I’m a little OCD when it comes to bookkeeping. I like my accounts to balance to the penny. Or when in Mexico, to the peso!

I keep a running total of our cash. Each evening I add any bank withdrawals to our total and subtract what the Travel Wallet app says I’ve spent that day. Then I count the pesos in both of our wallets and the money belt. I love it when it comes out perfectly, but if not, I go back over our day to see if I missed a puchase. I’ve only been off by 5 pesos so far this trip.

Because nearly 20 Mexican Pesos equal one US Dollar prices seem bigger; 40, 50, 60, and 100 sounds like a lot more than $2, $2.50, $3 and $5.

One day we were actually negotiating with a taxi driver over 10 pesos in price difference. The driver finally agreed to the price our hotel told us was the going rate. Victory! In the taxi, my husband said, “We’re actually haggling over .50 cents.” Enough said! Arriving at the destination we paid him what he originally quoted. The appreciative smile on his face was worth more than .50 cent savings!

I’ve tracked the expenses individually for each city in order to notice where costs are higher or lower as well as a final summary for the 14-day average. Transportation costs between each city have been included.

Chiapa de Corzo

Transportation: $147 includes the taxi to Cancún airport and taxi from Tuxtla Gutierrez airport and $103 for the Volaris flight which included choosing our seats and checking our luggage.

Food: $49.49 (Coffee drinks were overpriced and not very good.)

Accommodations: $71.84 or $35.92 per night.

Entertainment: $26.65 includes the Sumidero Canyon tour.

Tips & Alms: $5.62

Total Chiapa de Corzo expense: $300.60 for 2 nights.

San Cristóbal de las Casas

Transportation: $22.50 Includes 11.25 to travel to San Cristóbal and a few taxi rides.

Food: $218.13 (I recently decided to separate gratuities from the Food Category in order to have a more accurate food expense.

Accommodation: $274.08 for 7 nights or $39.14 per night.

Entertainment: $51.65 includes massages and a tour.

Laundry: $2.93

Tips & Alms: $25.33 includes gratuities for housekeeping, massages, restaurants, etc.

Total SCDLC expenses: $594.62 for one week.

Comitán de Domínguez

Transportation: $11.68 to travel to Comitán from San Cristobal and a few taxis.

Food: $78.88 We have noticed that restaurants and even donut shops are all adding a 10% propina (gratuity) to the invoice they present to you.

Accommodation: $126.36 for 3 nights or $42.12 per night.

Entertainment: $13.62 for our waterfall excursion.

Tips & Alms: $8.07

Laundry: $3.79

Total Comitán expense: $242.40 for 3 nights.

Our next destination is Huatulco, Oaxaca on the Pacific Ocean. There is a night bus, but we don’t do night buses because: 1) We don’t feel safe; and 2) We arrive exhausted super early at the destination and can’t check into the hotel room until afternoon. It then takes a day or more to recover.

In order to break up the long trip to Huatulco, Oaxaca we stretched the travel over 3 days! We traveled 4 hours to Tuxtla Gutierrez. The next day we traveled 6 hours to Tehuantepec and the next 3.5 hours to Huatulco, Oaxaca.

Tuxtla Gutierrez

Tuxtla Gutierrez has some sights that might warrant a longer visit such as the 16th-century San Marcos Cathedral, the 200-foot-tall Cristo de Chiapas overlooking the city, Marimba Museum, Zoo, Botanical Garden, and Coffee Museum.

Transportation: $14.20 for the 4 hour bus ride from Comitán to Tuxtla Gutierrez.

Food: $19.74 includes dinner at the Mall Food Court, a mile-walk to get Starbucks and snacks to carry on the bus.

Accommodation: $31.22 for 1 night includes breakfast.

Tips & Alms: $.84

Total Tuxtla expense: $66.00 for one night.

Tehuantepec

Transportation: $44.35 for the 6-hour bus trip from Tuxtla Gutierrez and one taxi. The next morning’s expenses will be put on the Oaxaca trip.

Food: $9.24

Accommodation: $47.27

Tips & Alms: $1.22

I like traveling by coach in order to see the countryside from the bus window.

Total Tehuantepec: $102.08 for one night.

Total expense: $1305.70 for 14 nights spent traveling in Chiapas state and the average per day cost came to $93.26 for two of us.

• Transportation: $239.73 or $17.12 per day
• Food: $375.48 or $26.82 per day
• Accommodation: $550.77 or $39.34 per day
• Entertainment: $91.92 or $6.57 per day.
• Tips & Alms: $41.08 or $2.93 per day.
• Laundry: $6.72 or $.48 per day

Looking back, flying might have cost less in both time and money. There isn’t a direct flight, but a flight to Mexico City and a flight to the coast can be purchased in advance for as little as $120 per person and a full day of travel.

Up to this point travel in Mexico has been so smooth and everything has been easy and comfortable, but trouble’s coming!

We’ll Meet You in the Morning with a story to tell!