September has been a tremendously full month of travel and new experiences. We spent the first 12 days in Buenos Aires, though I was very sick the last few days before we left. Once we got back in the Jeep, a weather miracle had taken place. The winter cold dissipated and we had the most glorious camping weather we could wish for. Aside from a couple of grossly hot and humid days at the end of Argentina, we have had great weather all month.
As we headed for the thin strip of land between Paraguay and Brazil that is far northeast Argentina, we experienced hot springs, a national park exploding with wildlife, Jesuit missions dating back to the early 1600s, and the largest waterfalls in the world.
If that wasn’t enough excitement, we crossed the border into Brazil, the first country where we can’t speak or even understand the language. (We do understand some now, depending on the context and how slowly our new friend is speaking.) Both Eric and I have a fresh empathy for people tackling the Pan-American Highway who don’t speak any Spanish. Until now, we didn’t know from experience what that would be like.
I’m a bit worn out after the flurry of the past few weeks, needing to figure out how to recuperate. Fortunately, time is on our side. We have a reservation in Gramado, Brazil, but it isn’t until the end of October and the distance there is only about 725 kilometers/450 miles. So we just need to slow our roll for the next little while, and I think we’ll be fine.
Enjoy this look into our previous month driving through Argentina and Brazil!
September 2024 Monthly Expense Report
Dates: September 1-30, 2024
Location: Argentina and Brazil
Currency: Argentine peso and Brazilian real
Officially, $1 USD is 970 ARS (Argentine peso). Unofficially, under the blue dollar rate, $1 USD is 1,220 ARS. Many Argentinian people and businesses allow one to pay in U.S. dollars. They’ll often hold onto these bills like we would hold onto gold bars because they’re a unit that holds value in the long-term.
$1 USD is 5.46 reales in Brazil. The economic situation is tremendously different. We could get a sizable amount of cash from the ATM, and we’ve seen U.S. chains like AutoZone and Sam’s Club that we haven’t seen since Mexico!
Transportation Expenses
Gas: $362 USD
Gas is sold in liters in both Argentina and Brazil. One of our fill-ups in Brazil worked out to $4.09/gallon, so fairly comparable to U.S. prices.
We did have an issue with our auxiliary gas tank that we haven’t had since Mexico. Eric accidentally asked an attendant in Argentina to put a little too much gas in. Everything was fine at the pump. But when he pulled forward to park at the convenience store, he parked on a hill. Since the seal above our auxiliary gas tank is still bad (we’ve been nursing a patch since Belize), gas flowed out onto the ground. Whoops. Sorry, environment.
Fluids: $82 USD
We had to track down some fluids that were getting low. We actually found a new Jeep dealership in Foz do Iguaçu with Mopar coolant we could use. And then there was an Autozone (?!?!) where we got power steering fluid. Nothing was coded exactly right, but a friend back in the states said we should be okay with the fluids we found.
Uber: $89 USD
Almost all our Uber action was in Buenos Aires, a gigantic city. What looks close on the map absolutely is not, so we used Uber a lot to sight-see. We also used Uber a tiny bit in Foz do Iguaçu.
Parking/storage: $88
We paid another $70 for parking in Buenos Aires at the random apartment building. Fairly certain it was the most we’ve ever paid for long-term parking/storage, but it was secure and fairly accessible to our Airbnb.
We also paid for parking at the San Ignacio mission and Iguazu Falls on both sides of the border.
Toll: $11 USD
We had six toll booths in Argentina and three in Brazil, but fees were nominal. We did have funny experiences in Brazil, where every single person asked if we had smaller bills or exact change. When we didn’t, we were able to use Visa at one booth.
Garmin: $65 USD
Monthly subscription for our inReach Explorer+ device, which we consider the most important item in our Jeep.
Transportation Total: $697 USD
Accommodation Expenses
| Location | Type | # of Nights | Cost/night | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Buenos Aires | Airbnb | 12 | $76 | |
| Entre Ríos | Campground | 1 | $6 | El Gran Lago |
| Punta Viracho | Campground | 3 | $14 | Termas de Punta Viracho |
| Colonia Carlos Pellegrini | Campground | 4 | $31 | Camping Iberá |
| Loreto | 1600s Jesuit mission ruins | 2 | Free | Misión de Nuestra Señora de Loreto |
| Puerto de Iguazu | Campground | 2 | $15 | Tierra Roja |
| Foz do Iguaçu, BRAZIL | Hotel | 2 | $132 | Wyndham Golden Foz |
| Cantagalo, Brazil | Campground | 2 | $11 | Espaço Verde |
| Prudentópolis | Camping area behind shop | 1 | $5 | Chalé do Mel |
| Curitiba | Campground | 1 | $15 | No Sol |
Accommodation Total: $1,420 USD
Nightly average: $47 USD
We camped at some pretty amazing places in September. Our camp at Punta Viracho was on the bank of the Uruguay River, where a herd of capybaras walked by after dusk and entry to the local hot springs was included in our camping fee. Camping Iberá was another incredible one. At one point, I counted seven bird species within about five feet of me.
This Instagram reel shows some of the wildlife we saw during our morning boat tour, which departed from our campground:
Food Expenses
Groceries: $409 USD
I was thankful to have access to two huge and well-stocked grocery stores in Buenos Aires (Jumbo) and Foz do Iguaçu (Muffato). Meal-prep and clean-up is a chore that wears me out (I wish I didn’t consider it a chore, but these days I do). When I can at least find the groceries I need, it makes a giant difference.
Restaurants/eating out: $1,202 USD
Lots of new food experiences as we’ve entered this new region. In Argentina, we tried chipas rellenas. They were basically filled bread balls and my favorite was ham and cheese.
In Brazil, our first dinner may have been the best meal of the month. At Bendito steakhouse, we tried a giant dish of melted white cheese mixed with shrimp, heart of palm, and chunks of (what we think was) more cheese. I had a bife de ojo (ribeye) cut and a caipirinha, the national cocktail of Brazil. This caipirinha had muddled maracuyá, passionfruit, and it was incredibly tasty.
Food Total: $1,611 USD
This puts our daily food average at $54 USD or $18/person.
Activities and Entertainment Expenses
- Eric and Caspian movie date: $15
- Parque Nacional Iberá entry fee: $57
- Esteros de Iberá boat tour: $53 + $6 tip for guide = $59
- Jesuit missions: $31 + $6 tip for guide = $37
- Puerto Iguazu tourist tax: $3
- Iguazu Falls (Argentina): $66
- Iguaçu Falls (Brazil): $55
- Streaming services: $18
Total: $310 USD
Miscellaneous Expenses
Phone: $61 USD – Phone data for Eric and me–it was $48 to get set up in Brazil, but that should last for our month here
Caspian: $3 USD – Souvenir coin at Iguaçu Falls
Other: $365 USD – Large transformer to convert 220V to 110V (big enough to charge the Jeep), Jeep wash, batteries for our key fobs, laundry, random tools Eric said we needed, cough drops, ear drops, generic Advil, tips, firefighters donation, parking guard, and several things on our credit card statement but I don’t know what they are because nobody uses the actual name of their business for their POS system 🫠
Misc. Total: $429 USD
Missing Expenses
You may notice some missing line items. Some of our phone and Internet costs are currently covered by our business, Hourless Life. And we have a small handful of automatic withdrawals, like my life insurance policy and insurance for Guardian, our Jeep Wrangler parked back in Colorado, that aren’t noted here. But what you see here is a comprehensive look at what it costs to live on the road in the United States.
Grand Total: $4,467 USD
My heart is full, looking back on the experiences we had in September 2024. They were so much richer than I expected. Our next YouTube video will show you Buenos Aires. There is so much coming up for you to see.
Thanks for joining us on this journey.
-B
August 2024 expense report – Argentina
July 2024 – U.S./Argentina
June 2024 – U.S.
May 2024 – U.S.
April 2024 – U.S.
March 2024 – Peru/Chile
February 2024 – Peru
January 2024 – U.S./Peru
December 2023 – U.S.
November 2023 – U.S.
October 2023 – Peru/U.S./Canada
September 2023 – Peru
August 2023 – Ecuador/U.S./Peru
July 2023 – Ecuador
June 2023 – Ecuador
May 2023 – USA
April 2023 – Ecuador, USA
March 2023 – Colombia, Ecuador
February 2023 – Colombia
January 2023 – Colombia
December 2022 – Colombia
November 2022 – Panamá, Colombia
October 2022 – Panamá
September 2022 – Panamá
August 2022 – Costa Rica, Panamá
July 2022 – Costa Rica
June 2022 – Honduras, Nicaragua, Costa Rica
May 2022 – Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras
April 2022 – Belize, Guatemala
March 2022 – Mexico, Belize
February 2022 – Mexico
January 2022 – Mexico
December 2021 – Mexico
November 2021 – Mexico
October 2021 – Mexico (partial month)
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