Thought I'd also share some bits of more practical "advice" if anyone's interested:
- We mostly used or exchanged dollars in cash, and got near-blue rates every time
- We got the best rates (the actual blue rate from e.g. DolarYa) from restaurants and hotels that would just look up the daily rate and offer that. It's in their interest to have dollars.
- Cuevas are everywhere but the prices vary quite a bit and so does their level of shadiness. The best way to find them is asking locals.
- Interestingly I expected tourist places to have the worst rates but it seems like it was the opposite. In bigger cities when asking locals for cuevas we usually got worse rates than openly offered at hotels in El Chaltén for instance. One suspicion I have is that in this case it's the tourists rather than the locals that actually have the leverage and can seek better rates. YMMV though. Just one hypothesis.
- A lot of people seemed to have gotten good rates from Western Union. Everyone recommended it but we didn't end up needing it. Even if the rate is great though, the logistics can be annoying. Some people mentioned it having low limits, and we found that Western Unions often have long lines and can be hard to find. Make sure you look on their website for official stores.
- The Wise card didn't offer a terrible rate. We got 1040 when the blue dollar was 1100. There are some nuances though. A ton of Brazilians for example reported their Wise card not working, but I had no issue at all. I am Brazilian but wonder if this has anything to do with me originally getting my card when I lived abroad and/or the fact I have balances in other currencies.
Thought I'd also share some bits of more practical "advice" if anyone's interested:
- We mostly used or exchanged dollars in cash, and got near-blue rates every time
- We got the best rates (the actual blue rate from e.g. DolarYa) from restaurants and hotels that would just look up the daily rate and offer that. It's in their interest to have dollars.
- Cuevas are everywhere but the prices vary quite a bit and so does their level of shadiness. The best way to find them is asking locals.
- Interestingly I expected tourist places to have the worst rates but it seems like it was the opposite. In bigger cities when asking locals for cuevas we usually got worse rates than openly offered at hotels in El Chaltén for instance. One suspicion I have is that in this case it's the tourists rather than the locals that actually have the leverage and can seek better rates. YMMV though. Just one hypothesis.
- A lot of people seemed to have gotten good rates from Western Union. Everyone recommended it but we didn't end up needing it. Even if the rate is great though, the logistics can be annoying. Some people mentioned it having low limits, and we found that Western Unions often have long lines and can be hard to find. Make sure you look on their website for official stores.
- The Wise card didn't offer a terrible rate. We got 1040 when the blue dollar was 1100. There are some nuances though. A ton of Brazilians for example reported their Wise card not working, but I had no issue at all. I am Brazilian but wonder if this has anything to do with me originally getting my card when I lived abroad and/or the fact I have balances in other currencies.
that is a bad word