Three months have passed and it is difficult to believe that we have left Guatemala and started our lives in Peru! Time passed so quickly and we will miss Guatemala dearly. We are already talking about returning to San Pedro La Laguna next year so we can brush up on our Spanish at the Community Spanish School and do another homestay atla Casa de Rosa.
But that will be a tale for another time.
So how did we do financially during the month of October? We flew in airplanes, went on excursions, visited historical (and fictional) places, and ate very, very well.
And we relocated to Peru!
Let’s see how our October 2022 budget report broke down.
Accommodation: $628.44 USD
This includes 27 nights in our Antigua Guatemala Airbnb ($503.31 USD), one night in Guatemala City ($20.54 USD), and 4 nights at our Airbnb in Lima, Peru ($104.59 USD).
$20.27/day for accommodation during the month of October strikes us as solid by any measure, so we are pleased.
We do expect this amount to go up in November though, as we are currently staying in the most expensive apartment of our 1-year Latin America tour.
Eating Out: $323.14 USD
This went up a little from September, but it was to be expected with all of the restaurant opportunities in Antigua Guatemala! But even still, we kept this from busting our budget by making intelligent restaurant choices where we got major bang-for-buck.
And remember, we only typically eat out one of our two meals per day as a frame of reference.
Lima, Peru is more expensive than Guatemala in this category, so it will be interesting to see how things change for November.
Groceries: $214.31 USD
This went down from September, which was initially a surprise. But in hindsight, this is probably explained by *where* we did the bulk of our shopping.
We were huge fans of shopping in the labyrinthine Antigua Guatemala Central Mercado, a MASSIVE open (and closed) air market where few non-Guatemalans dare to venture.
But the prices were extremely cheap on almost everything there, especially produce!
We were also more savvy shoppers and experienced hagglers than in September, which surely helped.
Bottom line, we were happy to see our grocery bill go down, even though we were led to believe that Antigua Guatemala was significantly more expensive in every way.
General Supplies: $37.17 USD
This expense remained about as low as in September, which was also a surprise. When we relocated to Antigua Guatemala in late August, getting our Airbnb equipped with minor kitchen necessities inflated our expenses. But our Airbnb in Lima, Peru is so well equipped that there is little to improve upon!
Here’s hoping that this trend continues.
Transportation: $177.12 USD
This is well down from September, which might be a surprise considering we flew internationally in October.
This expense includes Ubers, private taxis, and shuttle vans. But most significantly, it includes our international airfare from Guatemala to Lima, Peru ($105.28 USD for 2 people). If you find the cost of these tickets a surprise, read this post to see how we pulled it off.
Activities: $150.86 USD
Antigua Guatemala had many sights to see, and the only thing that held us back from seeing more was when we needed a break! This cost included the entrance fees and related costs for 3 convents, 2 cathedrals, 3 museums, 1 church, Volcan Pacaya, the La Aurora Zoo, and Hobbitenango.
And we did even more free stuff! There simply wasn’t enough time to blog about it all.
Alcohol: $19.99 USD
We were quite dry during the month of October.
Our former career selves would have easily spent this (or several times this) in 1 day, so our livers are probably thanking us.
Utilities/Upkeep: $17.61 USD
Not much to see here, aside from our ridiculously cheap Claro LTE data plan for our final 15 days in Guatemala ($6.34 USD for 8 GB) and setting up a new Claro LTE 30-day data plan + SIM card for Peru ($11.27 USD for 15 GB).
Medical: $224.67 USD
This includes our fixed travel insurance cost for the month ($171.01 USD), OTC medicine purchases, and 2 influenza vaccines administered in Peru (90 Soles/$22.55 USD total for both).
Miscellaneous: $22.97 USD
This includes a mix of gifts, replacement glassware, and dog treats for our landlord’s look-alike Daucshunds. They adopted Rhonda and trained her well.
Total Expenses for October 2022 = $1,816.28 USD
So we were UNDER our $2500/month budget by about $700 USD, and this includes flying to Peru! Peru looks like it will be a bit of a money sink over the next few months though. So we’ll see if things change.
Here is a pretty graph that summarizes our October 2022 budget report.
And for those keeping score, our current monthly spending average is now $2,256.18 USD. It’s good to see this number trending in a positive direction!
We hope you found our October 2022 budget report useful!
Until next time…
Thanks for reading!
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2 thoughts on “October 2022 Budget Report – Guatemala Finale + Peru Immigration”
Well Done!!
Thank you!