What we spent: February 2018

We spent the first half of February in gorgeous but expensive Antigua, Guatemala, and the second half in gritty but super budget-friendly León, Nicaragua. We still haven't figured out why Guatemala is a solid two-to-three times more expensive than Mexico or Nicaragua (with some items like shampoo and conditioner costing MORE than in the US), but moving from Guatemala to Nicaragua was a godsend for stretching our money. Despite rather expensive inter-country travel, we managed to keep to our budget of $1,000 USD for two people. This month, what really helped was:

cooking most of our meals in Antigua with fresh ingredients from the market
eating at the yummy comedores in León
living in the heart of both cities so we could walk almost anywhere, thus avoiding expensive taxis and only taking chicken buses to go to places outside of each city

Total monthly budget (for two people): $1,000 USD

Total daily budget: $35.71 USD

What we spent: $999.45 USD

Average daily cost: $35.69 USD

Days on budget: 4

Days over budget: 7

Days under budget: 17

Accommodation

Total spent: $328.16

Percent of monthly spending: 32.8%

We used Airbnb to rent private rooms in Antigua and León, and stayed at a hostel our last two nights in Estelí, Nicaragua. One day we'll put together an article about all the things we love about using Airbnb, but for now we'll just reiterate that if you're traveling as a couple or a group, it is usually way more affordable than staying at a hostel. Both private rooms cost about a third less than two dorm beds in a hostel! Saving money plus no dorm mates turning on the lights late at night, snoring, and letting their alarm go off multiple times is heavenly.

Dining

Total spent: $160.72

Percent of monthly spending: 16.1%

Antigua is a place where you could easily blow your money on luxury spa packages, lush hotel rooms, and fine dining. With little street food available, eating out on a backpacker's budget in this expat-filled city is difficult. While we usually cooked at home, we did treat ourselves to a few delicious meals there (and found possibly the best vegetarian food we've ever tasted at Samsara). Once we got to León, however, we were in food heaven with comedores lining the streets. We found one around the corner from our house that had some of the best set meals we've found thus far for a shockingly small $50 córdobas ($1.66 USD). We also found the ladies at the beach who prepare a whole fried fish for you for $60 córdobas ($2 USD). With prices like these, it was hard to find the motivation to cook for ourselves in the 90+ degree heat.

Groceries

Total spent: $107.55

Percent of monthly spending: 10.8%

To our surprise, Antigua has a grocery store with a good variety of regular foods at affordable prices (unlike Panajachel, where your only choices are a Walmart-subsidiary or a high-end imported goods store). Paired with the huge market by the bus terminal, we were able to make lots of healthy and delicious meals at home.

In León, a big grocery store opened down the street from our house the day we arrived. The cost and convenience gods had blessed us, and we were able to buy all the ice cream and staple goods we could imagine. Though the markets in León are much smaller than in Antigua, we were able to pick up a decent variety of produce for our much-loved veggie burritos that have become a regular go-to since we first made them.

Alcohol

Total spent: $28.29

Percent of monthly spending: 2.8%

We continued to find a good deal on Brahva (one of Guatemala's domestic beers) in Antigua, but the real savings came in Nicaragua. Spending a good portion of our days on the beach in Nicaragua was made even better by the $55 córdoba ($1.80 USD) liters of beer from the corner store. We also were shocked that bars and clubs charge only a few cents more for beer than the grocery store does, so we found ourselves sipping a good amount of Toña's on the dance floor.

Sweet treats

Total spent: $4.62

Percent of monthly spending: 0.5%

We never found a go-to bakery in Antigua, but we did find quarts of ice cream with fudge swirls, peanuts, and pieces of cone in León that had us back to our nightly ice cream sundae routine.

Health & hygiene

Total spent: $66.03

Percent of monthly spending: 6.6%

There was a spa at the macadamia nut farm in Antigua, and let's just say Rebecca splurged a bit on some macadamia oil. Justifying the expense as supporting an ethical and local business, we're now carrying around a bottle of this precious oil that she hopes will last the entire trip. We also raided the grocery store in Nicaragua and restocked on everything from shampoo to shaving cream after seeing the prices of hygiene products in Guatemala.

Long-distance travel

Total spent: $120.08

Percent of monthly spending: 12%

We weren't thrilled about the idea of using shuttles to get from Guatemala to Nicaragua, but after our experience in Honduras a few years back, we wanted to minimize the chance of getting stuck in the world's most dangerous country and make it to Nicaragua without any highway robberies. So we decided to fork over the money for the shuttle, but from here on out it's chicken buses (and cargo boats and teeny jumper planes) to get between countries.

Local transportation

Total spent: $15.24

Percent of monthly spending: 1.5%

Want to go between just about any two towns in a Latin American country? Chances are cheap local buses run there. Lucky for us, a chicken bus runs between León and Las Peñitas beach every 20 minutes and costs only $14 córdoba ($0.45 USD) per person, so we spent a good number of days soaking up the sun.

Activities

Total spent: $129.15

Percent of monthly spending: 12.9%

This month, we raced down an active volcano in León, checked out some great museums, toured Flor de Caña and tasted the best rum in the world, and trekked around the Miraflor nature reserve.

Clothing

Total spent: $7.34

Percent of monthly spending: 0.7%

At everyone's wise advice, we bought bandanas to cover our mouths for volcano boarding. And after climbing so many volcanoes, Jared's hiking boots began to come apart but were easily repaired by a cobbler in León.

Border crossings & visas

Total spent: $32.00

Percent of monthly spending: 3.2%

Thankfully, Guatemala doesn't have an exit fee, and it costs nothing to enter or exit El Salvador. Honduras charges a $3 USD entry fee, and it's another $12-13 USD for the tourist card to enter Nicaragua (it's officially supposed to be $12, but some border officials say it's $13).