Inflation here is a pretty real thing, to the point where there's a huge market for actual physical US dollars. I knew this going in, but it's kind of surprising to see it in the flesh. Here's what my last two trips to the "blue market" looked like:
- Give Nicole everything of value I have (other than the USD) just in case I get in over my head.
- Go to Florida Street.
- Wait approximately 15 seconds for someone to yell out "cambio!"
- Ask the dude what his rate is (this is the one time where not knowing much Spanish has actually paid off, if you're going to do some shady, pseudo-legal transaction, it helps to be a man of few words).
- Let him know how much I want to change.
- Follow him into some empty shopping mall into an emptier corner.
- Some scruffy looking dude counts out pesos in front of me (13 pesos per dollar is what I got, banks give you 8.4:1 currently).
- I inspect each $100 peso note he gives me, having read how to spot a fake on the internet (this is normal practice here pretty much everywhere).
- I give him a wad of US Dollars, he inspects them as well.
- We exchange a quick "gracias" and I'm on my way.
So far I've done this twice, and the first time I felt like some kind of ultimate international badass. The second time was more of a "goddamn it, we need to go to the bank, and there's only one, and it's a mile away" feeling, so that didn't last too long. Also, the first time, the dude I talked to on the street waited there with the money dude while the whole transaction happened and escorted me out when it was done, and the second time, he just went back out immediately. I think Nicole might have gotten a bit of a shock when he saw the dude come out without me that second time, haha.
It's a pretty crazy situation, the fact that there's this level of inflation here right now. From reading online, I saw some first-hand accounts of people doing this exchange back in February this year, when this "blue market" rate was 7.5:1. At 13:1 (I've heard you can get closer to 13.5:1 right now if you actually shop around and haggle), that's a pretty insane difference in just 9 months.
I definitely feel like an asshole taking advantage of the situation, but you can see why there's serious appeal to bring in USD into Argentina. And to be honest, Argentina isn't actually that cheap unless you're getting this exchange rate, otherwise I'd say it's pretty on par with US prices. Well, except for wine, that's cheap in pretty much any currency. Seriously, we've been getting great bottles of wine for like 45 pesos, which is $5.30 at the official exchange rate, and $3.46 at the blue market rate. So yeah, pretty much cheaper than water!
So in conclusion, this whole process is definitely shady, but not as shady as I would have thought.