Monday, November 22, 2010

Utility Bills In Ecuador

Now that I've officially been in the apartment for over a month, it's time for the utility bills to start showing up.

I realized when they did that I'm getting a little local in my ways. Here's the low down:

Gas Bill $2

Water Bill: $6.26

Electric Bill: $47.36

Gas, fine. The stove, dryer, and water heater run on gas.

Water, fine. You know how I feel about hot showers in Cuenca. This is not negotiable.

Electric . . . whoa, whoa, whoa. . . . what is making the electric bill so stinking high? That's ridiculous! I fussed about that for ages. $48 bucks for electricity? For just one month? It's not like I even have heat to be running! That's highway robbery, that's what that is. Huff, huff, whine, whine, whine.

Then I remembered what I used to pay in the states for a month of electricity in November.

Then I just shut up and paid. Although I am turning off the lights relentlessly now and giving my refrigerator nasty looks.

It's little things like the bills that remind me that I'm starting to localize in my approach to prices and expenses more and more each day that I'm here. For example, a $3 cab fare is now pretty steep, and $25 for a nice dinner is eating pretty high on the hog. I spent $8.46 at the office supply store and felt like I got ripped off . . . buying a ream of printer paper, a binder, four sheets of art paper, and an envelope.

And yet I find $64 for unlimited high speed wireless completely reasonable . . . readers, what's the breakdown for you?

4 comments:

  1. Just pulling these off of the budget, so they are not necessarily precise from month to month:

    Cable/Internet: $120

    Gas+Electric: $75 (this one is a lot more variable -- much cheaper in the summer because we have no a/c)

    Gas for car, tolls for bridge, and public transit passes on a monthly basis: $441

    I hope you have a great Thanksgiving with your sister!

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  2. I think I read the amount that you spend on gas and tolls and had a little heart attack. Sheesh!

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  3. Yeah, and we have only one car. But they recently raised the bridge toll to six dollars, and it is eight to take the bus roundtrip, so you're going to spend a lot either way.

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  4. Wow . . a one-way bus fare to the end of the line here is .25 cents. Sheesh - it's enough to make everyone in SF work from home.

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