What we spent: March 2018

We spent most of the month of March trekking around Nicaragua and the last five days in Costa Rica's Nicoya peninsula. Though we moved around a lot — between Estelí, Matagalpa, Granada, Ometepe, and Playa Sámara — we managed to keep expenses low with the help of chicken buses, comedores, and free activities like hiking and snorkeling. Nicaragua is a budget backpacker's haven, and despite Costa Rica being notoriously expensive, we found that it is absolutely possible to visit this country on a shoestring budget. With a little planning and sticking to our basic principles of cooking at home, using public transit, and opting to go without tours and guides, it wasn't difficult to stick to our budget of $1,000 USD for two people. This month, what really helped was:

eating in delicious comedores and bakeries
camping for ten days in Ometepe
opting for free or low-cost activities instead of organized tours
anticipating where we'd be during Semana Santa — one of Latin America's high holidays — and booking accommodation way in advance

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

Total daily budget: $32.26 USD

What we spent: $983.88 USD

Average daily cost: $31.74 USD

Days on budget: 4

Days over budget: 10

Days under budget: 17

Accommodation

Total spent: $417.41

Percent of monthly spending: 42.4%

We used Airbnb to rent a comfortable studio apartment for a week in the center of Matagalpa and a private room just a couple of blocks from the central plaza in Granada. In Ometepe, we camped at El Zopilote, a permaculture farm that had us feeling healthier and more relaxed than we ever expected. Because months ago we planned to make it to Costa Rica toward the end of March just as Semana Santa was beginning, we secured a great private room just a short walk from the beach in Playa Sámara early on and were thanking the travel gods that we had the sense to book something that far ahead. Without any advanced planning for Semana Santa, you'll have a hard time finding a room anywhere worth being, and if you do find a vacancy you'll be paying top price for it.

Dining

Total spent: $252.26

Percent of monthly spending: 25.6%

Some of our best meals were at comedores and fritangas, where a filling plate of home-cooked Nicaraguan food will only set you back $2-3. We also splurged on an early birthday dinner for Jared and had the most flavorful bacon-wrapped filet mignon at Toro Bravo in Matagalpa — for a whopping $10 each. El Zopilote doesn't have a kitchen for guest use, but has a great restaurant on-site that offers very affordable and healthy food with plenty of vegetarian and vegan options. With restaurant prices in Nicaragua continually shocking us in a good way, we found ourselves dining out more than expected.

Groceries

Total spent: $162.38

Percent of monthly spending: 16.5%

Between grocery stores and fruit and vegetable stands, we had no problem stocking up on basics and even the occasional luxury item like bagels and cream cheese in every place we stayed. Even though people warned us that Costa Rica would have our jaws dragging on the floor in sticker shock, we found it pleasantly affordable. Sticking to domestic brands and loading our market bag with the juiciest pineapple, mango, and watermelons we've ever had, and it was a breeze eating like royalty in Costa Rica.

Alcohol

Total spent: $28.28

Percent of monthly spending: 2.9%

Rum is dangerously cheap in Nicaragua...like $3 USD a liter cheap. Need we say more?

Sweet treats

Total spent: $15.16

Percent of monthly spending: 15.4%

The only thing cheaper than rum in Nicaragua is what rum is made of, and that's sugar. Since Nicaraguans put sugar in EVERYTHING, we tried to restrain ourselves from buying too many sweets because, you know, diabetes.

Health & hygiene

Total spent: $12.06

Percent of monthly spending: 1.2%

After months of using over-fragranced soaps and detergents, we luckily found some natural and non-artificially scented alternatives in Ometepe.

Long-distance travel

Total spent: $38.03

Percent of monthly spending: 3.9%

From northern Nicaragua to an island to the Pacific coast of Costa Rica, we managed to keep our long-distance and border crossing travel expenses to a minimum by using chicken buses.

Local transportation

Total spent: $12.52

Percent of monthly spending: 1.3%

Latin American buses will take you just about anywhere. All of the day trips we did were easily accessible by chicken bus.

Activities

Total spent: $39.28

Percent of monthly spending: 4%

Since the consensus from other travelers was that Guatemala has the best volcanoes, and since we had the most unbelievable experience climbing Acatenango, we opted to skip the guided tour of Masaya and did our own hikes around the highlands of Nicaragua. We also saved money by visiting the free public beach just meters away from the private beaches in Laguna de Apoyo. On Ometepe, we rented a scooter for $20 and explored the entire island, and now we're kind of set on owning a scooter wherever we end up living. In Costa Rica, rather than splurge on expensive excursions, we enjoyed the beach and were super grateful that our Airbnb came with snorkel gear.