And Then There Was One...

In a Eurocentric travel industry, South America often gets short shrift. It’s quite a distance for most Northern Hemisphere visitors, airfares are relatively high, and the continent’s stereotyped reputation for crime and disorder is a deterrent for some—even though, at present, Venezuela is the only real basket case in that regard.

On arrival at Santiago's international airport, Australians may feel singled out.

That said, some countries have also made it harder for themselves because of arbitrary visa rules, but there are fewer holdouts now. Argentina has eliminated the onerous “reciprocity fee” instituted by its previous government and Chile’s similar measure now applies only to Australians—as Aussie arrivals to Santiago’s international airport quickly learn (Chile does not inflict this fee at other airports and land borders, however).

Visiting the Cataratas do Iguaçu (the Brazilian side) has become less expensive for several nationalities.

The big news, though, is the breakthrough in Brazil. Every time I’ve visited the country—only infrequently—entering has been a hassle. That’s because Brazil has taken the “reciprocity” issue a step farther, requiring an advance visa from US citizens even for a day trip from the Argentine side of Iguazú Falls. The last time I did it, the Brazilian consulate in Buenos Aires told me to get the visa in Puerto Iguazú, where that consulate required me to change my US cash into Argentine pesos (in a local exchange house, at a disadvantageous rate).

The worst is over, though. Last month, the country announced that citizens of Australia, Canada, Japan and the United States may now apply for their visas online, at a cost of US$40, rather than in person or by mail at a cost of US$160. The idea, apparently, is to encourage tourism and, if so, it’s a good start—but even better would be eliminating visas entirely. That said, the United States will probably continue to require Brazilians to pay that same US$160 fee simply for a privilege of applying for a visa, with no guarantee (and no refund if no visa is granted). Still, it’s an encouraging measure on Brazil’s part (Brazil, by the way, will return your fee if it refuses you a visa).

Bolivia is now the outlier. Following the example of Argentina’s previous government, it instituted a visa requirement that requires any US citizen to pay US$160 at any Bolivian consulate (that’s even more restrictive than Venezuela, despite that country’s notoriously contentious relations with the US). Again, in fairness, Bolivians must go through the same process to enter the United States, with no guarantee that the request will be successful.

Would You Like the Good News First? Money & Visa Updates

In the context of southern South America, two topics about which I often write are money and visas, and on both I have good news and bad news. Here, today, I’ll deal with the two topics separately.

MONEY

Less than two weeks ago, I dealt with the issue of Argentina’s ATMs and the fact that they’re such a quilombo (a slang term, meaning a mess, that derives from an earlier usage that meant a brothel). I haven’t used an ATM in that time but good news is that, according to The Wall Street Journal’s local correspondent Taos Turner, Argentine banks have raised the limit for individual transactions to A$3,300 (about US$192; when I made my last withdrawal, I could only obtain A$2,000, about US$143). This is a step forward, though it still doesn’t come close to the permitted amounts from Chilean and Uruguayan ATMs.

For foreign account-holders, the cost of an Argentine ATM transaction rose by 67 percent in November.

The bad news is that the banks have raised their transaction charge to A$175 (almost exactly US$10), as opposed to the previous charge of A$106.20 (about US$6). That sounds bad, and it is, but with the new withdrawal limit that amounts to only 5.3 percent as opposed the earlier 5.31 percent. In Argentine banking, that appears to count as progress…

VISAS

In visa matters, the news is better, especially for Australians and Canadians. Early last year, Argentina suspended its so-called “reciprocity fee” for US visitors, in hopes that Argentines would gain access to the United States’ Visa Waiver Program, which permits cheaper and more expeditious travel to the Colossus of the North. That, however, occurred before a far more xenophobic administration took over the US government, and Chile remains the only South American country eligible for the Visa Waiver (unless you want to count Guyane, which is an overseas département of France). In principle, if the US refuses to reciprocate, Argentina could reinstate the fee for US visitors.

Soon, both Australian and Canadian visitors will be exempt from Argentina's "reciprocity" fee.

Recently, however, it’s taken steps in the other direction. The previous Argentine administration had also inflicted “reciprocity” fees on Australians and Canadians, but the current government eliminated the fee for Aussies last July, and has taken steps to to do so for Canadians by the first of the year. Nationals of both countries will find one less obstacle if they desire to visit Buenos Aires and beyond.

Brazil is also making it a bit easier to visit that country although, in my opinion, it still has a long way to go. I’ve not crossed the Brazilian border in some time, but applying for a Brazilian visa has always been inconvenient. It used to involve going in person but, when I tried to do so in Buenos Aires, the consulate there informed me that they could not issue a visa because my intended visit was too far in the future (to the best of my memory, it was two or three months before). I was able to get one-day service at the Puerto Iguazú consulate, to cross to the Brazilian side of the falls, but they would only accept payment in Argentine pesos, even though the visa fee was advertised in US dollars.

For US passport holders, the pleasure of a day-trip from Argentina to Brazil's side of Iguazú Falls will still cost US$160.

Now, though, intending visitors can apply for the visa online, but the Brazilians are still missing an opportunity that the Argentines are taking advantage of—eliminating the visa entirely would do much more to encourage travel to South America’s largest country. In fact, the Brazilians did so briefly last year, when they suspended all tourist visa requirements during the Olympics.

The argument, of course, is that as long as the US and other countries oblige Brazilians to obtain advance visas, it’s only fair Brazil should require the same for citizens of those countries. To some degree I sympathize with that argument and, as an advocate of open borders, I think US visa requirements are far too restrictive. That said, from a purely pragmatic viewpoint, Brazil gains nothing from subjecting potential visitors to bureaucratic obstacles. Argentina appears to have learned that lesson.

Where's the Money? "Caving" in Argentine Patagonia

Sometime in the first fortnight of November, I will fly to Santiago to begin updating Moon Handbooks Patagonia. Over the months to come, I will spend extended periods in southernmost Chile, Argentina and the Falkland Islands, revisiting as many places as is logistically possible before submitting the manuscript early next year for publication in the fall (spring in the Southern Hemisphere, of course).

In the process, of course, I will frequently need to tap my back account to meet my expenses. This is not a problem in Chile, where ATMs are abundant and give reasonable exchange rates, nor in the Falklands where British pounds, euros and dollars circulate widely in Stanley shops, which are sometimes overrun with cruise ship passengers. In Argentina, though, things are more problematical.

In Argentine Patagonia’s open spaces, ATMs can be few and far between and, moreover, they pay the official exchange rate which, as of today, is roughly 5.8 pesos to the dollar. Today's informal “blue dollar,” however, was available in Buenos Aires about 9.8 to the dollar, making the city almost 60 percent cheaper with bargain-basement pesos.

In Patagonia, however, the blue dollar less easy to come by. Xoom is not the option it is in Buenos Aires, because it no longer has any cash pickup point south of Mar del Plata, and destinations such as El Calafate and Ushuaia have only a handful of exchange houses and lack the cuevas (“caves”) that are so abundant in the Argentine capital. In Ushuaia, writes a friend who owns a small lodge there, “there is only one exchange house and, obviously, it changes at the official rate and there are no street changers as in Buenos Aires. Local businesses take dollars at the official rate or a little more,” though she herself offers guests who pay cash discounts of 10 to 30 percent, depending on the season.

My cousin and her ex-husband, who are guides in El Calafate, tell me that there is no informal market there, either, in a town where prices are often quoted in US currency. What does happen, he says, is that “various businesses accept the dollar at the blue rate, such as Planet Patagonia and the Safari Náutico” (pictured above). That said, not so long ago a friend of mine waiting in line at Banco Santa Cruz there managed to exchange his cash dollars with an Argentine customer, though the rate was less advantageous than the best blue rate.

All this suggests that, if you’re traveling to Patagonia, you may find it worthwhile to change dollars for pesos in Buenos Aires first (unfortunately in this case, I will be passing through Santiago, but I may be able to purchase cheaper pesos on the Chilean side, in Puerto Natales or Punta Arenas). The problem, of course, is that I would prefer not to have to carry so much cash; even though Argentine Patagonia is not crime-ridden, there’s always a risk of losing things.

That’s another distortion that the unrealistic official exchange rate brings but, even then, your mileage may vary there or elsewhere in Argentina. In a recent phone conversation, a friend who owns a small B&B in the northern town of Puerto Iguazú told me it’s easy to exchange informally there, though the rate’s not quite so good as in Buenos Aires. Iguazú, of course, is part of the anything-goes “Triple Frontera” zone where the borders of Argentina, Brazil and Paraguay meet.