In March 2015, we visited three new countries: Bolivia, Peru, and Ecuador. We ended last month with a three day tour of Salar de Uyuni, from where we continued on to La Paz. There, we conquered the World’s Most Dangerous Road and Amazon rainforest.
We left Bolivia for Peru by bus, making a stop at Copacabana & Lake Titicaca on the way. In Peru, we spent six days in Cusco, where we visited the ruins of Machu Picchu. Our last stop was a brief visit to Lima, before flying out to Ecuador and the Galápagos Islands.
The last week of March we spent exploring Quito and nearby Baños. As always, we enjoyed the Bolivian, Peruvian, and Ecuadorian cuisine along the way. On April 1st, we flew into Colombia, our last stop in South America.
In March we spent more than we thought we would. Especially Bolivia turned out to be expensive, mainly due to the variety of activities (Salar de Uyuni, biking the Death Road, and visiting the Amazon) which cost a grand total of around $900 ($450 pp). In Peru, visiting Machu Picchu is rather costly with all the transportation and entrance fees combined, but we managed to stay on budget.
In Ecuador, our budget originally yielded $60 pppd, yet we shifted $5 of these funds to Peru when we noticed Machu Picchu would take up the majority of our budget. In the end, we managed to almost make up for the extremely expensive Galápagos Islands, only spending $45 too much.
The Good
- Machu Picchu and Galápagos Islands are expensive, yet in our overall budget we (almost) made up for it by limited daily expenses and taking local buses over taxis and tours.
- Our accommodations were cheap, even on Galápagos we spent less than the islands’ average.
The Bad
- In order to obtain some Bolivian currency, we were forced to spent 30$ on changing Chilean currency at a Money Exchange office.
- We failed to estimate the costs in Bolivia, leaving us with a large gap of $442.
- We spent a lot on (overpriced) groceries on Galápagos. Unfortunately, we couldn’t repeat what we did for Easter Island, as importing food is not allowed in order to preserve the wildlife.
A detailed list of expenses per country is listed below. The amounts per person are based on our two-person journey. Flights are listed separately (and are not included in the countries’ budget) as we booked these in advance.
Flights
- La Paz to Rurrenabaque (return): $353 ($176 pp) on Amaszonas,
- Cusco to Lima & Lima to Guayaquil: $665 ($332.50 pp) on LAN Airlines,
- Guayaquil to Baltra (Galápagos Islands) & Baltra to Quito (LAN Airlines), Quito to Bogotá (Avianca): $1,154 ($577 pp).
Bolivia
- Days: 9,
- Budget: $900 ($50 pppd),
- Expenses: $1,342 ($74.50 pppd),
- Additional visa costs: $160 (Herta).
Peru
- Days: 11,
- Budget: $990 ($45 pppd),
- Expenses: $986 ($45 pppd).
Ecuador
- Days: 15,
- Budget: $1,695 ($56.50 pppd),
- Expenses: $1,740 ($58 pppd).
Next Month
April marks the last month of our seven month journey through Asia and South America. On April 14, we will leave Colombia and return to the United States for ten days. Afterwards, it is on to Sydney and finally Melbourne, where we will settle down for a while.
