MoneyMoneyMoney

Sorry for missing last week, I was on a comic book rough draft deadline.

When I was deciding where to study abroad one of the first things mentioned about a program was the cost. Obviously, programs in Europe were much more expensive, due to the exchange rate and higher cost of living, than programs in Latin America or Africa. Money was not the deciding factor in my decision to come to Ecuador; however, the fact that USFQ is cheaper than U of I was definitely a plus.

Not only is the tuition cheaper, but the cost of living is also dramatically cheaper than the United States. Prices, mainly on food, have really played a big role in my experience here, as capitalistic as that may sound. I just can’t get over the fact that I can get 5 ice cream bars for a dollar or a pint of beer .75 cents. Yeah, I drink a lot of beer here, but come on its .75 cents. So I figured I’d do some price comparisons of things here and in the US.

It seems that as a general rule of thumb, food is a third of the price it is in the US.
Ride on the bus- .25 cents. Eat your hearts out Chicagoans.
Movie- 3.00 to 5.00 dollars.
Eggs- .10 cents apiece, we rarely buy a carton of a dozen.
Bannanas- .5 cents apiece.
A bottle of water- .30 cents
Fresh baked roll- .10 to 15 cents
Fresh baked deserts- .20 to .50 cents. I pretty much try to eat something deserty from one of the various bakeries on my walk home every day.
Heres the best one- A regular chocolate and vanilla ice cream bar- .25 cents, the amount of ice cream I eat here is really kind of gross.

Since pretty much everything I buy is food or beer I make out like a bandit in Ecuador, but for a family that has to buy clothes and appliances, both of which are equal to or more expensive than US prices, I think cost of living gets a little closer to that of the US.

As a well off American I can rave about these low prices, but the reason the prices are so low is that if they were any higher many people would not be able to eat. I don’t have an official source, but a few people have told me that the monthly minimum wage in Ecuador is 250.00, not weekely, 250.00 dollars a month. I make about 250.00 a month in the US from working 12 hours a week, and most of the people making minimum wage in Ecuador work 12 hours a day, just to put it in perspective. So as my host mom told me for a family with 250.00 dollars of monthly income a dollar of bread a day is an important purchase. So while I may be gloating about my ice cream and beer consumption, I realize that I am very lucky to be in the situation I am here.