El Dólar Blue

Hola todos,

Here's a quick Argentine cultural lesson for you regarding the US dollar here in BA. It has two values. Yep- two. In almost any other country, the dollar is worth one value- whatever the market has set it at. Some days it goes up in value, and some days it goes down. Regardless, you always want to check the day's exchange rate online so that you can practice your rapid mental math skills when buying things or withdrawing cash.
Here in Argentina, all of that occurs too- except that it isn't supposed to. The government here in Argentina more or less fixes the exchange rate for the US dollar and Argentine peso. Every single day, I can wake up knowing that the USD is worth just over 8 ARS (Argentine pesos). That number does not fluctuate much, if at all. Cash or credit, the exchange value stays the same. So that means that I shouldn't worry about what the value is when I exchange my dollars for pesos, or how much my international (read: fee free) credit card is being charged at a store.
However, the market will do what the market will do. There is something called El Dólar Blue (do I really need to translate that for you?) which is the unofficial fluctuating dollar value. This number fluctuates much more than most currencies, but it also gives you a much higher ARS to USD exchange rate. When we arrived, the rate was around 13.5, about 6 weeks ago it peaked at 15.8, and it is currently 12.9. This means that, at the peak rate, I could have received nearly twice as many pesos from an exchange place than I would have received at a bank. Which is awesome! My dollar has more power here than the Argentine government lets on, which means that products here are fairly cheap compared to standard US prices. Unfortunately, this method of exchange isn't officially recognized, but the TV news and newspapers all report the day's blue dollar rate along with all other currency in its economics section.
The downsides: the fluctuation and credit cards. The fluctuation stinks if you wait too long or go too early. The rate doesn't change much within a single day, but week to week you could be jumping for joy and changing tons of money or scrimping your pesos until the rate goes back up so you can exchange dinero again. And credit cards, unfortunately, use the official rate. This means that if today I use my credit card, I will pay 1.5 times as many dollars (but in pesos) than if I had just used the pesos I had exchanged at the better 13-ish rate.
Ultimately, I'm glad we have the Dólar Blue because it helps my money go further and makes living here in BA less expensive as a US American. And looking back on this post, I realize how incredibly long it was. I'm so sorry. At least you learned something!

Besos,

Tina the Exploradora