Living on 10 USD a day as a backpacker in Guatemala
June 4 2021
Budget backpacking in Guatemala. Can I live on 10 USD a day in Guatemala?
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I'm in Quetzaltenango, always referred to by its Mayan name, Xela (shella).
I was always told that Guatemala is cheap but can I live on 10 USD a day here?
10 USD gives me a daily working budget of 77 GTQ - Guatemalan Quetzals.
Essential day to day costs involve:
1. Accommodation
2. Food and Drink
the rest is just superfluous.
1. Accommodation
Hotel rooms are always a hefty chunk of the daily budget. I use booking dot com. Have used them for years and I get a 10% genius discount on selected properties.
I am staying at the Ideal Hotel. It is not the cheapest place in town but they offer the cheapest private rooms in town. Yup, dorm rooms are a thing of yesteryear for 2 reasons. I am too old for sharing rooms and hey it's Covid!
I was always told that Guatemala is cheap but can I live on 10 USD a day here?
10 USD gives me a daily working budget of 77 GTQ - Guatemalan Quetzals.
Essential day to day costs involve:
1. Accommodation
2. Food and Drink
the rest is just superfluous.
1. Accommodation
Hotel rooms are always a hefty chunk of the daily budget. I use booking dot com. Have used them for years and I get a 10% genius discount on selected properties.
I am staying at the Ideal Hotel. It is not the cheapest place in town but they offer the cheapest private rooms in town. Yup, dorm rooms are a thing of yesteryear for 2 reasons. I am too old for sharing rooms and hey it's Covid!
There are 2 hostels in town. On booking dot com dorm rooms are listed as 50 GTQ so they bag the first 2 spots when you sort by 'lowest price first'. Their private rooms are 100 GTQ.
I scrolled down to the Ideal Hotel and a single room for 2 nights was, with taxes was 132 GTQ, just 66 GTQ a night. I extended and got my single room for 55 GTQ.
At the Ideal Hotel, there is a kitchen so I can cook my own meals and filtered water is provided.
I still do my own laundry!
I know I could get a better deal on a month rental but with only a visa for 90 days, there are too many places I want to visit that I can't afford the time. But I do like Xela. Back in the day, 90 days in a country as small as Guatemala would seem endless. Now I think, hmm, 6 months would be good here!
Comparing room costs with Mexico, my single rooms in Oaxaca and San Cristobal were 100 MXN per night. That's just 38 GTQ.
Out of my 10 USD, I am now left with just 22 GTQ, which is 2.85 USD.
Can I eat for 2.85 USD in Guatemala?
I scrolled down to the Ideal Hotel and a single room for 2 nights was, with taxes was 132 GTQ, just 66 GTQ a night. I extended and got my single room for 55 GTQ.
At the Ideal Hotel, there is a kitchen so I can cook my own meals and filtered water is provided.
I still do my own laundry!
I know I could get a better deal on a month rental but with only a visa for 90 days, there are too many places I want to visit that I can't afford the time. But I do like Xela. Back in the day, 90 days in a country as small as Guatemala would seem endless. Now I think, hmm, 6 months would be good here!
Comparing room costs with Mexico, my single rooms in Oaxaca and San Cristobal were 100 MXN per night. That's just 38 GTQ.
Out of my 10 USD, I am now left with just 22 GTQ, which is 2.85 USD.
Can I eat for 2.85 USD in Guatemala?
2. Food and drink:
I commonly eat 2 large meals a day. Breakfast between 9 and 10. And my dinner around 4 pm. I am always doing the intermittent fasting thing.
Here is an example of one meal:
Mixed veg from the mercado, plus onion, tomato, garlic, beans and maize.
Estimated cost is 8 GTQ. Home-cooked meals in Mexico like this were around 4 or 5 GTQ.
I commonly eat 2 large meals a day. Breakfast between 9 and 10. And my dinner around 4 pm. I am always doing the intermittent fasting thing.
Here is an example of one meal:
Mixed veg from the mercado, plus onion, tomato, garlic, beans and maize.
Estimated cost is 8 GTQ. Home-cooked meals in Mexico like this were around 4 or 5 GTQ.
Another meal example:
Spaghetti (3 GTQ) with tomato sauce (4 GTQ), garlic and tuna (6 GTQ I use 1/2 a tin).
Estimated cost is 13 GTQ. Same meal in Mexico, 9 GTQ.
Spaghetti (3 GTQ) with tomato sauce (4 GTQ), garlic and tuna (6 GTQ I use 1/2 a tin).
Estimated cost is 13 GTQ. Same meal in Mexico, 9 GTQ.
This is just survival and I am up to 76 GTQ out of my 77 GTQ.
A cheaper but a lot smaller meal option would be an omelette:
Eggs are 1 GTQ each. A 2 egg omelette with tomato and onion, I guess around 4 GTQ in total but then I'd be hungry in an hour and would run to the store and buy an 8.30 GTQ Snickers.
Fruit: 2 large avocados, 5 GTQ, 4 super sweet Mangos 10 GTQ, Slice of pineapple 2 GTQ
A cheaper but a lot smaller meal option would be an omelette:
Eggs are 1 GTQ each. A 2 egg omelette with tomato and onion, I guess around 4 GTQ in total but then I'd be hungry in an hour and would run to the store and buy an 8.30 GTQ Snickers.
Fruit: 2 large avocados, 5 GTQ, 4 super sweet Mangos 10 GTQ, Slice of pineapple 2 GTQ
A tin of tuna here is 13 GTQ. In Mexico, a tin costs 15 MXN and the rate is 2.6x.
900g of Activa yoghurt in Mexico costs 41 MXN. Here the same thing costs 41 GTQ.
Imported products are very expensive. The yoghurt is produced under licence in Mexico. Here, they get it from the USA.
Oranges are Naval from California. They cost 7 GTQ for 1. In Mexico, you can get 1.5kilo for that price.
Yes, I could get the food costs down a bit. But not by much. A few Quetzales is all.
And for 10 USD I am just surviving. Not much room for leeway, snacks and no room for extravagances:
An 11oz Med coffee in McD's is 13 GTQ, a Brahva cerveza is 5 GTQ, a Pepsi Black is 4 GTQ.
If my room cost was more like in Mexico, I'd have 15 more Quetzales to play with. Not an awful lot but something.
Life here is more expensive than in Mexico. End of story.
It's not expensive but it's not as cheap as many bang on about.
But am pretty happy. Total average costs for a country, I am happy when it is below 20 USD including every little outgoing. I have to travel. Sometimes I need soap, toothpaste and now freaking Covid tests. Let's see at the end of my 90 days here.
So can I live on 10 USD a day in Guatemala? Live, no. Survive, yes.
Support the blog, donate via PayPal or KO-FI
Tagged under: Guatemala
900g of Activa yoghurt in Mexico costs 41 MXN. Here the same thing costs 41 GTQ.
Imported products are very expensive. The yoghurt is produced under licence in Mexico. Here, they get it from the USA.
Oranges are Naval from California. They cost 7 GTQ for 1. In Mexico, you can get 1.5kilo for that price.
Yes, I could get the food costs down a bit. But not by much. A few Quetzales is all.
And for 10 USD I am just surviving. Not much room for leeway, snacks and no room for extravagances:
An 11oz Med coffee in McD's is 13 GTQ, a Brahva cerveza is 5 GTQ, a Pepsi Black is 4 GTQ.
If my room cost was more like in Mexico, I'd have 15 more Quetzales to play with. Not an awful lot but something.
Life here is more expensive than in Mexico. End of story.
It's not expensive but it's not as cheap as many bang on about.
But am pretty happy. Total average costs for a country, I am happy when it is below 20 USD including every little outgoing. I have to travel. Sometimes I need soap, toothpaste and now freaking Covid tests. Let's see at the end of my 90 days here.
So can I live on 10 USD a day in Guatemala? Live, no. Survive, yes.
Support the blog, donate via PayPal or KO-FI
Tagged under: Guatemala