Order colombian pesos....

tomtom33 says on Jun 21, 2006, 11:09:

Get your pesos in Colombia. You will not get any kind of deal through a US bank. You get the best deal using ATMs in Colombia. Any airport that you fly into(BOG, CLO, BAQ, CTG, MDE) will all have ATMs in the airport. If you don't want to mess around with ATMs in the airport, there are cambios where you can get a small amount of pesos for taxi fare. Then hit an ATM in town.

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Aji1 says on Jun 21, 2006, 11:27:

Search this site I am sure there are several threads about this on this site. Personally, I always try to bring a few pesos back to the states for when I return next time to Colombia, I already have them in hand. That not being an option, I would just change enough for the first day or so in Colombia in the US airport you will be leaving out of, i.e. Miami, Houston Atlanta, etc. I am not positive but I seem to remember getting a better exchange in Colombia for my dollars than here. Go to http://eltiempo.terra.com.co/. Look at the first page toward the bottom right and they tell you the rates at the change houses. Compare this to what you can get here and make your decision. If you will not be arriving late at night you can change a few dollars in the airport in Colombia and then go out the next day to a "Change House" in the city. I often go to one of the houses in "Metropolis Center" in Bogota. You might want to mention where in Colombia you are traveling in order to get more accurate information from the PBH family. If you have a local connection they should be able to guide you as well.

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shirly1981 says on Jun 21, 2006, 11:32:

does the ATMs give you exactly... what it is or they discount something? 'cause if i change dollars in colombia they wont change that as 2550 they discount something and it is gonna be like 2350 a big different.

Sophia

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shirly1981 says on Jun 21, 2006, 11:36:

Well...... im doing Miami-bquilla and my flight arrives at 5pm so when i finish with immigration and all that stuff there it is gonna be like 7pm and i wont have time. i just dont want they to take lots of money when i change it.....

Sophia

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tomtom33 says on Jun 21, 2006, 15:17:

ATMs They don't give the Interbank rate exactly. If the Interbank rate is 2550, the ATM will give maybe 2520. That's a lot better than a cash exchange. Of course you must also consider the fee your bank may charge for a foreign ATM withdrawal. The ATM charges no fee per se. My home bank used to charge nothing. As of June 1 my home bank charges US$1.50 per transaction after the first two per month.

The ATMs in the BAQ airport will work after 7 PM. You may have to exit the building and come back into the main area to find the ATMs.

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tigredelnorte says on Jun 21, 2006, 16:33:

ATM in airport is your best bet. They call them ATH. You will get your fairest exchange here. The Colombian bank will charge you about 1% if you ask for the maximum, which is 400,000 peso for BanColombia. Your bank will also apply a charge depending on the bank. My bank does not charge me a fee. Do not change money in the states. You will get screwed.

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famsearch says on Jun 23, 2006, 02:58:

both times we were visiting family in colombia, we used atm's exclusively. we would go to the usual bank we used, and were able to withdraw a max of 300,000 pesos, and only got tagged (at the time) around $140. also, what we did, was to change our u.s. dollars at the last airport in the states for colombian pesos, so we would have enough for taxis, something to eat, etc., before we could get to an atm. one bit of advice, if it's guarded by a uniformed security guard with a 12 guage, you'll be ok.
dan

dan

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