Bolivia Budget Breakdown:

Date of Travel:  September-November 2015

Date of Writing:  November 26th 2015

(Yes I chose this as my first country due to the alliteration in the title.)

(All figures in CAD unless otherwise noted)

This is the first of many budget posts to come when I have the time, inspired by my friend Brent who blogs at www.wherebrentwent.com as well as www.alittleadrift.com the blog which gifted me my budget template which I’ve been using since the beginning of year two of my trip, I’ve decided to share my figures with all of you to show you that you legitimately can take off and travel long term If you so desire!  And I hope you do because it’s the best choice I ever made.

Honestly the question I get asked most when I tell people I’m travelling for 7 years straight without working is “But how do you afford it?”  Now I’m blessed to have been left a substantial amount of money which helped me find the courage to go and do this, but do you want to know a secret?  Travel’s really not that expensive.  Especially when you’re doing it long term and have no bills at home.  I don’t even travel all that cheap and I still have a gross spend of well under 20,000 USD dollars a year, and that’s without any volunteering, very limited couch surfing, and eating far too well.  I also don’t deny myself experiences I want, so I’ve been to Machu Picchu, Easter Island, The Uyuni Salt Flats (3 times) Chilean Patagonia and the Galapagos Islands in the last 12 months. Add all those things to the equation and I’d say it would be simple enough to travel in South and Central America or Asia for 12,000 USD a year or less.

I’ve even met a friend from Mexico who made it through 5 months and all the way down to Pucon, Chile starting with just 50 dollars.  Long term travel is pretty much always possible, if you want it enough, and are wiling to change your lifestyle to support it, and sometimes if you’re wiling to work along the way.

Okay enough rambling and onto the numbers from my two separate stays in Bolivia.  Here you will find two screen shots from my budget document, the template of said document can be found here.  I thank the wonderful folks at www.alittleadrift.com for this as it has made keeping track of my budget easier and certainly makes these entries easier to write and read than the 1st year ones will be as I kept only a very rudimentary spreadsheet during that time.

As you can see the two months have very different daily averages, one reason is for some reason in the September document. I included my salt Flats trip as a separate cost assessed in the final stats page of my yearly budget and in November I worked the cost into the daily budget of the trip under the Lodging.  The other reason is that during November  I ate more and at more touristy restaurants than I did in September when I was travelling with Sara.

Either way here’s a few of the numbers broken down:

During my entire time in Bolivia I spent an average of 42.61 CAD  or 32.03  USD at exchange rates at time of writing.

I spent 523.84 CAD on Lodging in my 47 days in Bolivia translating to 11.15 CAD per night.  I stayed mostly in good clean and not the cheapest hostels with some occasional private rooms .  This total also includes the entire price of one of my 3 day salt flats tours which could be spread across all categories.  It’s worth noting that it’s possible to do this much more cheaply than I did and 8-10 CAD a night will not be an unreasonable budget in most locations of Bolivia.  And always remember sites like couch surfing can help cut the lodging budget even further.

Food, as it always does with me, ate up a healthy chunk of my budget.  In 47 days I spent 951.26 CAD on food and Drink including all meals and snacks.  This works out to an average of 20.24 CAD a day.  This is the section where, if you want to, you could probably cut the budget in half no problem by cooking for yourself and eating way more of the local food. After 15 months in South America though I’ve grown tired of it a bit and have gotten into the bad habit of treating myself too often.  Anywhere from 10-15 CAD daily can easily see you fed, and fed well in Bolivia.  In a pinch you could do it for 5 to 8.

Transport which includes all buses, taxis, Tuk-Tuks or Trains ran me 326.68 in my 47 days in Bolivia. This includes anything that gets me from point A to Point B that doesn’t include leaving the ground (okay some of the buses definitely leave the ground)  but basically what I’m saying is no flights.  (I took none in Bolivia anyway.)  This works out to 6.95 a day.  Considering that: I took more of the comfortable Cama buses than not (They are not always available) , that this figure includes my bus across the better half of Paraguay to Asuncion, and that I moved more quickly than usual in Bolivia.  I’d say I didn’t do too badly in this category, but you can always get by for less. 5 CAD a day is a very workable transport budget though the long buses will mean it comes out in chunks.

Activities which basically constitutes any entry fees or touristy things I do cost me 141.93  CAD meaning a daily average of 3.02 CAD during my stay in Bolivia. Not all that much though this total could be higher as the Salt Flats Trip included was counted under accommodation when in reality it fits into all three categories.  Still even the most touristy things in Bolivia really aren’t that expensive, the Salar de Uyuni being number 1 but you get all your lodging and food covered within the price of the tour so it’s not too exorbitant.

The last category to incur costs was Miscellaneous, which is usually made up of small purchases to replace broken down things in my bag, or the costs of repairing them.  In Bolivia I spent 59.06 CAD  on such items averaging 1.26 CAD a day.  Theses things can add up on long trips but will never make up a major chunk of my budget.

Well I hope this has been insightful for anyone reading it.  As always if you have any questions leave a comment or contact me using the Contact Luke page.  I’m happy to offer thoughts and advice on budgeting or anything else.  Even if you just need a pep talk to get you out the door, let me know.  Oh and expect lots more budget breakdowns to come.