Still fresh off my international flight home, we are in full re-acclimatization mode to the United States. Our sweet pup we picked up from boarding after 18 days (!!) and now we are spending time to reflect on how great our 3 week trip was across Argentina.
Below are my best tips for your next trip to Argentina and a few surprises we encountered along the way:
1. Use Credit Card where possible to capture Dolar Blue Rate
Argentina is facing extreme inflation as of 2023, and their official exchange rate is about 1 USD to 230 Pesos. The unofficial rate, or Dolar Blue, is about 1 USD to 450 Pesos. You can get cash in this unofficial exchange rate by visiting a Western Union or exchanging on the street, both of which we didn’t do because of obvious sketchiness. Instead, we used our credit cards (Visa and AMEX) where they were accepted and our credit card companies automatically applied the Dolar Blue rate OR reimbursed us for the difference between official rate and dolar blue. Huge win for our budget.
We ended up pulling only $100 USD equivalent in pesos from a Santander ATM and used that for 3 weeks on the places that wouldn’t accept card. It was rare though, and most frequent use of “effectivo” or cash, was for tipping servers after using a card to pay for the meal.
2. Learn some Spanish
The basics like ordering your meal, providing instructions to taxi drivers, asking how much something is are all really important. In Buenos Aires we encountered more English speaking folks, but always led with Spanish. When we got out to the more remote areas like Bariloche, Mendoza and Iguazu, less English was used.
Two words we picked up that we didn’t know before were “Permisso” or “Excuse me” and “Propina” for tips at a restaurant. We would frequently ask folks if a propina was incluyar, included, to know if we needed to leave cash. Tipping culture is much different from the US and 10% is more standard there.
3. Get the SIM Card / Chip in the Airport or not at all
It was SO hard to go to Personale or Movistar for a chip that would enable us to have internet on the go. Normally we share a “wifi box” as we call it, which is just a mobile hotspot that we place a chip with ~20GB into. Someone in BA airport convinced us the chips were a rip off there and to get one outside the airport that was much cheaper. Probably true, however we tried three different stores in BA before giving up on the quest and just flipping on AT&T’s $10/day plan. We ended up spending even more this way and wish we would’ve just gotten the chip in the airport.
4. Expect cell phone service to be iffy
Even with our data turned on, the best we could get was 3G. Normally not an issue unless you need it for navigating or calling ubers. We had such an issue with Uber that the app kept calling drivers but it wouldn’t function well enough for us to see who the driver was, the internet was behaving so poorly.
5. There are regional dialect differences
Folks from Buenos Aires or “Porteños” convert the Double L in Spanish into a “Shhh” sound. Pollo in Spanish is pronounced “Poyo” but in Buenos Aires it is pronounced “Posho”. My partner turned into a Porteño during the trip, only pronouncing double Ls with a shh sound regardless of the town we were in.
6. Dinner is 8pm or later
Restaurants typically stop serving “medialuna” at 4pm and re-open at 8pm for dinner. We were dying. The American hours of dinner between 5-7:30pm was the exact timeslot that restaurants were closed. We had a lot of trail mix dinners, sadly, as we got into the habit of eating a large late lunch at 2pm or 3pm and did not want to venture back out in the late evening. We are morning people so it was a tough part to adapt to. The most challenging dinner we had was Don Julio’s where we had a reservation for 10:30pm…10:30pm!!! We ended up getting seated at 11:30pm and not served until 12 or 12:30pm. It was brutal.
7. Know there are not a lot of American Tourists
Most tourists come from Brazil or other Latin American countries, depending on the time of year. Because we went in May/June, their Fall / Early Winter, we were really the only Americans we knew of. Apparently more Americans snow bird and go visit in the December/January timeframe when it is summer in Argentina. Americans are also more likely to visit Cordoba if they are interest in hunting and that was a major city we decided to skip in favor of other places.
8. The political environment is spicy
Our taxi drivers, tour guides and other folks we had conversations with spoke about how hopeful they were for the elections in October. The inflation is truly out of control, and one of our guides put it in perspective, that in order to maintain her salary with inflation she should be receiving a raise every single month. On average it is about 100-120% per year or 10% a month. I though the US’s inflation was rough at 10% for the year. Our taxi driver told us the prices at Walmart are all listed in digital tags and once he picked an item up and the price increased on that item before he even got to the checkout to pay. Back in the 1980s, the Argentine Peso was on parity with the USD 1-1. At that time there was a ton of wealth and over time there has been a lot of erosion of that wealth.
Visiting right around election season may not be the best idea as people feel very strongly about the politicians letting it get to this runaway rate. There are also some undertones of corruption that the socialist ideals of the government are phoney because they have hands in all the major businesses and are seen wearing designer clothing. We also learned that voting is mandatory for all citizens starting at age 16 and fines are given (about $2 USD) if you don’t vote. We’ll be watching after October to see who ends up getting elected so hopefully they can reign in the inflation problem.
Final Thoughts
Argentinians were very friendly people. The culture is much more familial and inclusive than what we have in the United States, which is a refreshing change. We felt very safe the entire time, but also like travelling to New York you have to be smart with your surroundings. For those looking for a very cost effective vacation, Argentina is the spot to be with the current exchange rate environment.
Have you visited Argentina? Any tips for first timers you would include?
Run On Carry On 