September 2022 Budget Report – Guatemala

Our second month of international travel is in the books, but really it was the first month we were totally on our own. It’s been fun figuring out our own daily patterns, as well as how to fit into the local communities we are visiting. And part of that is realizing what our monthly spending needs are!

So here is our September 2022 budget report for our second month in Guatemala!

Accommodation: $567.49 USD

This includes 24 nights in our San Pablo La Laguna Airbnb ($458.07 USD), one night in Flores ($31.98 USD) during our Tikal visit, and 4 nights at our Airbnb in Antigua Guatemala ($77.44 USD).

We technically spent one night on a bus, but we factored that cost into transportation.

Under $19/day for accommodation during the month of September strikes us as pretty good!

Eating Out: $289.45 USD

We knew this expense would go up, as we were no longer receiving the benefits of our homestay at La Casa de Rosa! That, and half the fun of traveling is sampling the cuisines of all the places you visit!

Generally speaking, we only eat out for one of our two meals per day, which makes our grocery bill for September even more fascinating.

Groceries: $296.63 USD

This was slightly higher than our expense for eating out!

I suspect that this was due to buying some high-quality ingredients that are less expensive in the USA, like dairy products and many cooking oils. And of course, we indulged in treats we could eat at home, like exotic peanut butter and 100% ceremonial-grade cacao for hot drinks.

And no, eating out for every meal was not a realistic option due to the distance of our San Pablo La Laguna Airbnb from any concentrated source of reputable (and affordable) restaurants.

So the costs added up!

But still, not terrible in the grand scheme of things.

General Supplies: $24.76 USD

This expense was much lower than last month! We suspect that it was because we purchased most of the supplies we used in September back in August. That, and we’ve become more savvy shoppers.

I expect that this cost will fluctuate from month to month, but we hope to keep it under $50 per month until we get to more expensive countries (i.e., Panama).

Transportation: $326.89 USD

Yep, this one is a biggie. But we expected that.

This expense includes water taxis, tuk-tuks, and Ubers. And most significantly, it includes our bus transportation to and from Flores, Guatemala ($252.07 USD for 2 people).

But if you take that cost out of the total, our transportation expenses were pretty minor.

This is a major advantage for living in areas within walking distance of interesting things!

Activities: $111.22 USD

This includes our Tikal tour expenses ($77.67 USD for 2 people), as well as any admission fees for the other parks, museums, and miradores we explored.

Alcohol: $63.55 USD

As expected, this cost went down from last month. I think we only went to one bar the entire month of September! The rest was for beer and wine at home.

For those who are wondering, if you shop around you can buy a decent bottle of local beer at a supermarket for around 10 quetzales/$1.27 USD or a decent bottle of Chilean wine on sale for 30 quetzales/$3.81 USD.

Utilities/Upkeep: $20.97 USD

Not much to see here, aside from our ridiculously cheap Claro SIM LTE data plan ($12.84 USD for 15 GB) and face sunscreen ($7.75 USD).

Education: $23.25 USD

We only managed one additional freelance Spanish language instruction session with our old instructor Francisco as our schedules rarely worked out.

But despite that, we have still been able to advance our language skills through structured self-study and practice in the wild!

Medical: $171.01 USD

Our fixed travel insurance expense for the month.

Miscellaneous: $11.51 USD

Rhonda has developed a taste for locally made beadwork animal ornaments! They will theoretically be put on the “Christmas Tree” we have while staying in Arequipa Peru in December.

Plus, we purchased a map of Tikal on-site, even though it probably wasn’t needed.

In both cases, tourist money really helps the local economy, so why not splurge a little if it doesn’t break the bank?

Total Expenses for September 2022: $1,906.73 USD

So we were UNDER our $2500/month budget by about $600 USD, and this includes our Tikal-specific expenses ($369.32 USD). Pretty exciting, since Guatemala is reputed to be the second most expensive of the Latin American countries we are touring.

Here is a pretty graph that summarizes our September 2022 budget report.

And for those keeping score, our current monthly spending average is now $2,476.13 USD. It only took 1 month for us to right-size our August budget blowup!

We hope you found our September 2022 budget report useful!

Until next time…

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