Dwindling Fortunes Update: August 2013

The cost of living in Mexico

Our fourth month on the road has brought us more delicious food, plenty of sun, surfing lessons and the end of our travels through the Mexican state of Oaxaca. In July’s update, we mentioned we’d be staying put in Puerto Escondido for most of the month of August, and would be curious to see how that impacted our ailing finances. How did we fare, you ask? Read on to find out.

We’ve been through this before, but I’ll explain it again: for the purpose of tracking our expenses we purchased a brilliant app called Trail Wallet, available for all gadgets starting with “i”.

The procedure is simple: we input our daily budget, fill in our own currency (EUR) and also choose the currency of the country we’re in (currently, MXN). We then enter our purchases in MXN, and the app will let us know how much we are spending in EUR and how we are faring in regards to our daily budget. We can also assign categories to our extravagant expenditures. Here’s how it looked on the last day of August:

Our daily budget is 50 EUR total. We averaged 30.49 EUR for the month of August, which means we spent 61% of our allocated budget. Compared with July, we saved an average of 7.41 EUR per day, bringing our total costs under 1000 EUR. Not a bad month, considering our lavish lifestyle.

On with the financial data then. Unless specified otherwise, all numbers refer to our total costs as a couple.

Below is the general chart for the month of August.

Each lovely color represents a category. We’ve added the following:

Accommodation
Food
Transport
Entertainment
Lifestyle
Health
Culture
Miscellaneous

Yet again, most of our money was spent on Accommodation, Food, and Transport.

Accommodation

We didn’t make much progress on this one. We’re still fussy where we pee, which is an expensive indulgence. Below is the daily rate of the places we’ve stayed in. They’re either double rooms or studios, all with private bathroom. The exchange rate is approximate, since the Euro soars and plunges like a drunken pelican.

323 MXN (19 EUR) – Casa Puente (studio, Puerto Escondido)
460 MXN (27 EUR) – Casa Huijazoo (Airbnb, Mazunte)
450 MXN (26 EUR) – Plaza Delphinus (hotel, Bahias de Huatulco)
390 MXN (23 EUR) – Hotel Central (hotel, Juchitán de Zaragoza)
300 MXN (17 EUR) – Posada del Abuelito (hostel, San Cristóbal de las Casas)

Average = 385 MXN (22 EUR)

Although the average cost was higher than in July, we ended up spending slightly less in total because most of our time was spent in the same place in Puerto Escondido.

At 19 EUR per day, Casa Puente is a prime example of what “value for money” truly means. We’ve showered it with compliments before, but we’ll do it again. Basically, we’re doubtful we’ll ever pay so little for so much ever again – unless we win the lottery or I can sell our travel stories to Hollywood (I can see it now: “The Longest Trek by the Shortest People”, or maybe “Apocalypse Chow: Chocolate Redux”).

We had a ground floor studio apartment all to ourselves, with a fully equipped kitchen, a large bed and a private bathroom. Outside, a small patio with a table and a couple of chairs enabled us to sit and enjoy magnificent views of Puerto Escondido and the Pacific Ocean ahead. Topping it off, we were given the use of a 15 meter pool, where we lounged and splashed whenever desiring a less salty liquid cocoon. The studio was also cleaned free of charge on a bi-weekly basis. We lived like royalty, minus the inbreeding. Oh, and I shouldn’t forget the sunsets.

The most expensive place we stayed at in August was Casa Huijazoo, in Mazunte, but its charming atmosphere, excellent location and Iñigo and Alejandra’s hospitality made it more than worthwhile. As for the hotels, they were both quiet, clean and comfortable. Since they were outside of usual backpacking trails, we found the prices quite reasonable.

The cheapest accommodation was Posada del Abuelito, a rustic and quite popular hostel in San Cristóbal de las Casas. We liked it so much that we extended our stay for another week – actually, it’s where we’re at as I write these silly sentences.

Our ongoing quest to find alternatives did not gain much traction this month, but we’re keeping our eyes open, hoping our wallets will stay closed. House sitting is theoretically a great option, but we’re a tad late to the game and there seems to be a lot more demand than supply, particularly in our current neck of the woods.

Food

This category took a big tumble. We ended up spending 68 EUR less than we did in July. By itself, this shouldn’t be cause for fireworks, but it has to be taken in context. We ate a LOT more food in August than in any other month since we began our little escapade. Not only did the quantity increase, but also the quality of what we ate. Our meager monthly amount is a paean to local markets, where we bought exotic fruit and veggies, fish and other delicacies at a low price. The only reason our numbers aren’t even less substantial is due to our forays into relatively expensive brunches at El Cafecito and an addiction to the goodies available at the Swiss bakery in La Punta.

Transport

We left Puerto Escondido on the 22nd of August. Had we stayed put, we would have spent less than 15 EUR on transportation for the whole month. Until we arrived in Bahias de Huatulco, we did our travels in “colectivos”, “suburbanos” or “chicken buses”. We found them all ideal for shorter distances. They’re not as comfortable as regular second-class buses, not to mention the luxury of some ADO living-room-on-wheels, but more than adequate to our slow travel needs. As soon as we started taking taxis (to reach Cacaluta beach) or ADO buses, the costs went way up. Nonetheless, I must admit public transport in Mexico has been a pleasant surprise, and I cannot find fault in its prices given the service provided.

Other Categories

The remaining categories were responsible for 7% of our total costs. As mentioned in July’s update, they are the most susceptible to precipitous change. For instance, we had no costs under the Entertainment category in August, which basically means we drank no beer and performed no embarrassing dance moves in shady discos.

Health means sunblock, toothpaste and such. We spent quite a bit, considering we were never sick, but I find it difficult to complain when all we did was buy a lot of sunblock so we wouldn’t burn our frail skin under constantly gorgeous sunshine.

Lifestyle is a fancy word for nicotine addiction. We took a break from tobacco after a few days in Casa Puente, which meant not only less money spent but also the healthiest month we’ve had in ages. Add in all the swimming, walking and sweating under the sun, and I can safely say I look at least 2 weeks younger.

Culture has a broad definition, meaning not only temples, museums and such. For instance, the magic mushrooms in San José del Pacífico and my surfing lessons at Carrizalillo beach were put down under this category.

Miscellaneous can be anything, and this month it was a couple of AA batteries for my Shaving Leviathan Deluxe. The beard had to go, since swimming in the sea makes it rather itchy. Plus, I couldn’t see myself as the first surfer with a more-than-passing resemblance to Fidel Castro.

In conclusion, Mexico is turning out to be a great option for mid-budget travelers such as ourselves. This may help explain why we still haven’t left, although we were originally booked to depart on the 18th of July (not a word to Immigration officials, please). Food is fantastic and affordable, it’s easy to move around, and there are great choices of accommodation available for any budget. Above all, the fascinating culture and the friendliness of its people are making it very hard to leave. For now, all we can say is: Viva Mexico!