BUDGET FOR THE MONTH OF JULY…

WE SPENT HOW MUCH?!!

COUNTRIES VISITED: Columbia, Ecuador, Peru

For those of you who follow along on Facebook, you may already know that we have decided to stop in Huanchaco, Peru for a few months and try to find some work.  After this past month we realized that it was time to take a break and make some money.  So here it is folks…

GAS- $300.78
Once we hit Ecudor, life was good.  At $1.50/gallon we were tempted to just drive around in circles all day.

TRANSPORTATION- $74.65
Includes insurance for the car, parking fees, bus tickets, boat rides, and tolls.

ACCOMMODATIONS- $941.17
$540 of this is for our new pad and deposit

MECHANIC- $346.28
Includes alignment, new upper ball joint, and new brakes/rotors

GROCERIES- $463.34

EATING OUT- $466.06

LIQUOR AND BEER- $51.15
Includes some champagne and liquor for the 4th. It was a party for two however, since obviously no one in Ecuador knew/cared about our US independance.  Go ‘Merica!

ENTERTAINMENT AND ENTRANCE FEES- $469.62
Includes tour of Isla de La Plata to see some blue footed boobies, 4 day/3 night tour into the Amazon, tickets to visit Mitad del Mundo, and entrance fee to banos del Inca (Inca Baths) to take a bath the way the Incas did…well kind of

MISC ITEMS- $90.92
Tip for the guides on our Amazon tour, a hat and slippers for those oh so cold nights in the mountains,and some toiletry items

GRAND TOTAL- $3203.97

BUDGET FOR THE MONTH OF JUNE

COUNTRIES VISITED– Panama, Colombia

PORT FEES- $127.77

GAS- $484.84

TRANSPORTATION- $182.77
Includes insurance for the car, taxis, parking fees, and tolls.  There were A LOT of tolls in Colombia.

ACCOMMODATIONS- $491.05
Ouch. We missed our car dearly when it was trapped on the container ship.

MECHANIC- $80
Includes oil change, tire rotation, alignment, balancing, as well as refilling our flat tire…really needed to get that thing fixed

GROCERIES- $206.72

EATING OUT- $324.13

LIQUOR AND BEER- $135.61

ENTERTAINMENT AND ENTRANCE FEES- $70
Includes entrance fees to Museo Del Oro, St. Agustin Archaelogical Park, and a night of bowling!

MISC ITEMS- $53.77
Bathroom fees, recharging our new fancy smart phone with minutes, and a few new items for our kitchen and first aid kit. I also treated myself to a pair of earrings, a bracelet and some shoes.  I couldn’t help it!

GRAND TOTAL- $2,156.66

BUDGET FOR THE MONTH OF MAY

COUNTRIES VISITED- Costa Rica, Panama

What a great month. As our time in Central America slowly slips away I cannot believe that in a matter of hours we will be arriving in a new continent.  I am excited to see what South America has to offer and the new adventures that lie before us. We will miss you, Central America and all of the truly amazing people that we have met along the way.  Here is the last budget for Central America complete with the first set of fees for shipping the car around the Darien Gap.

SHIPPING FEES-$1011

This fee is for a 40ft container that we are sharing with our friends from adventuretheamericas.com/.  We were lucky enough to have Kevin help out with the paperwork and did not have to hire a “guide” to help us through the process. This saved us around $300.

PARKING/TRANSPORTATION- $843.10

Includes plane tickets to Columbia (around $350/person), train ride from the port when we dropped off our car ($25/person), tolls, taxis, parking fees, etc

GROCERIES- $304.95

EATING OUT- $266.34

ALCOHOL-$126

MECHANIC- $500

We needed a new fuel pump among other things… It was expensive, but the mechanic was great and had it done in a day.

CAR STUFF- $40

Fixing the a/c, new o2 sensor, new internals for the starter

BORDER CROSSING- $18

LODGING- $309

We have been camped out in a hotel for the past week and a half while sorting out the oh so fun process of shipping the car and exploring Panama City.

PARK FEES/ CAMP GROUND FEES – $145

We went to a trout farm (which was a bit pricey) but not only did James finally catch some fish, Jarod, from LifeRemotely.com also chefed up a delicious Thai Curry with freshly caught trout for dinner. Totally worth it.

GAS- $241.06

ENTERTAINMENT- $25

Yoga in Atenas with Sheena, from drivenachodrive.com and Jill, from www.anywherethatswild.org, tickets to the Panama Canal and a trip to the movies to see the Avengers with the boys from adventuretheamericas.com. .  Good times had by all!

Misc- $61.52

Laundry, a new pair of $3 shoes, and supplies for a ghettofied rain tarp for the car!  We will post pictures when we get a chance to rig it up

Aaaaand the GRAND TOTAL IS….

$3890.97

EXPENSES FOR THE MONTH OF APRIL

COUNTRIES VISITED – Nicaragua, Honduras, Costa Rica

This month was a bit of a rough patch for the budget. During our race against time to meet up with our family in Costa Rica, we moved much faster than we normally would and as a result spent more in the process.  We did not have as many opportunities to camp as we would have hoped and spent a lot on accommodations. This also marks the beginning of the whirlwind of family visits (in the most expensive country in Central America), where we partied it up Tico style and indulged in a few more costly activities than we normally would have. It was a hell of a month, and we had a blast

GAS-$545.75

I shed a tear for our budget every time we have to fill up the tank… lol

BORDER FEES- $170.79

This includes our super sketchy border crossing into Nicaragua

ACCOMMODATIONS- $399.31

CAR EXPENSES- $105.90

New brake-line for the truck, carwash, oil, and other various car stuff

TOLLS, TRANSPORTATION AND PARKING- $61.35

This cost is pretty high for the month because it includes our ferry crossings to and from Isla Ometepe
GROCERIES- $435.53
DINING OUT-  $295.36

BEER AND LIQUOR- $109.54

ENTERTAINMENT, TOURS, PARK ENTRANCE FEES – $93.00
Entry fee and a night tour at Volcan Masaya, butterfly garden and a night tour in Monte Verde (we really like the night tours!), and park entrance fee in Puerto Viejo

MISC – $33.70

Mainly toiletries and stocking up on some essential items for the car

GRAND TOTAL- $2250.23

~$75/day

EXPENSES FOR THE MONTH OF MARCH

COUNTRIES VISITED – Guatemala, El Salvador, and Nicaragua

I am sure that some of you may be wondering what the hell we have been spending for the last few months, since the budget update is looong overdue. I would love to say that I have simply been too busy with family and other important obligations to post anything, but seeing as James has shown me up by posting many times over the past couple of months, I would like to come clean and say it was purely out of sheer laziness. That being said, I have FINALLY decided to stop procrastinating and get this thing up to date!

MECHANICO- $837.63

Rebuild Power steering pump, Rebuild power steering box, Add-a-leaf to spring pack, Repair punctured gas tank, Repair A/C leak, Remove/Clean Oil pan and replace oil pan gasket, Remove and repair CV boots, Replace front/rear brake pads/drums, Oil change, Tire rotation.

This actually accounts for almost half of our expenses for the month. Luckily we had amazing hosts while our baby was getting fixed up and did not have to pay a dime for the  two weeks we were camped out at their house. Thanks again Karina and Julio!

GAS- $71.19

We were at school for most of the month, and pretty much walked everywhere. Gas was fortunately a very low cost

SCHOOL- $150

This was for one on one classes for 20 hours a week

ACCOMMODATIONS- $76

This was mostly for lodging out our amazing school, Corazon Maya

GROCERIES- $332.19

EATING OUT- $172.41

TOLLS, TRANSPORTATION, PARKING-$5.86

LIQUOR AND BEER- $136.62

Not too shabby!

ENTERTAINMENT- 11.60

Notice how this number is very low. We use drinking as our main source of entertainment

MISC ITEMS -$37.52

Laundry, supplies for the car, maps, bathroom fees, sunscreen, etc

GRAND TOTAL- $1831.02

~ $61/Day

Hello again ladies and gents! Yet another month has come and gone south of the border and it is time once more to take a look at the expenses for the month and see what the damage is.

I have to admit that tallying up the expenses at the end of the month is one of my least favorite things to do.  Doing the dishes, no problem.  Packing and repacking the car, you got it. Doing the expenses…No gracias!

When I first sat down with my little notebook and calculator I was undoubtedly filled with dread. However, to my surprise, as I started to scan the countless entries the numbers seemingly jumped off the page and memories began flooding back to me. Each entry retold every detail, from the mundane to the amazing, of the past 30 days.  I realized that this notebook of numbers, tally marks and conversion rates was more then I had ever expected it to be.

It was a journal of sorts. There it all was. Daily accounts of those seemingly unimportant details that now help to weave together every wonderful moment of every wonderful day. Whether it be hiking up the side of a volcano with a machete wielding guide at our heels yelling “VAMOS!” or a lazy day of sitting in a hammock sharing a few cervezas. It was all in there. As nerdy as it may sound, I actually enjoyed putting together this month’s expense sheet.  I hope you all enjoy it too.

GAS-$381.03
We have not been driving much for the past few weeks while at school, however we did drive to Guatemala City twice in the past month to pick up and drop off my sister from the airport.  We are so happy that she could come spend a week with us!
We are currently getting about 18 miles to the gallon

GROCERIES-$221.02
We have been fortunate enough to be staying in San Pedro La Laguna, a town that has an amazing market.  We have been eating like kings for a few dollars a day. Not only do they have ridiculously cheap produce, but also a delicious array of prepared foods to choose from.  Me gusta.

CAMPGROUNDS-$31.37
This includes storing our car for 3 days in Sarteneja,BZ when we visited the island of Caye Caulker

HOTELS/HOSTELS-$154.70
$50 of this is for the 2 weeks we have spent at school. We are paying $25/wk for a private cabin.

DINING OUT-$387.20
Pretty high for the month. While visiting Caye Caulker, we did not have much of a choice of buying groceries since markets were slim to none. Even street food was a tad pricey.

ENTERTAINMENT-$195.35
This includes all of the entrance fees to the ruins, museums, parks etc.
Also included are such things as: a soccer game in Mexico, kayaks and snorkling gear in Belize, a tour of a coffee plantation , tickets to chicken drop (my new favorite game), and much much more. It was worth every cent for all of the fun things that we have done this past month.

LIQUOR AND CERVEZAS-$116.54
We enjoy a nip or two from time to time.

CAR RELATED EXPENSES-$31.82
Includes oil, carwashes, etc.

OTHER TRAVEL EXPENSES-$175.11
This is mainly for ferries, but also includes parking fees, and tolls

BORDER CROSSING INTO BELIZE-$33.00

BORDER CROSSING INTO GUATEMALA-$33.25

SPANISH CLASSES-$300 ($75 a week per person)
We felt this was a necessary expense for us.  I cannot tell you how much my crazy little Mayan professor has taught me in the past two weeks.  I love her.

MISC EXPENSES- $63.29
Includes Maps, bathroom fees, sunscreen, laundry, etc.  Oh yeah, and James’ beer holder aka “the man purse”. (Editors Note: I prefer the term “Party Satchel”)
Take a look and decide for yourself…

GRAND TOTAL- $2123.68
~$70/day

A certain improvement over Mexico, would be nice to get it down a bit lower still…

Howdy, folks! I know many of you have been asking for a break down of how much we have been spending on our trip so far, so here it goes. Amazingly, it has been 30 days and 3,500 miles since we crossed into Mexico and over 85 days total on the road. Seems like just last night we were lying in our beds in San Francisco dreaming of this trip…

Gas- $591.11 (Currently ~2.80 gal in Mexico)
We had a good tally of our MPG and gas expenses but it was lost on our phone somewhere in Mexico City.

Food- $661.81
Includes groceries, restaurants, bars, beer, and tequila.

Motels, Campgrounds, etc- $221.67
This is very high for the month. We love to just sleep in the truck, and try to do so whenever possible.  Unfortunately, we drove through a lot of jungle areas where camping was almost impossible or just downright undesirable.  I also got pretty sick for 4 or 5 days, so we spent two of the worst days at a nice little motel in Morelia.  We are hoping that when we get to Guatamala we will get to camp pretty much every night.

Car Expenses & Accidentes– $272.33
We had to get our hitchpin mount and jerrycan mount fixed after accidentally backing into a pole and busting it up a bit. Oopsy. That cost $122.33, but now it is built twice as beefy and looks good as new!  We also had a little fender bender in Oaxaca.  The guy we backed into was really nice about the whole thing and we gave him $150 for his troubles. (Editors note: It seems I have a bit of trouble backing up this truck…)

Travel Expenses-  $372.30
This includes our Mexico FMM visas for 180 days, vehicle import permit, and a $200 refundable deposit)

Trip Expenses For Organizing the Truck- $40.00
I needed some extra supplies to keep the truck organized.

Personal Expenses- $40.00
Toiletries, laundry detergent, etc.

Entrance fees– $182.77
Includes all tickets for museums, zoos, visiting the ruins, soccer games, etc.

Misc- $36.84

MONTH #1 GRAND TOTAL=

$2,418.83 ($200 deposit for entrance into mexico is not subtracted)

This is a tad higher than what I projected for the first month, but unexpected expenses always seem to come up while traveling. Gotta tighten the belt for month number two!

Hola Amigos! Its been about two weeks since we made our way across the border into Mexico and I figured it was about time to post some pictures of the living quarters inside our “Supermini Rv”(as I like to call it).  Since we have started this trip I have organized and reorganized about a hundred different times in a hundred different ways.  No matter how it is done, it is still a matter of fitting all of the things that you will need for everyday living into the back of a truck.  Things can get a little tight to say the least.

This is the day that we left and we had the car packed to the gills.  I don’t recommend this organizational style…

The one thing I have realized through trial and error is that organization is key. Once things get even a little out of order you may find yourself searching for that headlight you could have sworn you just had for the next 45 minutes.

Although I am sure we will be rearranging again and again while on the road, I am finally happy with the set up.  It seems that everything fits well in its tiny little spot, and it is all pretty easily accessible.

Sleep mode activate!

The sleeping platform:

When we built the sleeping platform the idea was that it would just clear the wheel wells in order to give us as much head room as possible and also extra room while sleeping. Lets face it, not being able to sit up straight can make you feel a little claustrophobic.  While I enjoy the extra room to sit up, it has made it a bit challenging to fit things undeneath.  We have about 5 1/2 inches of clearance to fit all of the things that we do not want crowding out the back seat.  At first it seemed nearly impossible to cram everything under there, but with the help of the piano hinge on the front of the platform and some To Go Space Bags I finally got it all situated.

Under the platform and on the sides of the 4Runner:

• Our 2 backpacks for hiking (inside is stuffed with hiking gear)
• 2 burner grill- Thanks Ruined Adventures!
• Fuel for camping stove and grill- again, thanks to RA
• Kitchen accessories (cooking utensils, pans, plastic baggies, aluminum foil, plastic wrap, etc)
• Extra straps and bungees
• Eagles Nest Outfitters Hammock(because what says relaxation better that a hammock?)
• Travel books
• Extra blankets and sleeping bags
• All shower accessories including solar shower and towels
• Extra shoes behind seats for easy access
• Tool box, jumper cables, spare parts and all of the other stuff needed to keep the car in good shape
• Mount for the inverter
• First aid kit, medicine bag (including vitamins and antibiotics)
• Shop rags- these have proven to be essential for us
• Hiking poles- these have many uses besides what they are intended for as well, such as using them for props to keep the platform up
• Collapsible sink for dishes

The Piano hinge is key to cramming everything in the way that you want it

On top of the platform:

• Two food bags
     -1 bag has all snacks, lunch and dinner ingredients (check http://www.trailcooking.com/ to get an idea of what we are carrying for food)
      -1 smaller bag with breakfast and coffee items
• Two bags for clothes
• 1 bag with comforter
• Fridge that holds many beers and other essential items…but mostly beer

The drive mode.  The bed folds in half and the left side is used for all of the things listed above.  James loves it as you can see

In the bungee overhead:

• 2 pillows
• Reflective insulation that cover all of the windows when we sleep.  This is helpful to keep out light and keep the truck warmer/cooler when we are all cozy inside or if we leave the truck parked somewhere
• Clip on book light

Storage behind the seat:

Includes more travel books, maps, bug spray, sun block, a trash bag and anything else we need access to while driving

A small basket on the dash that I stuck up there with some double stick tape:

Again, another way to easily access anything we need while we are cruisin around

Stuff on the swing-out

• 2 Chairs
• Water can
• Gas can
• Folding table
• High lift

All packed up and ready for adventure!

Well, that about does it. Stay tuned. First month’s budget is right around the corner.  Time flies when you’re drunker’n hell!