Argentina
Buenos Aires
February 2023 • For a country with such great resources, traditions, landscapes, and people, what a tragedy it is that Argentina can't fix its 90% inflation rate. I'd need a master's degree to ever understand its two-tier currency exchange (one called “blue dollar” and targeted to visitors). All I know is don’t come to Argentina with U.S. notes smaller than $100 or with any folds or marks on them. And don’t bring notes that have a puny Ben Franklin face—only the big-faced Ben will do. Burned a lot of time and adrenaline trying to get money via Western Union transfer from my bank account, eventually walking out of one exchange with a stash of pesos that looked cartoonishly obscene in my front pocket. Buenos Aires is a wonderful city, but right now the difficulty of obtaining money at a reasonable rate cannot be overstated, and it falls especially hard on those who aren't just passing through.
