Every month, I post a report of our expenses to show that it is possible to live a comfortable, exciting, and adventurous life without breaking the bank. The less money you spend, the less you need to make. 🙂
This report includes ALL of our expenses, in US$, for two adults and one 60-pound dog (we adopted Maya on June 4th, 2019). Under groceries we incorporate food, produce, and non-alcoholic drinks predominantly bought in supermarkets. Toiletries belong in that category as well. Dining out means eating at a restaurant/event or purchasing take-out food. The health category covers non-prescription medicines and vitamins/supplements; medical contains prescription drugs and doctor’s visits. Because of our income level, Mark and I are eligible for free health care within the state of Massachusetts. For check-ups and extensive care, we return to the US East Coast. Other health issues are resolved locally and out of pocket where needed and possible.
In November 2023, Mark, dog Maya, and I explored the southern part of Peru in our truck camper, Thirsty Bella. These last two months have been extremely busy and overwhelming, hence my delayed expense report.
We drove a lot, from Arequipa to Colca Canyon and then back to Cusco and the Sacred Valley, to meet family from Belgium. Yet, our car was not the highest expense category, last month. That honor went to Mark’s new computer and a few “accessories.”
A couple of months ago, I wrote that Mark’s laptop (needed daily for work) kept crashing. We were trying to figure out how to send his Surface back to the US and get it replaced under warranty. Being in Peru made this impossible, so we went a different route.
We are very fortunate to have a lot of (accommodating) friends. Two of them returned from the US and had space in their luggage. So, Mark ordered a new laptop, which Rodney and Heather brought back to Cusco in November. My cousin and her husband flew back to Belgium via the US and managed to drop off the broken one at a UPS box in one of the airports. A new Surface should be waiting for us whenever Mark returns to the US on his annual visit. This spare laptop will probably become mine at some point. We also needed a new router, hard drive, and Windows Office key for the arrived laptop.
Some of the packages brought back to us in Cusco by Rodney and Heather
The car category – especially gas – was high again; no surprise there. Gasoline is expensive in Peru, our truck has awful fuel economy (10mpg), and we covered big distances on steep, gravel roads. We also paid for parking a bunch and our friends brought specialty grease back from the US. But no tolls had to be paid.
Another extra expense last month (and this one) was accommodation. My cousin, Griet, and her husband, Wim, came for a multiple-week vacation to Peru, some of which to the Cusco area. I’d booked hotels and Airbnbs ahead of time and we split the accommodation costs for sixteen nights.
In the meantime, Mark and I left Bella at the Quinta Lala campground in Cusco and we used the truck to travel between sites and hotels. Sometimes, we parked Thirsty in fenced lots in towns, other nights, we put him next to Bella at the campground. Before my family arrived and a few nights afterwards, the three of us stayed at Quinta Lala in our camper.
I will write about the visit from Griet and Wim later, but I will admit now that we didn’t have the best experiences with our lodgings. Every night, there was something that kept us awake, resulting in a couple of very exhausting weeks. We surely missed our home on wheels!
We did our best to save money on other nights, by boondocking (wild camping) in nature, and enjoyed natural hot springs instead of developed termales.
Since we stayed in hotels for one third of last month, we ate out a lot, upping that category. Griet and Wim were very generous visitors, treating for dinner often. Yet, this cost ended up higher than usually.
Which lead to our grocery category being on the low end, at well under $200. We cooked much less, which meant no dishes and less time spent in the kitchen!
Mark, Maya, and I visited Colca Canyon, for which there is an entrance fee of 70 soles (US$20) per person. This boleto turistico (tourist ticket) allows access to condor viewpoints, a hike into the canyon (which we didn’t do), and a few other sites. I’ll write about these excursions in my next blog post.
To save money – and since we had already (briefly) toured the Sacred Valley – we only bought one ten-day tourist ticket for when my family arrived. I joined them at some of the archeological sites (new ones and revisits to others), while Mark did the driving, waiting, and working.
All of us did visit Machu Picchu, the end of November, which lived up to its fame and popularity. For this excursion, Griet and Wim arose early on our first day in Aguas Calientes (“base camp” for MP); Mark and I explored this site on the second morning, while my family watched Maya. More about that later as well.
As always when we have family – and friends – around, the alcohol expense goes up. Good times were had by all, which was a nice change to our regular lifestyle.
Rum tasting at our first Airbnb in Cusco
Our Starlink satellite internet fee is roughly the same every month, based on the exchange rate. We didn’t use it as much these last two months when staying at hotels and the campground, where WiFi was present, but, being back on the road now, we still love this installation and investment!
Not living in our truck camper also meant we needed to use public transportation, like taxis and Uber, quite a bit, especially in Cusco, heading back up the hill to Quinta Lala to pick up the truck or when we were camped there. Plus, the 20-minute bus ride to Machu Picchu (a monopoly) was expensive at US$14 each way. I bought a return ticket and Mark hiked down the steep steps after our visit.
Masses of tour buses for the ride to Machu Picchu
Flea collars went on sale in the US, so we bought one online for Maya and will pick it up in Massachusetts one day. Mark and I went out for drinks with friends and family a few times, Rodney and Heather also brought back an urgently needed 12-volt vacuum cleaner from the US for us (required to dry out our ceiling after fixing a couple of leaking holes in our roof; our old one had died), I bought a Pachamama (Mother Earth) statue at one of the sites (which Griet took back to Belgium for me) and we managed to drop off all our dirty laundry in Arequipa for a decent price.
In conclusion, November was another expensive month for us at over $2,000, because of the extra expenses (Mark’s new computer, our accommodation costs, pricey Machu Picchu, extra transportation, and Maya’s meds). I’d like to say that this month will be better, but it has mainly been an extension of the previous one. Maybe, we will do better next year?
(It might be easier to read the table when turning your device in the horizontal position.)
Find all our expense reports here. To learn what other full-time nomads spend each month, check out the blogs of our vanlife friends Duwan and Greg at Make Like An Ape Man.
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