A recent Australian traveler went to change his excess pesos at Ezeiza airport before leaving the country. The exchange house refused to accept the Argentine currency with the result our astonished and somewhat dismayed tourist had to make a mad dash around the duty free and offload his unloved pesos on unnecessary tourist tat. I can just imagine the t-shirt – “My brother couldn´t change his pesos in Argentina so I got this lousy t-shirt.”While the government’s recent clampdown on dollar purchases may result in an unintended boost in sales for duty free stores in airports, it does nothing for the image of Argentina as “un pais en serio.” The exchange controls were designed to strenghten the currency against the dollar when it seems quite the opposite has happened as locals now flock to black market dealers selling dollars at $4.75 rather than the official rate of $4.33. A devaluation by default has occurred and now more and more penny jars around the world will fill with unwanted peso notes, accidental remnants and mementos of that fabulous Argentina trip in 2012.
