Hola amigos, welcome back to my channel.
This video is about my cost of living in Antigua,
Guatemala.
First, I am gonna talk about  how
Antigua is like.
Second, I am going to talk about banking.
Then, we will dive into the cost of living.
I have the timestamp down below.
Feel free to go into the section that you wanna
watch.
Just remember to like, share and subscribe.
Antigua is a small town which is round 1hr
away from Guatemala City, if you are lucky.
There are a lot volcanos for hiking.
If you don’t really like hiking or you are
with children, there are a lot of farms to
visit, such as coffee farm, macadamia farm,
avocado farm, etc.
If you go to language school, they might bring
you to some of them.
Or you just ask people.
Because those are not listed on TripAdvisor.
Okay farm doesn’t sound very interesting
right?
There are many other tours such as going to
Tikal, a very famous Maya ruin in Guatemala,
which takes over 10 hrs by bus, as well as
tours to El Salvador otHonduras.
Most of the tourists can only stay here for
90 days.
If they want to stay longer, they will go
a bus to a place called San Cristobal de las
Casas in Mexico and come back.
So they can get a new visa for another 90 days.
Guatemala has a C-4 agreement with Nicaragua,
Honduras and El Salvador.
If you exit Guatemala, go to he above
countries, and come back.
you won’t get a new visa.
So the best way is go to Mexico.
You can go Belize as well, but it's more expensive
But Belize is closer to Tikal, which is only
around 5 hrs.
Another option is to extend your visa at
the immigration office in Guatemala City.
There are many information online about how
to do it.
Some say  8 days, some say 4 days.
Because the policy is keep chaning.
This morning, I read a blog post they
said they only took one hour to finish the process
I haven’t tested it yet.
But I will link this post at the description
box if anyone is interested, go to take a look and try and let me know
Most of the people in Antigua speak very good
English.
I mean people who work in restaurants, tour
companies and language schools. So it shouldn't be any communication problem.
I went there in August, the summer vacation
month.
I saw tourists there but the town was not
very crowded.
May be there are too many activities to do
out of the town.
Weekend is usually very quiet.
If you study Spanish, you might know that
Guatemala is famous of its language school
because of its good value comparing to many
other countries.
I will talk about it in details in my other
video.
What I want to say is, even the tuition has
a better value, doesn’t mean the cost of
living is cheap.
Things in Antigua are relatively expensive.
That's from my own experience and also the
comments from local people.
Let’s talk about banking in Antigua because
I saw so many people were talking about it on
tripadvisor.
So I would like to share about my experience.
Normally, each withdraw is Q2000 maximum and
there is a charge of Q30 something.
Q2000 could not last me too long because I have pay cash
to my school.
By chance, I found ATM inside a bank with a
security guard, which I could withdraw
Q2500 each time.
I will have the google map link down below.
There are many ATM in Antigua but mostly they
are right outside the bank or just a group
of ATM.
All those places do not have a security guard.
I don’t concern about robbery because Antigua
looks pretty safe during day time.
But it has many tourists which are the target.
I just want to avoid any chance that my information
will be scanned.
Also, I will say don’t withdraw money in
the last minute.
My experience was that the third time I went
to the same bank, I couldn’t withdraw any
money.
So the next day, I brought my passport to
the bank and tried to withdraw from the counter
But I couldn’t because there was a connection
problem between the bank and my card.
I assumed that because it rained a lot 
the previous day and it affected the connection.
Then I tried other banks and I still couldn’t.
So prepare yourself and good luck.
I never pay with a credit card in Antigua
because there is an extra charge.
And I wasn’t too sure about the security.
Okay, let’s dive into the cost of living.
First is dining out.
Let's watch a clip.
Eating in a restaurant with a simple dish and
a drink can easily cost you Q100 which is
around $13 dollars.
Restaurants tend to put 10% service
charge directly to the bill.
So that $13 is including tip.
When I was in Mexico, I paid 100peso for the
same thing, which is around $5.50.
A roasted chicken is $8, while in Mexico,
I can get it at $5 in many big supermarkets.
For the month, I spent $243 on dining out.
I swear, I didn’t eat out much.
Even café, I only visited once or twice a
week.
So $243 for dining out is a crazy number.
Next is groceries.
First is a big local market.
Small vegetable is Q1 each, like $0.13.
But to be honest with you, things there don’t
look very nice.
Maybe because I could only go there in the afternoon.
Second is a big supermarket in downtown,
It’s not very fancy.
But it has home essentials, food and another
floor for stationaries.
Third one is another supermarket close to my airbnb.
It’s not very big but very modern
and clean.
You can have more choices of international
food.
Meat is packed very nicely.
Because it’s not in downtown, it’s usually
not busy.
Right next to it, there is a little plaza
with a food court and different kind of shops.
Next is transportation.
I am glad Uber is available in Antigua.
Taking an uber from the airport to Antigua
is around $23.
But I pay $32 because my flight was delayed.
So I felt rush hour.
Thanks Interjet for that.
Another option is taking a shuttle for $10.
When you exist the airport, there will be
people grabbing you.
But you might need to wait for the shutler
till it’s available or it has enough people
to depart.
Because my Airbnb was on an unnamed road on
Google.
So I just wanted to get here before night
time and I took an uber.
I was glad I did that
For local buses, there’s a big bus station
next to the market.
The fare is starting from Q1 depends on the
location.
There is also motor taxi.
In here, they call them Tuk Tuk.
It costs around 8Q to 15Q within the town
Just off the topic for a few seconds, Tuk
Tuk is Thai or what?
In south east Asia, they call those as Tuk
Tuk.
I am surprised that in Antigua, they also
call them Tuk Tuk.
Cos in Mexico, they are called motor taxi.
When I asked my Mexican friend about it, she has never
heard of the name Tuk Tuk.
How about regular taxi?
I saw a few, once in a while.
But Antigua is so small that you can just walk
If you wanna go to the lake or somewhere further,
you can walk into a travel agency and ask for
for a shuttler.
They don’t go every hour but they do have
a fixed schedule.
If you are staying in a hotel in central,
normally, they can pick you up from there.
For the month, I spent $94 on transportation.
Next is tour.
I only joined 2 volcano trips.
Including all other admission,
I paid $164 in total on tour and admission.
For Personal care, I just picked up some random
stuff for $18
If you want to go for massage, it’s around Q200
to Q300 per hour.
For gym, it’s around Q250 something  per
month.
You can also pay per day or per week.
Next is phone bill.
I purchased a sim card at the airport for
Q200 which is around $25.
It is including 2.5 GB of data and some telephone
time.
But somehow, there was promotion and I got
5 GB for 30 days.
Many people said don’t exchange money and
get sim card from the Guatemala airport
I partially agree with that
because  exchanging money there
is a complete ripe off.
But getting a sim card is a must for me.
I just feel more secure and I can request
an uber.
You don’t have to exchange  local currency
in order to get the sim card cos you can buy with US dollars.
When I entered Guatemala for the second time,
I tried to top up my sim card with credit
card but I couldn’t, not sure is  it because
mine is a foreign card.
So after I exited the custom, I went to an
information desk and asked for a Tigo shop.
In Guatemala, there are 2 telephone companies,
Tigo and Claro.
Unfortunately, there is none.
But the person there was so nice.
He shared his data with me, so that I could
order un uber.
For Tigo, if you buy a chip at their shop
is only 10Q.
Then you pay for the plan that you want.
Accomodation.
I am living a little north of Antigua.
My airbnb is a very beautiful house.
There is only me and my landlord.
And she has a cleaning lady who comes 5 days
a week.
So the house is very clean, tidy with
lots of privacy.
The landlord is very nice lady.
I am so thankful.
She also has a washer and a dryer,
so I don’t have to spend extra money on
laundry.
I paid $339 for the month.
It was a very a good deal.
Accommodation in Antigua tend to be expensive or
people run their little botique hotel with 6 to 10
rooms.
So I am super thankful to find this accommodation.
Next is school, I paid $110 per week.
So it is $440 per month.
More details are in my Spanish learning review
video.
Next is Misc, random stuff again, I spent $37
For the whole month, I spent $1475.
I think it would be nice to stay in Antigua for a week
or two with a proper travel plan.
If you would like to stay
in Guatemala for a longer time, I don’t recommend
Antigua.
Because it’s relatively expensive.
Okay, that’s it from me.
Remember to subscribe my channel, as well
as like and share this video.
Until next time.
Bye!
