Hi everybody.
I'm traveling to Venezuela in a week, and therefore trying to get ahold of some pocket money for my arrival. I've been trying every bank and exchange service I can think of, but nobody carries the Bolivar... Anybody know a place in LDN that does??
cheers
Peder
Hey ped... Don`t buy any bolivares outside of venezeula. Bring whatever euro you can gather and buy some boliveres on the black market here. Venezeula, contrary to recent advice is very resanoble to travell in. The prices may look expensive if you price them over the net and concider the offical exchange rate. However, bring over euro and sell it to the officals at airport when you land/hotel reception etc you will get an excellent exchange rate. Today i changed 100euro for 78000 bolivers. With this unoffical (blackmarket)exchange rate it makes venezeula a very affordable and an excellent place to visit.
chow.
Don´t think it matters. Dollars or Euro. But as i move around the counrty i find it harder to get a good rate. My hostel could provided a foreign account to lodge money into and they could give me bolivears at the black market rate for the amount that was lodged. but this screams bad idea to me...! and has to be illegal...! (but could be usefull in an emergency)
The easiest way so far was to haggle with the guys at the airport and change as much as you will need there. But for for the love of god, be carefull as you can assume you are being watched. I had the hotel pick me up and found my driver before i changed money.
Ok..
But isn't it cash machines in the airports/cities? I'm sure I'll get by anyways.. thanks for tips!
Ahem... no, the cash machine at the airport (arrival, near baggage claim) does not accept international cards, but there is an official exchange office. Of course, you won(t gget a good rate there...
The thing about Euro is that some people do not seem to know about the USD / EUR rates, so make sure your € are not calculated as $!
allright...
Thanks for all answers, I'll leave tomorrow so it turns out the way it turns out :)
"But for for the love of god, be carefull as you can assume you are being watched."
Do you mean being watched by potential people who wanna steal your money or the police?!
Your'e being watched allright, by money xchange guys trying to sell you trips to the islands and braging of how good their exchange rates are and how cheap their trips are.. My tip is to check with a couple of guys first before exchanging.. And LG80; did you mean 780 Bs 78000 seems way too much