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A Life Less Ordinary

Tag: car maintenance

Monthly Expenses of a Nomad in South America – June 2025 (Paraguay & Brazil)

Expenses - image

Every month, I post a report of our expenses to show that it is possible to live a comfortable, exciting, and adventurous life without breaking the bank. The less money you spend, the less you need to make. 🙂

This report includes ALL of our expenses, in US$, for two adults and one 60-pound dog (we adopted Maya on June 4th, 2019). Under groceries we incorporate food, produce, and non-alcoholic drinks predominantly bought in supermarkets. Toiletries belong in that category as well. Dining out means eating at a restaurant/event or purchasing take-out food. The health category covers non-prescription medicines and vitamins/supplements; medical contains prescription drugs and doctor’s visits. Because of our income level, Mark and I are eligible for free health care within the state of Massachusetts. For check-ups and extensive care, we return to the US East Coast. Other health issues are resolved locally and out of pocket where needed.

In June, Mark, Maya, and I traveled two weeks in Paraguay and the rest in Brazil in our truck camper, Thirsty Bella. I hopped into Argentina again for a day trip, but didn’t spend anything in that country.

(Hover over or click on photos in galleries to read their captions.)

Well, our expenses for June were on the higher end of the spectrum once again. This time, the culprits were the long driving distances, ordering camper, truck, and dog items online in the US for Mark to bring back after his visit, a very expensive boat tour to see jaguars in the Pantanal of Brazil (no luck), our annual bank card fee, and Mark ordering a new driver’s license.

Here is the detailed breakdown:

Every month, we reach a new record for fuel expenses. For June, this was really insane and surely an all-time high! We spent over $600, just on gasoline, to drive 1,600 miles. Instead of heading directly from eastern Paraguay to the São Paulo area (700 miles), from where Mark would fly to the US, we made a 900-mile detour to explore Bonito and the southern Pantanal area in Brazil. To reach the northern Pantanal with better wildlife viewing possibilities, we would have had to drive another 1,200 miles. Too much and too expensive. Yup, Brazil is big.

On top of that, we bought an extra air filter and grease on Amazon for the truck ($41), and we handed over $21 for toll roads, which turned out to be a very time-consuming hassle. The first toll booths we passed in the middle of Brazil didn’t accept credit cards (unlike every other imaginable store or business). This surprised us, especially since we never took cash out, based on the ease and ubiquity of card use here. So, we had a problem.

A quick online search told us that our bank, Chase, doesn’t charge fees for using our debit card internationally, so that was the route to go. Except the toll attendants needed a special machine for this type of card. Long story short, it took a few more stops to figure out the correct procedure with our debit card and, furthermore, the process never went smoothly.

The booth attendant either didn’t believe us, didn’t know if they had the special machine, couldn’t find it, couldn’t operate it, or, in one case, it was broken. Once, a friendly employee actually paid our toll fee and shared her Pix account with us to refund her the money. But, foreigners can’t open a Pix account. Since a laundromat owed us a refund after the machines ruined some of our clothes, I arranged for them to transfer that much bigger amount to the friendly toll booth attendant, who received a 60% tip on top.

Needless to say, our toll road experience on awesome paved roads wasn’t as pleasant as it could have been, especially since there was a booth – with all the described hassles – every twenty minutes! The ride from the Pantanal to the coast took three days. On the last one (July 1st), which coincided with a new price increase as well, we avoided toll roads altogether.

Our entertainment category was unusually high. The main reason people visit the Pantanal is to go on a boat tour and look for wildlife. On this private tour out of tiny Passo do Lontra, we were allowed to take Maya and motored around for almost ten hours in total. Cost: $190.

And then, there was one of the highlights on this continent: Iguazu/Iguaçu Falls. I’ll create a separate blog post about that soon. We planned to just visit the Brazilian side of this natural world wonder, but then I stumbled upon an unexpected chance to witness the Argentinian side as well, which is very different.

The entrance fee in Brazil was about $20 per person. We skipped the elevated parking fee by camping nearby for the same price. In Argentinian National Parks, foreigners usually pay a very steep $45 per person. As a student (with proof), you get in for $7. I should add the transportation cost here as well, since I shared a taxi with four other people in order to cross into Argentina and experience that side. This was $19 per person, including a credit card fee of 5%. Not bad for a day trip of this stature.

We did well with our grocery bill ($202), thanks to affordable Paraguay and cheap produce in Brazil. The annual fee for our Chase credit card was due as well, at $95. The number of points we collect is usually worth that.

Mark and I love food and eating out, but we kept this reasonable in June with an expense of $65. This included a buffet in Paraguay, joining new friends for dinner in Bonito to celebrate Wayne’s birthday, one ice cream for me, and a really terrible pizza (with cream cheese!) as a take-out dinner one evening.

In general, Mark and I cook all of our dinners at home, where we stick to a plant-based diet.

Maya needed another yearly supply of Heartgard medicine ($50), which we ordered online, and because of the weird rules of South American countries that her rabies shot can’t be older than one year (in the US and Europe, a three-year vaccine does the trick for… three years), our pup needed yet another injection. This dog has had more rabies shots in her life than all the loose and stray dogs on this continent combined! Luckily, at under $10, the vaccine was cheap.

Mark needs a new Massachusetts driver’s license soon, so he ordered it online to receive at his mom’s address while he is there. We have to plan around expiration dates of all our documents to deal with this when we are in our home countries. These days, renewed licenses cost a whopping $50! We needed copies of his Brazilian visa as well for the border crossings ($1).

And we splurged on a couple of campgrounds in Brazil – for convenience/ logistical reasons to visit Iguaçu Falls and as an alternative to the pricey excursions in Bonito – and a cheap one in Paraguay for peace.

As usual, most of our nights were free, on the edges of towns or in nature.

Our utilities contained $40 for our monthly Starlink subscription (the other $40 is paid by our business) and $4 to top up our propane tank in Paraguay before crossing into Brazil, where filling US tanks is rumored to be difficult, if not impossible… Free potable water was acquired at campgrounds and fuel stations.

We ordered a bunch of caulk online to have in the camper (we ran out), and two more water filters to hook up to our freshwater line at the kitchen sink. This should hold us over until the end of our South American journey, later this year.

One of the highlights in Brazil so far for me is their laundromats. Yup, you read that right. After doing laundry by hand in icy river water for a year, or dropping off “more difficult” pieces at pricey laundromats in the rest of South America, I am delighted to report the ease and efficiency of 24-hour all-automatic laundromats in Brazil!!! And, in Bonito, we managed to wash and dry two big loads for $10 in total. I am a happy camper!

I still did a bunch of laundry by hand as well. When we have unlimited water available, because, why not?

In reality, we also spent $11 on alcohol, but thanks to a generous follower of this blog, MD, we didn’t have to pay out of pocket for the two bottles of wine we purchased in June. Obrigada!

At $1,559, our total for the month was well over our usual average of $1,300, despite our frugal nature and approach. Maybe it’s time to reconsider our goals and realize every country is getting more expensive than it used to be. Of course, the dropping value of the US dollar is not helping us…

How did we save money last month?

We cut Mark’s hair and cleaned Maya’s teeth ourselves, we took some secondary roads to avoid toll booths, we bought needed gear online in the US (after monitoring their prices for months and waiting for the best moment) instead of in South America, where imported goods are expensive or unavailable, we always make sure to know the price of EVERY item before purchasing, and we were extra careful with our expenses toward the end of the month (no splurges) after realizing we broke the bank yet again.

June 2025 Overview:

Car  (fuel: $607; maint.: $41; tolls: $21):

Entertainment (falls, boat tour):

Groceries:

Bank charge:

Dining out:

Dog (meds, rabies shot):

Miscellaneous (driver’s license M):

Camping:

Utilities (Internet: $40; propane: $4):

Camper (caulk):

Transportation (taxi L):

Household (water filters):

Laundry:

Alcohol:

 

TOTAL:

 

$669

$237

$202

$95

$65

$59

$51

$49

$44

$44

$19

$15

$10

$0

———

$ 1,559

(It might be easier to read the table when turning your device in the horizontal position.)

Find all our expense reports here. To learn what other full-time nomads spend, check out the blogs of our nomad friends Duwan and Greg at Make Like An Ape Man.

Next up: Iguazu Falls!

If you are enjoying these posts, please consider donating to Roaming About in support of our website and lifestyle. A big thank you to all our readers who have helped out in the past!

Monthly Expenses of a Nomad in South America – May 2025 (Argentina & Paraguay)

Expenses - image

Every month, I post a report of our expenses to show that it is possible to live a comfortable, exciting, and adventurous life without breaking the bank. The less money you spend, the less you need to make. 🙂

This report includes ALL of our expenses, in US$, for two adults and one 60-pound dog (we adopted Maya on June 4th, 2019). Under groceries we incorporate food, produce, and non-alcoholic drinks predominantly bought in supermarkets. Toiletries belong in that category as well. Dining out means eating at a restaurant/event or purchasing take-out food. The health category covers non-prescription medicines and vitamins/supplements; medical contains prescription drugs and doctor’s visits. Because of our income level, Mark and I are eligible for free health care within the state of Massachusetts. For check-ups and extensive care, we return to the US East Coast. Other health issues are resolved locally and out of pocket where needed.

In May, Mark, Maya, and I traveled throughout Argentina (one week) and Paraguay (three weeks) in our truck camper, Thirsty Bella and we enjoyed a ten-day break from the road with our friends Duwan and Greg, who rented two Airbnbs and generously shared their space with us.

Thirsty Bella parked by our first Airbnb

It was another expensive month with our car leading the charts again. Fuel still cost over $400, but the real culprit was a maintenance job that we performed ourselves: we replaced the transmission oil in the engine for $323.

(As always, click on or hover over photos in galleries to read their captions.)

To our pleasant surprise, we not only found the correct Ford oil in Encarnación, Paraguay, but the filter as well. And that in a country where our truck is not produced or sold. While hoping that labor was cheap, as we’d never performed this job before, we bolted at the extra $400 this project would cost at a Ford dealer. We picked a quiet parking lot and a dry afternoon to swap the oil and dropped the used liquid off at Ford for recycling.

We paid for toll roads in Argentina as well as Paraguay, but we also made a few detours on lesser roads to save money. I’m happy to report that the condition of most paved roads in Paraguay so far has been great! Worth the tolls. 😊 We also paid a dollar to park at the botanical gardens of Asunción.

Our monthly grocery bill fluctuates between $300 and $400 in South America. We ate out quite a lot in Paraguay, but we cooked many meals as well.

Shopping is much more affordable here than in Argentina and we found specialty foods that we’d been craving a while, so we are okay with our total of $331. As you can see, we buy and eat a lot of bread!

We couldn’t wait to enter Paraguay, because we’d been looking forward to its international cuisine and we knew the cost of living was much lower than in its neighbors. So, we took advantage of the many restaurants, diverse meals, affordable menus, and friendly service. It made us happy and satisfied our taste buds to splurge on sushi, ramen, Korean and Mexican food, and some local dishes.

The current US political climate and reciprocal policies introduced the necessity for Americans to apply for and purchase a visa for Brazil, starting this past April. Right in time for Mark to follow the application process and hand over $81. While we thought this step would take five business days, in actuality we waited two weeks in total, before we could cross the border.

We paid $70 for alcohol in May (wine, beer, rum), which seems average. We drank more than usual during our friends’ ten-day visit and we bought a couple of bottles of local rum in Paraguay, which we haven’t tried yet.

Mark with a local beer

The utility category was similar to last month. The other half of our Starlink subscription is paid by our business, so the $40 underneath represents only half of the total cost. Getting propane before leaving Argentina proved to be a hassle and unpleasant, which I wrote about in the previous blog post.

A bit of thought, planning, waiting, and creativity had to go into obtaining another international permit for Maya, with crossings into Brazil in mind. While the cost is not that high at $16 for a health certificate at a vet (who never even looked at or touched our dog) and a mere $2 for the agricultural department to make it official, the time investment and inconvenience every 60 days has been taxing. And the cost adds up after a year.

Mark bought a discounted Seresto flea & tick collar for our dog online as well ($32), which he will pick up in the US soon. This should give Maya protection for another eight months.

Once we reached Paraguay, we spent a few nights at paid campgrounds just to be able to sleep. We had a great experience at a German-owned facility and a blah one in a city park.

Most of our camping in May was free and “wild”, as always.

Paraguay doesn’t have high-profile or famous sights, but it does offer a few interesting attractions, like its mission district, waterfalls, and museums. Entrance fees remain affordable, so we enjoyed visiting every site we had in mind. More about that in the next blog.

Also on the to-do list once we crossed into this country were a few non-car projects. We bought a new mirror for the camper, which a company cut and installed for $12. We had our outside ladder repainted for $20. And Mark found a switch and resistor for a couple of dollars to adjust our fridge temperature.

At one of the missions, our astronomy guide showed us reproductions of celestial instruments which he creates out of metal. We couldn’t resist buying our own armillary sphere.

Our own souvenir armillary sphere

I needed more birth control pills and we bought a couple of souvenirs when visiting the information center of a Japanese town, ran by a super friendly lady. She had allowed us to camp in the back the previous night, which we were thankful for.

Camped behind the information center in Yguazu

Our last expense bill of the month goes to transportation. I took a train back into Argentina to pick up Maya’s permit and we used an Uber with our friends to go out to dinner one evening.

I would like to mention two free categories as well. No money went to laundry in May! The reason: I did most of it by hand in buckets and one of the Airbnbs our friends rented had a washing machine. I spent two days running loads of clothes, linen, and dog paraphernalia and hanging everything to dry outside.

Mark and I did go out for a few drinks, at a beach bar in Encarnación twice and with our friends at a trendy bar in Areguá on our last evening together. This totaled $15, but a donation of our follower MD took care of that. And we have some of those funds left for this month. Thank you!

May 2025 Overview:

Car  (fuel: $429; maint.: $323; tolls: $10; parking: $1):

Groceries:

Dining out:

Customs & Immigration (visa M):

Alcohol:

Utilities (Internet: $40; propane: $17):

Dog:

Camping:

Entertainment (missions, falls, museum):

Camper:

Miscellaneous (souvenir):

Medical (meds Liesbet):

Gifts:

Transportation:

Drinking out:

Laundry:

 

TOTAL:

 

$764

$331

$173

$81

$70

$57

$50

$38

$38

$34

$13

$11

$5

$4

$0

$0

———

$ 1,669

(It might be easier to read the table when turning your device in the horizontal position.)

Find all our expense reports here. To learn what other full-time nomads spend, check out the blogs of our nomad friends Duwan and Greg at Make Like An Ape Man.

Next up: Paraguay!

If you are enjoying these posts, please consider donating to Roaming About in support of our website and lifestyle. A big thank you to all our readers who have helped out in the past!

A Surprising Side Trip to Santiago, the Capital of Chile

As overlanders, Mark and I are not city people. Being camped in nature without any human presence or noises is our happy place. Yet, the three of us spent a full two weeks in Santiago de Chile, a capital city of 7 million! This was our all-time “stationary” boondocking record after a year and a half in South America. Jardin, Colombia, is now the runner-up at nine nights. What happened?

Well, this lifestyle is full of surprises. Bad ones and good ones. It had been a while since fate smiled down upon us, but Santiago – which is expensive and not even an interesting tourist destination – ticked some of our required boxes. With ease. We were quite happy there. Read on to learn why…

Group shot in the park
(Photo courtesy of Richie Gubler)

Why back to Chile?

If you’ve been following our blog, you might have noticed that some hardships were encountered in Northern Argentina. Nothing disastrous, really, but after getting tired of similar issues in Peru and Bolivia, mostly regarding loose, aggressive dogs, dusty and dirty surroundings, and third-world living conditions, we had hoped for a reprieve of those in Argentina, especially after finding cleanliness and modernity in Northern Chile. When not finding that quite yet, we opted to return to Chile for a bit.

Another consideration was Maya’s international health certificate we obtained in Chile, the end of February. It was valid for sixty days, allowing free entries and exits for our dog between Argentina and Chile until the end of April. We figured we’d take advantage of that permit again, three weeks before it expired.

But the most important reason for our little sojourn back into Chile was truck maintenance. Imported parts are much cheaper there than in Argentina, as we realized when buying our first set of two new tires in Iquique a couple of months ago. Unfortunately, we didn’t purchase four at the time.

That being said, we chose Santiago to replace the other two tires, install a new battery, and do another oil change. Yeah, our expense report for April won’t be pretty again…

Our Providencia neighborhood in Santiago by night
(Photo courtesy of Richie Gubler)

Our fantastic camping spot

The biggest surprise that greeted us in Santiago was the place we opted to wild camp at, based on reviews in iOverlander. It was easy to see why every overlander seemed to flock here!

(As always, hover over or click on photos in galleries to read their captions.)

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