this way and I have been having a hard time finding a straight answer online. So far this is my understanding...
The Argentine peso used to be equivalent to the american dollar, meaning $1USD = $1 Argentine peso. This ended in 2001 when the Argentina economy basically collapsed. The banks restricted Argentinians from withdrawing their money and massive deflation occurred. The exchange rate then settled to about 3 pesos to every dollar. For Argentinians this was devastating. If they had investments, the value decreased three fold. Ever since then, the trust in the Argentine peso is basically nonexistent. This makes the desire for the "stable" American dollar pretty high!
The policy of the current president, Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner, also drives this desire. After the crisis she began to restrict the American dollar exchange in Argentina, not allowing citizens to exchange money outside of government agencies or withdraw anything from the bank but Argentine pesos. From this, the blue market peso, Argentina's worst kept secret, was born. While this is illegal, it is the best way to get the most out of your money! It also unfortunately means you must bring all the money you have with you in US cash. Depending on the length of your stay and the amount of money you want to bring this might not be the best option!
There is one way to get around carrying your entire savings on you though! Uruguay has absolutely no restriction on the dollar and you are able to withdraw American dollars from the ATMs! What's even better is that Uruguay is just a boat ride away on Buquebus! If you bring enough money for half your stay, you can take a day trip over to Colonia, Uruguay and withdraw the rest of the money in US dollars to exchange blue market. You do have to at least withdraw $100USD for your withdraw to work and you will still be charged bank fees. However, this is definitely worth the trouble! At the moment the national exchange rate is hovering around 5.43 pesos to the US dollar. Blue market exchange is 8.7 approaching 9 pesos to every dollar. That means that on every $100 USD you exchange you could get about 330 more pesos.

I have not used the Blue market, because I did not bring much US money, but I know some students who do use it. I also found a fellow blogger, Amber Reeves, who recorded her experiences with it. Here's what she had to say...

"The first time, I walked down Calle Florida and listened for the soft “cambio, cambio.” I talked to a woman at the 200 block of Calle Florida who looked about 19 years old. She was wearing worn out clothing and looked like a local version of a meth head. When I asked, she gave me a quote of 6.00 pesos per US dollar. I said thanks and moved on. A second woman, about 20 meters south, on the 100 block, quoted me 6.10. And she was wearing a business suit kind of outfit, like a flight attendant’s uniform, and talked to me more directly. I said I had $100 USD to exchange to pesos. She led me into a small galeria and beckoned me to go to a guy who had a “legit” casa de cambio. He met me in the galeria hallway and then walked behind his money desk window. He counted out my money and showed me the arithmetic on a calculator and then counted out the pesos. I said thanks and exited the galeria. 

The second time, I walked down Calle Florida with $150 USD. I heard the “cambio, cambio” from these two meaty looking guys in suits who were standing outside of an electronics store. I got a safe vibe from them so I stopped to talk to one of them. He showed me the quote on his cell phone ($6.10 pesos per 1 USD again) and I said yeah, and he asked me to follow him. This time, I followed him around the block on the street into an apartment/office building. I felt like this was kind of shady but I went anyway. He took me up to the tenth floor in an old rickety elevator. We stood in the hallway outside of a door for about 5 minutes. After a few minutes, the arbolito left. I stood there alone. Two people came out at different intervals. There was an electronic lock on the door. Then finally someone opened it and a guy inside beckoned me in. It was an office with a retrofitted money window (i.e. thick glass and bars). I took out my money and the guy behind the window did the same thing as last time--he counted it, tapped the math on the calculator and showed me, and counted out the pesos. I took them and left the building. "

Xoom
For those of you who are not comfortable carrying large amounts of cash on you or with the whole blue market exchange process there is another option! There is company called Xoom that does money transfers at a rate better than the national rate, but not as good as the Blue Market rate. The process is simple and safe, but you must have an American bank account. Simply go to xoom.com and create an account. From your xoom account you put in your bank account information and transfer the desired amount of money. There are different locations all over the city that you can then go a pick up your money. I have been using the location on 1100 block Libertad. You can take the subte to the Tribunales stop and it's about 6 blocks from there or take a taxi to the intersection of Libertad and Santa Fe. Be sure to bring your passport when you go to get your money. They may also ask you information such as your phone number, who sent the money, the amount of money, your phone number, etc. The first time I used xoom the exchange rate was 7.51 pesos to $1 USD and the second time 7.25 pesos. There is a $24 - $30 USD tranfer fee for Xoom, but there are coupon codes that wave the fee sometimes! Try googling for a code. There is also a referral program: if you use my referral link we both get a $15 amazon credit!!! My link is below so PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE use it!!!
Referal Link:  http://refer.xoom.com/a/clk/H1kQS