Groceries vs. Eating out

I sat down with a calculator this morning and was trying to figure out what we spend on groceries, and what we spend on restaurants, so far for THIS week it's been $78 for BOTH. I make breakfast at home, we've eaten it out, but I can do it just as well. (Even with only one skillet) 

As far as groceries goes, it's eggs (7/$1), milk ($1), bread (silly, like .10 cents a roll), peanut butter ($1.89), jelly ($1.25), fruit/veg ($2.50), tortillas ($2), tuna in water ($1.31) *a note about tuna, tuna in oil is the norm here, I bought one, it wasn't bad, but I can't abide the extra calories, so I buy the more expensive canned tuna in water $1.31 in big city, usually $1.50-1.80 in small tienda.

Yesterday I needed to buy more jelly, so we walked on the beach down towards San Jacinto to find something to eat then hit the market. We decided to have al muerzo at the San Jacinto Hotel, it was very good, and as always the atmosphere was terrific. Lunch was $4 and came with soup, entree, juice/soda and dessert, and we shared a beer for $1.25.

The soup had two big shrimp in it, the entree was pescado chicharron, we weren't sure what it was, but on the menu they usually charge $10 so we figured it was good. It turned out to be fish nuggets. Tasty, but certainly not worth $10... The salad was nice, had corn and radishes, the soda...well as most sodas, too sweet for me, kinda like Mountain Dew, and the dessert...hmmm, all we came up with is, the taste of bread pudding with a weird texture. Not great, but nice to have something a little sweet to end with. Hotel San Jacinto has scenery in the bag, it's a beautiful oceanfront patio.

After lunch, we continued into San Jacinto, stopped at the pharmacy, got ear drops for Mike, and bug soap for the pups=$7.80 ( this figure was not added into the $78 I just realized)

Mike got water in his ear from a big wave the other day, and of course all our medicine stuff...all together now...IS IN THE CONTAINER. I found a flea on Shadrach, and have been on the lookout for some kind of flea and tick stuff, decided to start with the soap (we could probably use it too, it says it's herbal). Mike found the ear drops avail online for $38... We bought it for $4!

At the market we bought toilet paper, sugar, jelly, a small bag of dog food, butter, cocoa, eggs, milk. I had a $20 ready to hand over, when he first told me nueve, I thought yep $19, but then I realized he'd said $9! So since we left the house, we'd spent $26? Lunch and two stores? We call that $100 in the States! Ha!

Back home for a nap, then the tummy was growling, so we thought we'd go try Chifa. Pablo had the shawarma ready, but we went with Chinese. Told him to just make us something special, it was like having our own personal chef! He made us sweet and spicy pork and veg, and Thai fried rice. What a perfect pairing, it was Muy Rico! A bit on the expensive side...$13. (of course we had leftovers) and beer.  We tip him $1 because he deserves it, and honestly doesn't charge enough...

Our sunset view, shared a beer...

A pretty expensive day, still under $40 which is unheard of for most places. If we break it down to lunch and dinner that was only $22, we don't do that all the time, but it was an especially nice day. I'm sure when I get my kitchen set up there will be more groceries, and more cooking at home, which is fine, I'm honestly looking forward to more than one skillet! 

So an updated total for the week (including pharmacy) is $86, let's say that's $100 per week, that's $400 per month, we spent that and more in the States just on groceries! I tried to limit our eating out budget in the States to $30 per week, that got us usually one meal out. If after we get the container we stick to $100 a week, our monthly budget would be under $1000. That would be nice, I'll do another calculator day in the future and see how we come out. Stay tuned, the adventure continues...as for today, the tide is low, so a walk on the beach is calling. Hasta mañana!

Moving day

Yesterday was moving day from Crucita to our new beach house in San Alejo. We had the driver Richard scheduled for noon with his truck, we got everything in one load and said good bye to Crucita. Dave the landlord had done quite a lot to get ready for us, made sure we had a double bed to sleep in, borrowed sheets and pillows from his Hostel punta bikini in San Clemente, and bought us some fresh calamari. The two areas we wanted roofing were complete, the internet is top notch, and the new fridge is gorgeous. We went to an early dinner (as we hadn't had any lunch) San jacinto hotel, nice place, good dinner, great view, and a swimming pool you can use for $2. Watched the sunset, enjoyed the sound of the crashing surf, and retired early. Was a great day!

We got settled, a little...we have almost no furniture, when we rented this house we expected our container to be here...we had to buy a fork, knife, spoon set for both of us, cutting knives, cutting board, cups, bowls, plates, skillet, spatula, Tupperware. I hate to purchase too much, because I must have faith that the container will arrive! Dave kept the bunk beds and the twin beds here so we can use the twin beds as couches, and the bunk beds will be shelves. One for clothes, and the other in the "pantry" for food. We have a bunch of shelves in the container, that I'd like to use in the kitchen, but right now there is NO storage.

We bought a coffeemaker back in June, so we had coffee this morning on the porch. Had to go for our exit walk thru at the Crucita house, so after a little snack we headed towards the bus route. We decided after we were done in Crucita we would check out Charapoto, it has a big outdoor market on the weekends, and from what we've seen from the bus, it's pretty bustling during the week. We were on the hunt for plastic chairs and maybe a plastic side table/step stool, we also needed some clothesline and clips, a water bottle (5gal) and tank of gas for the stove. We thought if we found all these items we could taxi home. 

I had forgotten that gas tanks are $65 to start and didn't bring enough cash, but we did get chairs, clothesline and clips. Also bought a huge tarp that we will use for privacy ( there's an open slated corner on the fence, right by the outdoor shower) and caught a taxi for $5. We will have to ask Dave, that may have been high. We dropped the stuff at home, got more cash and walked towards San Clemente to find al muerzo and then water and gas.

This was our view at lunch. The restaurant is called 5 Hermanos (brothers), al muerzo was good, pan fried fish with excellent flavor, light salad, no rice, no soup, but I did get some juice after asking, $3. Probably a little high, since we didn't get any rice or soup, but we are trying it all for the first time. The view was great though! Thirty cent ice cream from the tienda down the street and on into San Clemente for the rest of our quest. Of course as we were walking we saw many shops closed, and realized it was siesta, so we walked home on the beach, and decided we would go out later after it cooled off.

Above is looking North, and the other is looking South. Pretty empty, had the place to ourselves, decided to go home, change into bathing suits and get the pups. By the time we got back down there the waves were a little rough, so no swimming, but the pups had a great time running around on the sand. We took lots of video, will post a short one in the next day or so.

This evening we have to find an ATM, it's time to pay rent, and still need that $65 gas tank, from here on the tanks are $3 to refill. Water will be $7 for the first bottle, then $1 to swap out empty for full. Our electricity will be paid to Dave, it'll probably be around $18 per month. Speaking of rent!! Our Greensboro house rented, and I got a copy of the lease today in email, and noticed it was for TWO years!! Yippee! We can get a letter from the property management and copy of the lease to show Ecuador that we have income, and that will help with getting our residency. 

I think that about covers it, our first day in the beach house. Things are looking up, hiccups are dissipating and hopefully it will all be smooth sailing. Thanks for all your support and prayers, I especially enjoy writing about the good things, but hope I stay positive even when I'm describing bad things. Our worst day here is still better than our best in the States. Fresh beach air, good fresh food, and my sweet little family, life is good in Ecuador. The adventure continues!