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U.S.Dollars for Small Purchases?


ldubs
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Are U.S. Dollars generally accepted by vendors in the moreheavily “touristed” areas of Argentina, Brazil, & Uruguay? I'm asking more in terms of small tourist shop purchases than anything else. I realize there is an exchange rate consideration, but just want to know if a dollar will likely be accepted.

 

Just as an FYI we will be docking in the following cruiseport towns/cities:

Buenos Aires

Rio De Janeiro,

Sao Paulo

Ilhabela

Buzios

Punta Del Este

Montevideo

 

 

Thanks in advance.

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Are U.S. Dollars generally accepted by vendors in the moreheavily “touristed” areas of Argentina, Brazil, & Uruguay? I'm asking more in terms of small tourist shop purchases than anything else. I realize there is an exchange rate consideration, but just want to know if a dollar will likely be accepted.

 

Just as an FYI we will be docking in the following cruiseport towns/cities:

Buenos Aires

Rio De Janeiro,

Sao Paulo

Ilhabela

Buzios

Punta Del Este

Montevideo

 

 

Thanks in advance.

Definitely yes. Take plenty of small denomination notes. Just remember you'll probably get the local currency if you need change.

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Every place I visited took US dollars. Could also use Argentine money in most Chile locations, but not all. Do not try to use Argentine money in Falklands. British pounds and US is ok. Also,don't try to use Brit money in Argentina. The 1982 Falklands battle is still a very raw wound for inhabitants of both locations. Also, previous comment about getting change in local currency is correct. Expect that if you get any change at all.

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Every place I visited took US dollars. Could also use Argentine money in most Chile locations, but not all. Do not try to use Argentine money in Falklands. British pounds and US is ok. Also,don't try to use Brit money in Argentina. The 1982 Falklands battle is still a very raw wound for inhabitants of both locations. Also, previous comment about getting change in local currency is correct. Expect that if you get any change at all.

 

You might find it easier to use a credit card where accepted. At least you won't end up with change you cannot use.

You will also probably find several places to change dollars - Cambios - they post the exchange rate- you can get currency for all three countries quite easily at the same place.

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  • 1 month later...
We took a cab in Santos Brazil and the driver quoted in US dollars - I asked the price in Reals and it was about half what he wanted in dollars so I paid in Reals.

 

Our cab ride was in Buenos Aires and they are the ones that wanted Argentinian currency. When we wanted to go to the airport we had our hotel call for one that would accept our credit card. We had no problem anywhere else

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We just returned from a circumnavigation of south america and found that US $ were accepted everywhere we went accept a resort community near Valpariaso but you're not going there.

 

There is a thriving underground economy in SA where the US $ is used to buy goods, etc. We did get Brazilian money while we were there because we were spending so many days. Buzios is lovely...you'll love it and they take USD. We just used an ATM to get the Brazilian money.

 

I ran out of nice crisp bills quickly but had no problem buying with my older (but not ripped) dollars.

 

One other thing is the $ sign is used in a number of countries to signify their own currency (it's not exclusive to us, aus, nz or ca). Make sure you know what they are quoting.

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Our cab ride was in Buenos Aires and they are the ones that wanted Argentinian currency. When we wanted to go to the airport we had our hotel call for one that would accept our credit card. We had no problem anywhere else

 

What is the cost from your hotel to EZE by the taxi your hotel arranged?

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Just back from Zaandam BsAs to San Antonio. I took all currencies with me. The one currency they didn’t seem to want was Uruguay Pesos. In Uruguay I got the best exchange rate with Reales, then Argentina pesos.

 

(Then there was the guy at the Port Market that wanted to give me a discount of 10% if I used my credit card:o. Needless to say, we did NO business.) ;)

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