Oct 31 – Day 7 – Ushuaia Arrival
When we awoke in the morning we had arrived in the port at Ushuaia. After our final breakfast, we packed our bags, picked up the passports and were off the boat by 9:30. Our passports had been stamped on the boat by Chile, but we were mystified about where to go for Argentina, so we stopped in the immigration office on the dock where we told we were ok, no stamp required. I feel like that could have been communicated better to us when we got our passport on the boat, but that was ok. So, as we learned, you won’t get your passport stamped at any border crossing in Argentina, but Chile will stamp it on your way in and out.
We have two nights booked at Cabanas Aves del Sur, which is 10 blocks of mostly uphill walking, while dragging our big ass ugly bag behind us. The sidewalks in Ushuaia are rough, lots of steps of different heights and lengths- so you really need to watch your step everywhere so you don’t trip. It is not a handicap friendly city at all, as far as getting around, so be forewarned.
But the sidewalks were the only thing in this small city that wasn’t friendly- the locals certainly were! On our way to our hostal we had two people just pull over and ask us if we needed help with directions, our hostal owner was very friendly and kind, as was everyone else we talked to.
Our cabin was not fancy, but it was comfortable, clean and equipped with everything we might need. We hand washed some clothes in the sink and hung them out to dry in front of the heater. We are firm believers in washing clothes as we go- you can pack lighter and it’s always good to not be carrying dirty clothes if you can avoid it.
While unpacking we realized our bag had burst a seam- probably from being drug up too many stairs. So we added that onto our list of things to do- finding food, exchanging dollars for pesos, mailing postcards from the end of the world, getting our photo in front of the “Fin del Mundo” sign, finding the bus station and planning out our two days here. But given we had some tasks that just had to be done we decided to not take any tours or go on hikes, but instead we opted to just soak in the culture, people and museos (museums) of the town.
So armed with a loose plan we headed back down the hill to see what adventure we could find and what tasks we could figure out and/or cross off our list. When we reached the waters edge we ran into Hector, who was flying a DJI Mini 3 drone, just like ours- naturally I had to talk to him about drones! His english was better than our spanish, but as always spanglish worked well and we made a new friend who insisted on taking a drone photo and video of us and sending it to us via WhatsApp. He’s a great music producer as well and you can check out his work here.
After meeting Hector we continued on, checking out all the monuments, giant city signs and shipwrecks before ducking into the Ramos Generales El Almacén panderia for a cafe and fruit torte- delicious and exactly what we needed.
Fortified by coffee and pastry, we headed up a block to the shopping district to look for a new travel bag and just generally check out the area. Neither one of us are really shoppers or collectors of things, but I have to admit I tend to pick up refrigerator magnets of places I’ve been. But what we really need was a bag- we could go for a cheap one to get us through the trip, or a better one more suited to want we want to use on future adventures… well, that was obvious, we wanted a good bag! Luckily Ushuaia is not only a tourist town, but also the kick off point for all sorts of real adventure travel, including the expeditions down to Antartica. So there a ton of shops that are dedicated to adventure travel, with all the brands and gear you would expect- let other people go shopping for Louis Vitton and Hermes- our kind of stuff is right here! We ended up finding an outlet store with a Saloman bag that was just perfect. Between it being on clearance and the state of the Argentinian peso we got a really good deal.
Dinner was at Taberna del Viejo Lobo, a pirate themed restaurant with a cool elevator and great views of the bay. The food was good, the local beer was decent- but the “tropical stout” was really just a IPA pretending to be a stout…not bad but not exactly what I was expecting! After dinner we headed back to our hostal, with a quick stop at the local mercado (market) where we ran into a couple of the guides from the cruise ship who said they always do their shopping in Argentina, since the prices were so good. We only wanted to get a few things for breakfast since we were crossing into Chile next, and Chile is very tough to bring food across their border. But best deal- and I mean the best deal- is on Argentinian wine. We bought several bottles of very nice Malbecs, Syrahs and Cabernets for $2-5 US dollars, bottles that would have been $20-25 in the states. If you’re a wine drinker this is a great place to stock up!
Nov 1 – Day 8 – Ushuaia. Blue Dollar Explained
We both get a good nights sleep because we want to get going pretty early for our trip to Western Union. There probably is no bigger question we have seen asked on the internet than “what the heck is the blue dollar rate, and why do I care?” So here goes an explanation, and we hope this helps.
As of 2023, the inflation rate in Argentina is about 140%. And high inflation has been a problem there for nearly two decades- so a loaf of bread that might have cost 1000 pesos two or three years ago might now cost 5000 pesos or more. Anyone who has experienced rising prices can relate, but very few of us in the world have experienced anything like that. The US Dollar, while also capable of experiencing inflation, is one of the most stable currencies in the world. Because of this stability, and because of the instability of the Argentinian peso, the people of Argentina want to get and keep as many US dollars as they can- that loaf of bread that costs $5 US or 5000 pesos right now will still probably cost $5 dollars next year but might cost 8000 pesos next year. So their pesos go down in value while the dollar stays (mostly) stable.
The Argentinian government bank sets the official rate- at the time it was 370 pesos per dollar. And if you go to a bank, that’s what you’ll get. An exchange house might give you a little more. But local businesses, and Western Union, will often pay 2-3 time MORE than the official rate- and that’s because the people of Argentina are trying to preserve their wealth by converting as much as they can from unstable pesos to stable dollars. There is a government limit to how much they can convert per month, but people are always trying to get around those limits. One way that they convert their pesos to dollars is by bringing them to Western Union and “sending” that money to themselves as dollars. It’s complicated, but apparently effective. When we exchanged the blue dollar rate was 872 pesos per dollar, vs 370 for the official rate. So you can save a LOT of money by using Western Union (or a local business). The trick here is you don’t want to exchange too much money because the value of your pesos will also go down, especially if you try to get dollars for them when you go back home.
The other option is to use your US credit card for purchases- as far as I know this doesn’t work for the Euro and other currencies. But a US credit card will get you what is known as the MEP rate (also known as “Mercado Electrónico de Pagos” or “Dólar Bolsa) which is very close to the Blue Dollar rate. Why does this work? I honestly don’t know- it has something to do with government bonds, electronic transfers and a “preferred tourist rate”. The important thing to know is your card will be charged at the “official” exchange rate and then in 5-10 days the difference will be refunded back to your card at nearly the same as the Blue Dollar rate. So, if you have a US credit card, you’ll get the advantages of the blue dollar rate without having any left over pesos or having to deal with the STACKS of pesos you get when you exchange cash- I mean $200 US dollars got us about a 6 inch tall stack of pesos. It’s a lot to try to carry and count!
So, does that mean you shouldn’t exchange any money? Nope, not every place will take credit cards- taxis, cafes and hotels sometimes require pesos, not credit cards. And tips are not always able to be put on a credit card there, so those are often cash only. And while everyone wants US dollars, bills that are smaller than $100 are hard for locals to exchange, so they have little to no value to them. Get some pesos and tip people well- these people are struggling with money in ways we can’t relate to, so don’t be stingy- you’re saving enough on the exchange rate, so help them out with a good tip. And that brings me to the final point…why the heck is it called the “blue dollar” rate? Well, the only dollars that are truly useful to them are crisp, clean US $100 bills- the new style with the blue paper and “big head”… the blue dollars, not the old, easily counterfeited white dollars. And if you are bringing bills to exchange they should be as crisp and clean as you can get- marked, crumpled or torn bills get a lower rate. Seriously.
So how tough was Western Union? Not bad at all, although there is always a line at every one we saw in both Argentina and Chile. We downloaded the app (download here, we get a small referral) , sent ourselves $200 while we were at the hostal and had Wifi, walked down to the Carrefour Mercado (which was as close to a Walmart as we ever saw in either country), stood in line for 45 minutes and got a stack of pesos. I’ve heard of them being slow but that really wasn’t our experience- the tellers just moved through people at a reasonable pace. We did get in “trouble” for two of us going to the window though, so only one person should handle the transaction.
Whew. That was a lot of explanation for what only took us about an hour from beginning to end! But after leaving Western Union we stopped in the Museum of the City of Ushuaia where we had a very excited, enthusiastic and engaged guide tell us EVERYTHING about the city. In spanish of course, so we only got part of everything he was telling us (which he realized) but it was hard to deny the passion he had for his city and overall we found it to be interesting and worthwhile, even if we didn’t understand everything!
Today’s lunch is at the Triumph Cafe, where they combine two of my favourite things- food and motorcycles! Empanadas, burgers and cafe! Then we are off to buy, write and mail postcards to family members from the end of the world- after two months they finally arrived! Then we went to the Fin del Mundo Mueso, and the state house. They were kind of pricey for what they were, and they charge more for tourist than locals- we enjoyed them because we tend to be interested in history and architecture but not sure they are a “must see” for most people.
Dinner that night was at Kalma Resto, a small place just a block away from our hostal. The food and service there was simply amazing- one of the finest steaks I have ever had, the risotto and mushrooms were amazing, the black garlic butter for the bread was delicious- and the cost for appetizers, dinner, desserts and wine was just around $60 US. Money well spent, and we highly recommend it.
So what are our thoughts about Ushuaia? In retrospect we wish had spent a few extra days there. I think we would have liked to do the penguin excursions, plus some hiking. We opted not to take the train to the prison at the end of the world- we just didn’t have time to go there or explore the park from that side. It is a neat town, obviously a lot of it is just for the tourist crowd but sometimes that’s ok- there were stores we needed and lots of restaurants to choose from. There were at least two brewpubs we would have liked to visit but they didn’t open until 7:30PM, at which point we were starting to wind down- but if we had more time we certainly would have made it to them as well. So next time we’ll spend a few days there!
