Travelling in inexpensive countries and keeping to a frugal lifestyle means that long term adventures are achievable.
As part of the fun and to stay within budget, we have used public transport and eaten out where the locals eat; which also allows us to experience more of the culture.
We are monitoring our expenses by categories in each country and will show the average daily costs for comparison.
We have spent:
* 6 weeks in Panama
* 5 weeks in Costa Rica
* just over 6 weeks in Nicaragua
* 5.5 weeks in Guatemala
* 2 weeks in Belize
* 7 weeks in Yucatan, Mexico
The results are shown below.
Our budget is £50 or $80 per day for 2 people, excluding air fares. Unless stated.
It’s important to note that ‘Drinks’ refers to all beverages: coffee, soft, alchol as well as drinking water which is often expensive.
Expenses by Country (UK pounds)
Panama Costa Rica Nicaragua Guatemala
No of Days 42 ……………… 34 ……………. 46 ……………39
Accomodation 995………….. 797 ………….. 1034 ……….. 505
Food out 304………….. 303 ………….. 446 …………. 597
Groceries 147………….. 200 ………….. 108 …………. 66
Drinks 198………….. 186 ………….. 216 …………. 171
Travel 194………….. 205 …………. *301 …………. 207
Leisure 134………….. 117 ………….. 144 …………. 130
Telephone 27…………….. 0 …………….. 9 …………… 10
Gifts 10…………….. 15 …………….. 46 ……………16
Health 13 …………….. 0 …………….. 36 …………… 14
Clothes 51 …………….. 0 …………….. 20 …………… 44
Misc
Totals 2073 ……… 1823 ………….. 2360 ………… 1808
AVG per day. 49 ……………… 54 ………….. 51 ………… 46
For 2 people
Expenses by Country (UK pounds)
Belize Mexico
Number of Days . 8 ………………. 49
Accomodation 140………….. 1122
Food out 145………….. 440
Groceries 18 ………….. 132
Drinks 39 ………….. 211
Travel 58 ………….. 242
Leisure 9 ………….. 80
Telephone 4 …………….. 14
Gifts 0 …………….. 50
Health 0 …………….. 0
Clothes 0 …………….. 36
Totals 410 ……… 2327
AVG per day. 52 ……………… 47
For 2 people
* includes flights to Corn Islands
Additional Commentary
Panama
By eating at local cafes, it was fairly easy to keep within the budget as long as we kept treats to special occassions. We had a mix of accomodation some with cooking facilities & some without. Produce in the supermarkets was generally well priced & varied.
Additional items this month included some new clothing & birthday presents for family.
Costa Rica
CR was by far the most expensive country we have visited so far.
Nicaragua
Nicaragua was the cheapest country so far, so we were able to upgrade our accomodation options. Apart from Granada, we did not have cooking facilities, so our eating out bill went up slightly; whilst the groceries bill came down by the same amount (it’s as cheap to eat out, as buy ingredients in shops). Also included were some new walking sandals for me & replacement clothing items. Most importantly though we were able to include the 2 flights to the Corn islands & still only come out £1 a day over budget.
Guatemala
Guatemala was the cheapest country so far (apart from the price of a beer which was most expensive country!) Accomodation was much cheaper & allowed us to upgrade to small hotels & still save on costs of other countries. Because we had lower costs, we were able to afford little luxuries such as having our washing laundered & x2 weeks gym membership at £7.50 a week pp.
** Note the amounts quoted do not cover two flights from Nicaragua to Guatemala at £265 each. However, despite spending on little luxuries, we have managed to claim the majority of one flight back from the budget this month.
Belize
Belize was expensive, for accomodation, food & activities.
Mexico
Many of the places we visited in Mexico were on the mainstream tourist trail. At first we wondered if we would be able to afford to backpack here. By staying outside of the main tourist parts of town, we were able to find self catering accomodation for the last four weeks. These areas of towns make travelling realistic on a budget & it is much more fun living & eating with the locals.
Blog by Colin, additional commentary by Dawn
