Daily Average Costs in South America

So I’ve been in South America for over one month (46 days to be exact) and I said in my last newsletter that I was going to try to travel more like you this trip.  What I mean is, I know that my travel methods might be viewed as a bit extreme (CouchSurfing, eating street food as the majority of my meals, hitchhiking, washing my clothes in the sink, etc.), and that isn’t very helpful for most people who want to know what it would be like if THEY traveled (most aren’t willing to travel how I travel).  So, this trip, I tried my best to travel like you!

• 99.9% of the time I stayed in hotels.
• 98.9% of the time I ate at restaurants
• I didn’t hitchhike at all (not even once).
• Most of the time, I went on tours instead of on my own
• 100% of the time I paid to have my clothes washed (instead of washing them in the sink)

And because I am a math dork, I love numbers (And spreadsheets! Oh how I LOVE spreadsheets!).  So instead of just writing about which country was the cheapest and in which way(s), I made a spreadsheet of what I spent in the four countries I visited (every penny of what I spent).

I then categorized the spending into six categories:

1. Food (eating expenses)
2. Transportation (getting from A to B, but not a tour)
3. Accommodation (sleeping expenses)
4. Tourist Stuff (Tours, Museum Fees, National Parks, etc.)
5. Misc Items (Laundry, and other necessary expenses that’ll come up while traveling)
6. Luxury / Extras (things I bought that I really didn’t need: coffee, beer, shoes, etc.)

Every tab (at the bottom) is a different country and the very last tab is the overall average for each country.  I then have a small summary of why I think the data is the way it is.

I hope this helps some of you with planning your South American Adventure!

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Let’s Hear What You Think!

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Did this help you plan?  Or perhaps you found the information interesting?  Was there too much and/or unnecessary information? Or do you wish I included something that isn’t here?  Please let me know so that I can make it better next time.  And if this was helpful or interesting, please share with others! :)