September was a weird month for us. We spent most of it in Quito, Ecuador, where we intended to take Spanish classes. But then we decided to teach ourselves instead of going to school. We bought various online programs to practice grammar, listening, and speaking and set up a daily “school” schedule. We found a language exchange and attended it every Tuesday night. We had plans to see a little of the city but on our first outing to Centro Histórico, my phone got stolen (yes, again!). The theft of my phone put me in a bad place. The first time it happened in Medellín, it didn’t upset me too much. But this time it made me feel like a target. It made me feel like I shouldn’t be traveling in South America. It made me feel like I could never take my phone out in public — which meant that I couldn’t ever take pictures again. I lost all the pictures from that day in Centro Histórico.
We spent a lot of time figuring out how to replace the phone, buying a new phone case, and buying a new phone plan. Between studying and multiple trips to the mall, we had little time or energy to do much exploring. We visited a few parks and made an excursion out of the city to visit the Quitsato Solar Clock at the Equator. And then, that last week in Quito, I got sick and didn’t feel like doing anything at all.
We spent the last few days of the month in Mindo, Ecuador. We loved Mindo. It lifted our spirits and renewed our desire to explore.
Expenses
* A few notes about these expenses. Because Spanish classes are not a “normal” travel expense, I am presenting this expense separately from the total of everything else. In the past, I report exactly what actually comes out of my bank account each month, but since we may book one or two months of accommodations, transportation, or Spanish classes ahead of time, I’m now reporting not when I spent the money but what month the money was spent on.
Spanish Classes: $409.24
Everything Else: $2,910.66
The Grand Total: $3,283.90
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Spanish Classes
As I mentioned above we decided not to take Spanish classes. Although the practice was good, we didn’t feel like we learned anything new in Medellín that we couldn’t learn on our own. Since we have both finished the Duolingo course, we searched online for more programs to continue our pursuit of Spanish. After trying out a few programs, we decided to purchase these:
- Brainscape – a Spanish flashcard course for grammar and new words – one year, $81.50
- Lengalia – for grammar, listening, and reading – one year $66.82
- Language Tool – for correcting written Spanish – one year $34.95
- Fluent U – for listening practice – one year $143.99
- Talkpal – for speaking practice with AI – one year $71.99
- Study Spanish – one month $9.99 (I forgot to cancel the free trial before we were charged)
Intercambios (language exchanges) have been a great resource for us to practice. We found one good one in Quito. It was well organized, and well attended, and we met some super nice people. The only problem was that it was at a bar with excellent, but expensive beer, which contributed to a big eating and drinking out expense for September.
Communication
Google Fi turned Greg’s data plan off after 3 months, so we changed his plan to a text-and-talk-only plan saving us lots of money, ($26.10). We could get him a local plan, but he needs his US plan to keep in touch with his family. I recharged my Ecuador cell plan once we arrived in Quito ($12.30). But once my phone was stolen, I had to get another plan.
I went to a Claro (the service provider) office to sign up for new phone service. They asked me where I was going after Ecuador. I replied Peru, and they told me they had a plan that covered 4 countries, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, and Bolivia. It was a little pricier ($18.69 per month) than the pay-as-you-go plan, but I loved that we would still be connected as soon as we crossed the Peruvian border. They convinced me that I could pay for the plan online with a credit card, but that ended up not being true. We had to return to the store to pay in cash when the bill was due. Since we didn’t know when the next time we were going to be somewhere with a Claro store, we paid ahead for 4 months in total. Soon we will see if the plan is actually going to work when we enter Peru in about 3 weeks.
Consumables
We spent $395.21 on food, which seems reasonable. $27.51 for drinking at home, $7.97 for toilet paper, and $29.50 on miscellaneous medicine cabinet supplies like toothpaste, Advil, and contact solution (rather pricy at $16.02).
Entertainment
It was an expensive month for eating out ($649.06). As I said earlier beer isn’t cheap in Quito and since we are no longer drinking at “home” we’ve decided that we can drink good beer when we go out. And we found a couple of places that we really liked to go out to and drink beer!
Non-food and drink entertainment expenses came to $97.10. We spent $97.10 for entry to the Quitsato Solar Clock Museum ($10), admission to a butterfly garden, Mariposario Mariposas de Mindo ($17), a chocolate tour and tasting at El Quetzal in Mindo ($23), a night walk tour in Mindo ($33), a hiking trail at the Yellow House in Mindo ($12), and a few random entertainment tips.
Personal
Clothes
By the time we got to Quito all my socks were torn up and my boots were falling apart. So on one of our many trips to the mall to get the phone situation straightened out, we stopped by a sporting goods store. I got a pair of Timberland hiking boots and two pairs of socks for $159.82.
Gear
After we met a young Ecuadorian, Will, at a language exchange who wanted to learn how to play the harmonica, Greg bought a cheap harmonica ($4.00) to practice with him. Of course, I needed a new phone ($389.85) and a phone case ($19.99). We also spent $1.30 on copies and scans so we could send in our application to vote by email.
Getting a new phone was an ordeal. I was trying to figure out how to replace it as soon as it was stolen. The last time my phone was stolen, a friend was coming from the US in a week, so I had her bring me a new one. No one was coming to visit us this time. I thought about finding a “mule,” from one of my Facebook groups to bring me a new one from the US. But could I trust someone I didn’t know to bring me such a costly item?
I was worried about using my phone again in public, so I started looking into cheap point-and-shoot cameras. I couldn’t find anything locally that was cheap and that I liked. I finally decided that I would replace my phone and make some kind of contraption to secure it to my hand. I spent a long time looking for phone security ideas online. The idea of a “mule” I didn’t know wasn’t going to work for me, so I started to search for a replacement locally. To my surprise, I found that I could replace my phone with the exact same thing in Quito was about the same price as I paid on Amazon in July. There were options.
I could buy one from Amazon and have it shipped to Quito, but it could take up to a month and we didn’t have that much more time in Quito. We went to a Samsung seller in a mall, but they wanted close to $480 and when I balked came down to $410. Another Samsung seller quoted me a similar price. When I told them I had seen it on their website for about $350, they said that was a web-only price. I didn’t want to order online from some random store. Then I discovered that the Samsung company had an online store for Latin America. The phone was about $335 and would be delivered in a few days. But when I tried to place an order, the site wouldn’t take my credit card. So incredibly frustrating. I had one last option, another store that advertised the phone online for $335 if you paid in cash. We took another bus trip to the business district and got off right in front of the store. It was closed! But a friendly guy was standing in front with a flyer directing people to a store that sold Apple products, where they had moved all their inventory. I didn’t believe that the $335 deal was going to be true, so we didn’t arrive with cash. However, it was true. $335 plus the 15% IVA tax. We found an ATM and bought the phone.
Subscriptions
We subscribe to Netflix, Abode Photoshop, The New York Times, and Michael Fox’s (A freelance filmmaker, journalist, podcaster, and musician reporting from the road in Latin America) Patreon account ($56.41).
Traveling Life
Storage
We pay $76 for a storage locker back in the US.
Accommodations
Yay! Our accommodations expense was $893.80! We didn’t go over our $900 target budget!
Quito, Ecuador
September 1-28, $29.04 per night (27 nights) one-bedroom, one-bathroom apartment. (Booked through Airbnb)
I loved this apartment. It was comfortable and had lots of light. The kitchen was modern and well-equipped, and there was a washer. It was in a very secure building. It felt like a real home – and perhaps it was. It was full of lots of personal stuff and one closet that was locked. There were many plants, so since we were there for 4 weeks, we told the host that we would water them.
The apartment came with an electric piano which Greg enjoyed playing. It was in a very secure building with a guard at the front door. He stayed in a little dark booth in the lobby and always greeted us with “Buenos días”, “Buenas tardes”, or “Buenas noches” and even though we couldn’t see him in his dark booth we replied with the same.
We experienced power outages a few times while we were there (Ecuador is having an energy crisis), but the building had a generator for essential services like the elevator, emergency lights, and the electronic exit to the front door.
Mindo, Ecuador
September 28–30, $36.60 per night (3 nights), private room in a hostel with an en suite bathroom. (Booked through Booking.com)
The cheapest and nicest places to stay in Mindo were hostels. The one we picked, La Casa de Cecilia, looked good. But when we arrived, it appeared that we had been given an upgrade. The room was large with a built-in table and chairs, a private bathroom with a large shower, a small kitchen area with a mini fridge, cookware, plates and utensils, a sink, and a hot plate. And the place was gorgeous. The property is right on a river. We could sit on our back porch in the morning a watch birds. I loved it!
Transportation
We spent $40.05 on transportation in September. $7.35 was for local buses. $22.50 was for taxis. And $16.20 was for cross-country buses.
I estimate that we traveled over 167 miles in September. At current Ecuador gas prices (information I found on the internet) of around $2.57 per gallon, our travel would have cost us about $28.61 in our van (which got about 15 miles to the gallon).
Local buses are cheap in Quito at .35 cents a ride, but Quito is a big city, and getting from one end to the other is time-consuming with buses. So, at least once, we chose to take an expensive taxi instead. We could walk the couple of miles to our Tuesday night language exchange meetup, but by the time we left the buses weren’t running. Since it wasn’t advisable to walk that distance late at night we caught taxis. for our return.
Right Now
We are still in Cuenca at our cat sit. I am trying my best to get some posts written in between power outages. Most of the country’s electricity is generated by a hydroelectric system and the country is in the middle of a severe drought. To conserve, the government is turning off the electricity for up to 14 hours a day. The schedule varies from neighborhood to neighborhood in the city. For a while, we weren’t affected as we were close to many medical centers. But it appears that they have figured out how to isolate us, and we are suffering darkness in the evening like everyone else.
To see all of our expense reports, click here.
If you are interested in reading other expense reports from nomads who really know how to live cheaply while still having a good time, check out the blog from our friends Mark, Liesbet, and Maya who are traveling in their truck camper in South America at Roaming About.
