how much to spend?

[johan&ils]

Hi,

we are comming to SA, starting in BA with 2 motorbikes.
We would like to camp as much as possible and also try to travel low budget. Anyway, we would like to know +/- how much some of you spend a day while traveling the motorbike true the South & middle American continent.
Our trip wil go one as long we have the money, so it would be nice to know how long we can stay.

[realmc26]

The general consensus seems to be $50 US per person is about the low end of what it costs per day to travel in SA.
An average from what I have read is about $65-75 per person per day.

Others have claimed they can do it for under $50 us per day.

Thats travelling solo so you will obviously save on some expenses such as accommodation.

There are quite a few recent threads on this topic if you do a decent search.

hope that helps.

james

[Moto Mikey]

IMO- $60/day is plenty.

Here's my budget:
Daily costs

• Gas $10
• Food $15
• Accommodations $20
• Incidentals $5
• Fun $10
• Total $60

I came to these numbers from reading dozens of SA ride reports and researching on here and ADVrider.com

[markharf]

Depends on how far you get on $10 worth of gas. In Brazil, your $10 might take you 100 km down the road....but it's a loooonnnggg ride from Uruguay to Belém at that rate. I was spending quite a bit more than that on gas almost everywhere in Central and South America.

All of which is meant to suggest: read a few of the many other threads on this topic, then ask again if your question remains un-answered.

Mark

[Two Moto Kiwis]

Naomi and Albertos site has the most up to date to cover top to bottom.

Taking the Road South: The Trip in Numbers

We based our estimate on this and others, in US dollars, their costs include the Darien and all so have a good read.

AK, Can, US $88.00 per day per person depending on level of accom and how much you ride, see Marks comment on that above, more you ride more you spend, easy.

Mexico / Central $45.00 per person per day.

SA $35.00 / per person per day.

We qualify this by adding that the comparisons saw better economy of scale as a couple or pair for tenting, food etc as opposed to a single.

I think the US figure is slightly high but I also think the SA is slightly low.

Big thing comes down to tenting or moteling and mileage per day as Mark points out.

We are by no means experts as we have not hit the road yet but these figures are from HUers that have recorded stuff.

This will also be different once adding shipping etc in which will vary form trip to trip, we are spending in excess of $10k US JUST to get to the start line so that will faf our figures up completely if we were to add that in.

[Zigeuner53]

I did most of South America on $20 a day including gas....mind you I didn't ride everyday, camped a lot, and took cheapest accommodations...example in N Central Peru (Amazonas)a hotel was $3-5 a night, meals $1.25 USD....

I met a few riders doing the same.

Zig

[Two Moto Kiwis]

Originally Posted by Zigeuner53

I did most of South America on $20 a day including gas....mind you I didn't ride everyday, camped a lot, and took cheapest accommodations...example in N Central Peru (Amazonas)a hotel was $3-5 a night, meals $1.25 USD....

I met a few riders doing the same.

Zig

Sounds like us, we will be camping at every opportunity and self cooking rather than eating out, we don't place value on hotel/motel ie $$$$ so that leaves us more $$$ to travel.

[johan&ils]

for all this good info.
specialy the site from Naomi & her friend is very usefull.
They have done +/- the same km average a day and time like we have in mind.
As far as I could count, there must be enough in my black sock under the bed to make it 10 to 12 months
but most important .... we will take it like it comes

[glasswave]

Originally Posted by Two Moto Kiwis

Sounds like us, we will be camping at every opportunity and self cooking rather than eating out, we don't place value on hotel/motel ie $$$$ so that leaves us more $$$ to travel.

Remember that set meals in restaurantes are often much cheaper than cooking for 1 or 2 especially when you factor in canister stove fuel. I recommend a stove that can burn gasoline. In sometimes even staying in hotel & can be cheaper than camping out & cooking. $5 room with bread and jam for b_fast, $1.25 for a huge set lunch and a few empanadas for diner.

In my experience, is the biggest variable in how cheap you can travel along with western cuisine/pubs. YMMV

[markharf]

I'll say again that the biggest impediment to cheap trips (e.g., "I did South America for $20 per day") is gasoline. In much of South America, that $20 will buy enough gas for a day's riding...if you don't try to get very far. Nothing left over for food, lodging, tires, entertainment or side trips. Much less . This has nothing to do with whether you eat street food or stay in hotels.

That means that if you want to cover ground at a good clip, you're not going to do it on $20 per day. If you take it easy, don't ride every day, favor 125 cc engines, or in other respects live outside the norms.....well, maybe.

Report back here when you've actually done the trip.

Mark

[charapashanperu]

Everyone keeps talking about Kms you can go on $10 gas. The only variable isn't just distance per day and the cost of gasoline!

What are you driving? What roads are you taking? A 650c vs a 250cc is HUGE! Alot of altitude (especially if climbing or dropping in elevation greatly changes you fuel economy (unless fuel injected) is going to take 40% more fuel even with changing of jets! Gravel vs pavement difference is big too. How loaded you are or what kind of rider you are changes things too.

I agree also with the others that it is cheaper to each on the street than to buy and cook your own, besides, it's part of the whole experience. Just know how to recognize what is safe. Even drinking can be done cheaply if you mix your own with friends!

Cheers! Toby

[naotweed]

I just wanted to add that for our costs (I'm Naomi) throughout most of Latin America our pace meant that we were only filling up once a day. We get between 300-400km on one tank with our bikes, just to give you an idea.
The only country where this wasn't really the case was Chile, where gas is very expensive and we were moving at a great clip. We were spending over 100$/day on gas there

Also if anyone has any specific questions about our cost breakdown just use the contact information on our blog to fire us an email. We are happy to answers peoples questions. Also we reply to comments on our ADV RR as well.

Oh and just to be clear we were at ~60$/day for two people. Our trip costs included the two of us and our bikes. So our costs are a good comparison for couple trips.

Cheers

[Two Moto Kiwis]

Originally Posted by glasswave

Remember that set meals in restaurantes are often much cheaper than cooking for 1 or 2 especially when you factor in canister stove fuel. I recommend a stove that can burn gasoline. In sometimes even staying in hotel & can be cheaper than camping out & cooking. $5 room with bread and jam for b_fast, $1.25 for a huge set lunch and a few empanadas for diner.

Great info about set meals etc, while we are not on a total bottom budget we are frugal and will take opportunities to save as this amounts to more time on the road for us, in NZ it is WAY cheaper to go to the supermarket and cook up, so in SA looks like doin the dishes will be a lesser thing too

We have a stove, Coleman 508 solid fuel burner for your reasons, we do plan to camp out however if it is pissing down or blowing a gale then hard accom may win out.

Originally Posted by marinomi

Oh and just to be clear we were at ~60$/day for two people. Our trip costs included the two of us and our bikes. So our costs are a good comparison for couple trips.

Cheers

Heya Naomi, Ellen and I have been reading your blog and I followed your ADV RR and skunking it for information, the info on your site alone has answered many questions so we too are very appreciative of this, it was a shame that the engine failures cut your trip short though (I followed that on the Parallel Uni).

Are you guys home July 2012?, would be very cool to catch up and meet you if we could.

Cheers Andi & Ellen

[dlh62c]

Here's a site that might help too: Vagabond Journey Budget Travel Guide

Good luck on your trip!

daryl