March 2023 Budget Report – Second Full Month in Ecuador

Eight months of international travel are now behind us. Only four more months to go in our Year 1 travel plan!

And believe it or not, we are starting to wrap our brains around what our Year 2 travel plans will look like. More on that later, but rest assured, we are thinking big!

The majority of the past month was spent in Baños de Agua Santa enjoying the slow, country life. But we also spent a week in the city of Cuenca, Ecuador, enjoying life in the historic center.

Two very different lifestyles, with potentially two different spending patterns.

So did this affect our budget?

Let’s review our March 2023 budget report and find out.

Accommodation: $564.70 USD

Up from last month, but that was expected. This includes 22 nights at our Baños de Satna Agua Airbnb ($371.72 USD) and 9 nights at our Cuenca, Ecuador Airbnb ($193.48 USD).

$18.23/night for accommodation during the month of March is well below our loose goal of $20/night.

Unfortunately, March is probably going to be our last month of sweet accommodation deals.

Simply put, Panama is not very cheap. So hopefully, we will have been sufficiently frugal during months 1 – 8 of travel to make up for 3 months of travel in Panama.

Eating Out: $350.55 USD

Over $100 USD down from last month, which is a good thing.

And a little surprising, frankly.

But in hindsight, we did have a couple of short stretches of illness where we didn’t go out to eat much. And we had a very good kitchen for the majority of the month, so eating in was easier too.

All in all, the combined effects were good for our savings.

Groceries: $322.34 USD

About the same as last month. We had great produce deals in Baños de Agua Santa and a sprawling kitchen, so we used it!

General Supplies: $22.50 USD

Even less than last month, likely due to our being able to bring most of our bathroom and kitchen supplies from our Baños Airbnb to our Cuenca Airbnb.

Transportation: $45.00 USD

The majority of this expense category was us repeatedly taking the town bus in Baños (at $1 USD per person per trip) to different locations in the area. We also took an intercity bus from Baños to Cuenca, Ecuador for $13 USD per ticket, and a taxi to our Airbnb in Cuenca from the Cuenca bus station ($3 USD with tip).

So lots of local and intercity travel for not much money.

Activities: $344.00 USD

Up considerably from last month, but that was expected.

In Baños, we made an overnight trip to the Amazon rainforest ($150 USD total), went on a white-water rafting trip ($60 USD total), went to the circus ($10 USD total), made multiple trips to the thermal baths ($4 USD per ticket), and paid multiple small entrance fees to miradors and various parks ($1 – 4 USD per entrance ticket).

In Cuenca, we went on a city bus tour ($10 USD total) and just returned from a trip to the Ingapirca ruins complex about 2 hours outside of the city ($20 total for transportation and entrance fee).

We did a lot of things over the last month!

Alcohol: $50.62 USD

Another relatively dry month.

We bought a couple of bottles of wine, had a couple of pitchers of locally brewed beer, and experimented with a couple of bottles of liquor bottled and produced in Ecuador.

But we really fell in love with Ecuadorian Canelazos, a delicious drink made of local spirits and juices that we really fell in love with. And they were usually far cheaper than any other adult beverage on the menu ($2 USD on average)!

Utilities/Upkeep: $27.30 USD

Another modest month for this expense category.

This includes 10 GB of Claro LTE data for 30 days ($10 USD), our Baños Airbnb drinking water bill ($12 USD), a haircut ($5 USD), and paid bathroom stops.

Medical: $186.97 USD

This includes our travel/medical insurance for the month ($171 USD) and basic OTC medications.

Miscellaneous: $108.75 USD

This expense category was a little more than normal.

Sure, we picked up a couple of cheap souvenirs, dog treats, and a cheap sun hat. But the majority of this expense was from fees so we could submit our 2022 tax return ($86.25 USD).

Total Expenses for March 2023 = $2,022.73 USD

So we were UNDER our $2500/month budget by about $500 USD.

Pretty good, considering how many activities we did this month!

Here is a visual summary of our March 2023 budget report:

Our current monthly spending average is now $2,195.07 USD, down from February 2023. This average continues to track downward, but it will be interesting to see what happens during the expensive Panama phase of our travel.

We hope you found our March 2023 budget report useful!

Until next time…