Expenses: Honduras
In total we spent $3,144.13 or $104.80 per day in Honduras, an amount that makes the country appear very expensive. Considering we stayed 12 nights on Roatan, a premiere tourist destination, our daily average isn't all that terrible. Removing the $2,077.38 ($173.12 per day) we spent on the island, leaves $1,066.75, or $59.26 per day, for the 18 days we explored the mainland. Keep in mind that we splurged on Roatan, in both our initial accommodation and dining out, so our expenses are inflated. All amounts have been converted to US dollars for ease of reporting, the exchange averaged 23.6 Lempiras to $1.
Our border fees were fairly standard at just over $40, $1.35 per day. It cost $3 each to get our visas and just over $35 (761L) to temporarily import the van. Since we used a money changer at the border our exchange rate was a little low, causing a slight discrepancy in the cost of the TIP of a couple dollars. Using money changers is normal as some fees are in US dollars and others in the country currency.
We recharged our Guatemalan Tigo SIM in El Salvador via ezetop.com just before crossing and it expired the day before we entered Nicaragua. Tigo is not a cellular provider in Nica so it would have been a waste to charge up for one day so we didn't have any cell phone costs in Honduras. We did pay for our locator beacon, spending less than $.50 per day under communication.
Under entertainment we spent $188.56, or $6.29 per day. Our big excursion was learning how to play the steel drums at Steel Pan Alley, a great Roatan experience. The majority of our entrance fees were incurred on the mainland for a couple national parks, Copan Ruins and Macaw Mountain. We did tip some musicians on Roatan, which we recorded as entrance fees since they were our reasons for visiting certain places.
Food, oh food, our biggest indulgence at 38.1% of our total expenses. We ended up eating out 47 times, all but two meals while on Roatan, averaging $20.84 per meal. Every mixed drink and ice cream we purchased is also included in the dining out total so the average per meal is inflated, we aren't going to add up each one to calculate the true average as we feel it is close enough. We did have leftovers a few times so the total number of meals is actually higher but being that anal isn't our thing anymore. The $1,196.84, $39.38 per day, for sustenance was worth it as we found some really great local and gringo places to patron.
Our living expenses were much higher than usual due to our 12 night stay on Roatan. We chose Tranquil Seas and Guava Grove for our accommodations on the island, totaling $1,118.20, or $93.18 per night. Doing it over we would have stayed a little longer at Tranquil Seas and skipped Guava Grove, probably costing the same but having a much better experience. On the mainland we camped the entire time averaging $8.82 per night.
The $1.29 per day we spent under miscellaneous doesn't amount to much but we were glad to help Steel Pan Alley out a little more by purchasing a couple shirts and we loved the Macaws so much we picked up a magnet for the van. I've already broken the magnet, it didn't cost much anyway.
During our time on the mainland we drove 886 miles, consumed 64.23 gallons of diesel, and averaged 13.8 mpg. All of the expenditures under ferry, the vast majority under tolls and parking, and most under mass transportation are for traveling to and from Roatan, storing the van while we were there, and getting around the island. Our total transportation costs were $489.97, or $16.33 per day, not bad considering half of it can be attributed to Roatan.
The pie chart and expenses table are programmatically added to this page. Meaning, if we update our expense information then those will automatically reflect the change possibly creating a disparity between the textual breakout and the actual expenditures. This information has been provided to assist others in planning a long-term trip so use accordingly, by all means contact us to ask any questions or to point out any errors so we can remediate them.
Where are we now
Look Rock, TN
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