Cost of living reflections

I have discovered that living here is not always a cheap as people think or say. A lot of expats say they come down here for the great cost of living and they have grand adventures and visit lots of places and eat out all the time.  I don't really see what they are talking about.

Sure things are cheap if you come with a foreign paycheck, but otherwise, its not the economic paradise that many expats seems to make it out to be.    I feel like the problem here is that things cost roughly the same, but the pay is a lot worse.  Cars and gas for example, cost WAY more than the do in the states, yet there are a surprising amount of people who have cars.  Animal protein is the same or more expensive and doesn't come in bulk-ie no Costco, or even frozen bag of chicken...parts.  Eating out for two people for 2 of 3 days is the amount of money I spend on a week of groceries for one normal and one Carlos sized person (ok eating in is ALWAYs cheaper than eating out...but expats here seem to think one can eat out always and...save money??)

Travel is extremely expense and, if it weren't for my parents visit, would probably never have had enough money to make it to Machu Picchu.  It is less expensive if you take the bus, but then it takes forever and a day to make it anywhere.  I don't have an extra 2.5 days to take a vacation, I'm too busy trying to make enough money.   Some of the airlines have seemingly good deals until you click on the restrictions and it says for residents only.  Damn being a tourist.  It seems that here you are either cost effective or time effective and if you chose one, the other element gets blown out of proportion.  Short travel time=crazy amount of money.  Easy on the pocketbook means =you bottom will fall from sitting on a bus too long.  On my budget its a no win situation.  Gotta stick to moving around Lima and the immediate surrounding area I guess...

Maybe this is just life and I'm really reeling from the shock of living here versus in Spain where I made better money, and had more time to do things.  If I had put in more time I would have made extra money where here all the time I put in means normal amount of money to live on.  Travel in Europe is also so much cheaper that going for a day or two made sense.   The price of food and other items was more proportionate to the amount of money I was making.    Maybe I just had too much fun in Madrid.  Maybe living in Lima is a lot harder that I thought it would be.