Argentine Peso

[WorldTravel69]

Found this in the Wall Street Journal.

Trouble in Paradise.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702303444204577460502395870724.html?KEYWORDS=Dollars+becomes+Scarce+as+Argentina+Cries+Peso

[AllIWantIsLove]

Thanks WT I am sure it is interesting. But those of us without a WSJ subscription can read only the first two paragraphs. Maybe you or someone else with a subscription can post a summary of the article?

Bob

[WorldTravel69]

I have the article. I will scan it. It is kind of funny. They dogs smelling car trunks for dollars.


Thanks WT I am sure it is interesting. But those of us without a WSJ subscription can read only the first two paragraphs. Maybe you or someone else with a subscription can post a summary of the article?

Bob

[AllIWantIsLove]

Thank you very much WT. It's a great article and I appreciate the trouble you went to to make sure we could all read it.

Bob

[WorldTravel69]

Dinner for Dollars only.

http://www.npr.org/blogs/parallels/2014/12/16/370979773/argentinas-approach-to-inflation-ditch-the-peso-hoard-u-s-dollars

[Don B]

Dinner for Dollars only.

http://www.npr.org/blogs/parallels/2014/12/16/370979773/argentinas-approach-to-inflation-ditch-the-peso-hoard-u-s-dollarsAccording to the article, foreigners have to pay for transportation with dollars.

If this includes bus travel I am probably going to deny Argentina of any of my dollars.

As part of my research for one of the books I have in progress I had about 10 days and 10,000 miles via bus planned.

There is an empirically derived "law" that states tha virtually everything the US government does is either UN-Constitutional, immoral or just plain stupid.

The stupid part certainly applies to Argentina.

Don B.

[Dickhead]

"I had about 10 days and 10,000 miles via bus planned."

That would be sixteen hours a day at a constant 62.5 mph. I kind of doubt that would be possible. I have traveled by bus to all 23 provinces and I'd have to be convinced that connections could actually be made to accomplish that. All the way from Salta to Punta Arenas is about 2,400 miles and takes three full days so even if you did that four times you would be short on miles and long on days. I went all the way from PA along the straits and up the eastern coast to BA and it takes quite a while. Maybe you mean 10,000 kilometers.

[Don B]

"I had about 10 days and 10,000 miles via bus planned."

That would be sixteen hours a day at a constant 62.5 mph. I kind of doubt that would be possible. I have traveled by bus to all 23 provinces and I'd have to be convinced that connections could actually be made to accomplish that. All the way from Salta to Punta Arenas is about 2,400 miles and takes three full days so even if you did that four times you would be short on miles and long on days. I went all the way from PA along the straits and up the eastern coast to BA and it takes quite a while. Maybe you mean 10,000 kilometers.The 10,000 miles was just a guess. As usual I do have the trip mapped out with connections and hotels planned.

But rather than confirm or deny the use of pesos for tickets you had to be a dick.
One of the reasons I quit bothering to post and I should have kept it that way.

Don B.

[PirateMorgan]

Ya know Don B, give your info and opinions. It seems that there is always some dick here who knows better, is smarter and whose knowledge is just better than others. These type of people obviously have small dicks. I would like to hear more about your plans and ideas.

[Easy Go]

I'm not sure I'd read too much into the story. I believe that that "dollars for tickets" only applies for travel outside of Argentina (like a ferry to Uruguay) and not for travel on buses within Argentina. I'd want to hear from somebody with recent experience with intra-Argentina bus travel before I scrapped a big trip.

The controls were created because the travel agents were gaming to multi-tier exchange rate system where they could buy travel for someone outside the country at the official rate and sell it to them at higher rate. So if I was needed a $US500 plane ticket between LA and Miami, an agent could buy it for me in BA and get the official rate and sell it to me for $US450. Both of us would come out ahead but the currency reserves would not. If it's all pesos, the government doesn't really care.

As you'd expect, the introduction of the controls was a complete shambles with agents not getting unclear, incomplete, and conflicting information from the government. It should be better now but I'm sure there is still lots of misinformation floating around.

[Gandolf50]

I'm not sure I'd read too much into the story. I believe that that "dollars for tickets" only applies for travel outside of Argentina (like a ferry to Uruguay) and not for travel on buses within Argentina. I'd want to hear from somebody with recent experience with intra-Argentina bus travel before I scrapped a big trip.

The controls were created because the travel agents were gaming to multi-tier exchange rate system where they could buy travel for someone outside the country at the official rate and sell it to them at higher rate. So if I was needed a $US500 plane ticket between LA and Miami, an agent could buy it for me in BA and get the official rate and sell it to me for $US450. Both of us would come out ahead but the currency reserves would not. If it's all pesos, the government doesn't really care.

As you'd expect, the introduction of the controls was a complete shambles with agents not getting unclear, incomplete, and conflicting information from the government. It should be better now but I'm sure there is still lots of misinformation floating around.The last I heard is if you want to buy a airline ticket that is priced in dollars at the "official" rate (It would have to be a international flight as all internal flights are in pesos) you need to show you Argie I'd first. There were foreigners buying in pesos and taking advantage of the Governments lies about the exchange rate. I think now they even want to know where the money came from if you pay in cash and not in 19 cuotas on your Argie credit card. If you don't have a Argie document you have to pay in dollars or at the "tourist rate" in pesos.

[Easy Go]

The last I heard is if you want to buy a airline ticket that is priced in dollars at the "official" rate (It would have to be a international flight as all internal flights are in pesos) you need to show you Argie I'd first. There were foreigners buying in pesos and taking advantage of the Governments lies about the exchange rate. I think now they even want to know where the money came from if you pay in cash and not in 19 cuotas on your Argie credit card. If you don't have a Argie document you have to pay in dollars or at the "tourist rate" in pesos.Airlines have always been a bit different. At least before, a different tourist price was justified based on flights being subsidized. It always rang a little hollow but most of this stuff (like the entry fee) existed just to raise some extra money. I'm not sure if that excuse has gone way to be replaced by the exchange rate weirdness or not.

I never heard anything about differential pricing for bus trips which is why I'd want to hear some real experiences rather than a minor news story running in the US before concluding it's an issue with buses.

[Gandolf50]

Airlines have always been a bit different. At least before, a different tourist price was justified based on flights being subsidized. It always rang a little hollow but most of this stuff (like the entry fee) existed just to raise some extra money. I'm not sure if that excuse has gone way to be replaced by the exchange rate weirdness or not.

I never heard anything about differential pricing for bus trips which is why I'd want to hear some real experiences rather than a minor news story running in the US before concluding it's an issue with buses.As far as I've seen with long distance buses its only pesos. Maybe different if you are in micro center at a tourist center that deals mostly with foreigners. I doubt that the bus terminal here near where I live would even accept dollars. They would not have a clue.

[WorldTravel69]

When I was there I just went to the bus station or train station, bought my tickets in Pesos.

When I booked through a travel agent, I used a credit card for those airplane trips around the country.

I never tried to pay in pesos.

[Don B]

Airlines have always been a bit different. At least before, a different tourist price was justified based on flights being subsidized. It always rang a little hollow but most of this stuff (like the entry fee) existed just to raise some extra money. I'm not sure if that excuse has gone way to be replaced by the exchange rate weirdness or not.

I never heard anything about differential pricing for bus trips which is why I'd want to hear some real experiences rather than a minor news story running in the US before concluding it's an issue with buses.Mostly for my own amusement, I looked at my travels in 2012 and 2013.

In 2013, I took the bus 15 times, 10 times my name and passport number is printed on my ticket.

In 2012,10 times my name and passport number is on the ticket, 17 times it is not. About 8 of the 17 were short trips with generic tickets, Santa Fe. Esperanza round trip.

My travels are too small a population sample to say there was a trend toward more control from 2012 to 2013 but it looks like the mechanism for charging for tickets in dollars exists.

One of those tickets in 2012 was for Santiago to Mendoza. This was my second bus ride over the Andes. If you should make this trip do it in the daytime for the views AND take a jacket, it is cold at the border crossing.

Don B.