Expense Report: Ecuador

The RTW trip we are doing can be done for less money but we are choosing to take the middle road. We offer these expense reports as a baseline for others to plan with.

We spent a total of $747.80 on living expenses and $989.80 for one-time expenses. We spent 16-nights in Ecuador and drove 858 miles. Part of this expense report includes flights for a visit home to Seattle (the return flight to Madrid). We camped 19% (3-nights), stayed in a hotel 56% (9-nights), and camped on a friend’s property 25% (4-nights) of the time.

Ecuador uses US dollars so no exchange rate. We use ATMs to retrieve our funds and we do not have ATM fees as they are reimbursed to us (Charles Schwab checking account).

The average daily spend was $46.74 that was below our goal of $65 ($32.50 per person). Remember this is for two people so if divided by two that is about $23.37/day/person. We expected our spend to be below our goal because we went on a 4-day Amazon tour that was all-inclusive (lodging, food, guide, partial transportation). Our food expenses comprise about 42% of our spending and housing whether hotel room or tent is 24%. In Ecuador we didn’t purchase a SIM card or data plan for our phone but relied on internet at our accommodations. The communications expense was to top up our Skype phone credit.

Our one-time expenses
Border: photocopies at the border

Repairs/maintenance/parts: Mike performed full tune-ups on both motorcycles and the $84 was for five quarts of synthetic oil.

Shipping: We purchased our flights from Seattle to Madrid. This cost is low because we used airline miles we had saved while working; Shannon traveled a lot for work.

Other: We spent $27 for shipping some items back to the US and $90 for website maintenance and changes. We spent a total of $741 for our Amazon tour that included $610 for the tour (4-days for accommodation, food, guide, and part transportation), $80 for the overnight bus to/from Quito to Lago Agrio, $12 for community donations, and $39 in tips to our guide, boat driver, and kitchen staff. A total of $370.5 per person.

Fuel consumption: These numbers are estimates, as we don’t track per motorcycle but a mixture of both. We purchased 31.80 gallons of fuel and drove 1,682 miles for both bikes. This means we have an average of 52.89 miles per gallon per bike.

Definitions:
Miles driven: this is based on Zippy’s odometer and not the total miles of both bikes. Occasionally we ride two-up or Mike may take Donkey to do some errands and these additional miles are not accounted for. When providing miles per gallon averages this is an important caveat as we are not tracking both motorcycles odometers.

Living expenses
Fuel: petrol for two motorcycles and minor use of gas for our MSR camp stove
Grocery: food and incidentals purchased at grocery stores/markets/butcher that may include batteries, toiletries, etc. as well as food.
Prepared Food: anything that we haven’t made ourselves such as meals purchased at restaurants, food stalls, or prepared food from local stores.
Camp: camp ground fees
Hotel: hotel fee
Communications: local SIM cards, Skype credit, USB modems, recharging for minutes and data, internet cafes, etc.
Incidental: anything that doesn’t fit into other categories with notes made as to the actual expenses but anticipated as park fees, other fees, postcards, shopping, etc.

One-time expenses
Border: border fees for people, motorcycles, and pet as well as insurance required, and any other border expenses.
Parts/maintenance: anything purchased for the maintenance or repair of the motorcycles.
Shipping: expenses for moving ourselves and motorcycles between continents
Other: gear replacement, excursions, and other one-time expenses.