budget: £30 GBP / $50 USD per day
total budget: £930 / $1580
total spent: £755 / $1285
avg. daily spend : £24 / $41
all costs are for two people.
days on budget: 13%
days under budget: 74%
days over budget: 13%
This is our first under-budget month and there are three main reasons for this:
Guatemala is bloody cheap
Negotiating a great deal on long-term accommodation
Having a good kitchen means eating costs plummet
We were based in Antigua for three weeks and Lake Atitlan for one. Both are 'must-dos' on the Guatemalan itinerary and with good reason. As we were quite settled less of our budget was spent on moving around, and more on costs of living and getting to know both places.
We spent two weeks at a Spanish school but - as noted in our £30/day piece - funds for this are not included but information can be found here.
total: £242 / $412
avg. cost per double room: £7.8 / $13
most expensive: £9 / $15.5
cheapest: £5.4 / $9
accommodation: 32%
total: £20 / $34
most expensive: £7.7 / $13
Antigua to San Pedro (four buses and a boat)
Cheapest: £2.3 / $3.8
San Pedro to San Marcos (boat)
Bus transport in Guatemala is cheap - really cheap. Add in the fact that we didn't actually go very far this month and you can see why we spent very little here this month.
transport: 2.7%
total: £95 / $161
most expensive: £9.2 / $15.5
cheapest: £3 / $5.5
Lake Atitlan is full of gringo-friendly restaurants. Add in the fact that we had more than our fair share of hangovers around the lake and this 12.5% makes sense!
eating out: 12.5%
otal: £148 / $252
Almost as soon as we arrived in Antigua, we discovered that you can get half-decent bottles of wine for around £3 - it is fair to say we may have indulged a little to much.
Alcohol: 19.5%
Total: £144 / $245
Having our own apartment in Antigua, meant that we were buying good food and cooking great meals.
Groceries: 19%
Total: £60 / $102
Too much alcohol usually results in a little too much junk food the morning after!
Sweets & Treats: 8%
Total: £27 / $46
Lots of laundry, and all our toiletries seemed to run out at once.
Toiletries: 3.5%
Total: £4.5 / $8
This month was about studying - until we got to Lake Atitlan we had little time to do much else.
Activities: 1%
Total: £0 / $0