Currency
 

Hi all
New to all this but need some advise.
I am travelling bottom to top of South America next month and am a bit confused over the different currencies. There will obviously be many different ones so do you change money at the earliest convenience in that country or do all S American countries accept U.S Dollars (something i have been told) ??
Thanks alot

Some countries use US dollars, but most have their own, you will change at the borders as you go, or when you use an ATM it will give you local currency

Hey Richard, did you sell your bike? I'm just off the boat and preparing to leave Ushuaia with a fresh thousand or two photos.

OP, it is possible that your informants meant that US dollars are the easiest hard currency to change throughout South America, which is true if that's your goal. But you can immediately eliminate from your pool of trip advisors anyone who tells you all South American countries accept US dollars in normal use. This just means they don't get out much (or get out only to the extent necessary to stay in pricey tourist enclaves without much local flavor).

To experience the world, you've got to encounter it on its own terms, and this means dealing with the multitudes of local currencies. It's not difficult; as Richard says there are usually money changers at or near borders, and ATM's always serve up local currency. Insisting that people accept your American dollars everywhere is akin to telling them that their own currencey--and by implication their cultures and countries--are worthless by comparison. That's not a nice message, whether intended or not.

Of course, some places do use US dollars for everyday purposes. Here in Ushuaia they're accepted everywhere...but no one would mistake Ushuaia for an authentic Argentine town. A few countries have adopted the US dollar officially, which does save a certain amount of trouble for US tourists.

Eventually, it becomes second nature to check rates on line before crossing borders, then watch for obvious scams with the moneychangers. Every so often you get stuck with some other country's currency, and depending on where and what you have varying degrees of difficulty getting rid of it. I've ended up advertising currency for sale here on HU, among other places (I think it was here that someone bought my leftover Ukrainian money--or was it Bulgarian?) and given it away to people I met in others--most recently I gave some Albanian bills I couldn't get anyone to pay me for to an ethnic Albanian cleaner I met in Kosovo. And I've still got a few Kenyan bills from long ago pinned to my refrigerator at home.

Does "bottom to top" mean you're starting here at the "bottom," or are you beginning in Buenos Aires or elsewhere? It's beginning to feel a bit nippy here in Ushuaia already, and in a month you won't have much company.

enjoy,

Mark

Cheers Mark, thats very useful. Yeh we fly to Buenos aires in a month and then south to ushuaia the all the way up to Alaska.
So what will the temp in Ushuaia in mid March? I was expecting about 0 degrees.

Can't say I really know what temps will be like in a month, but it sure won't be summer anymore. Zero sounds like a good guess, allowing for some colder periods, bits of snow, etc. It's a maritime climate here, so I gather it doesn't get quite as cold as the latitude would suggest. However, that means damp cold, which is (in my mind) worse. And it's obviously snowed down to road level during the three weeks I was gone, though this is now melted back to five hundred meters elevation or so.

On the plus side, maybe the wind will abate by the time you arrive. If you're headed for Alaska you'll probably overtake me at some point along the way, so we can compare notes.

There've been posts in the past which discuss the earliest and latest times for riding in Tierra del Fuego and Patagonia. You might search for those.

Enjoy,

Mark

Hi Mark, hijacking the thread :)

I am glad I missed the snow down there, and good to hear you had a good trip :)

Yes, sold the bike to a seppo, we did the Uruguay paperwork yesterday and came back in the same day. I just bought a ticket to the states and leave Thursday morning. I am still here at DakarMotos

Cheers
Richard

Guess I'm not going to catch up to you this time. Safe journey home, and I'll meet you next time through. I bet you'll still not be carrying a spare chain link!

Mark

[/drift]

Safe travels to you m8 and I have two EK screw type master links on order ;)