Cost of Living in Nicaragua

When I was living in Nicaragua, I felt some things were inexpensive.  For instance, renting a room or humble home.  I rented one 2-br house, quite liveable, for 100 dollars a month including utilities.  Some foods certainly cheap - bananas and oranges in season in local markets for instance.  The cost of living is disproportionately higher for upscale items - high-end properties, cars, etc.  Public transportation was always quite inexpensive, and bicycles were a dime a dozen (either used second hand bikes from the US or Guatemalan-made new bikes).  But driving a vehicle was not cheap at all.  Buying, registering, repairing, expensive gas, the need to pay regular traffic-cop bribes - this made driving a vehicle in Nicaragua more expensive than driving in the US.  Some land could be purchased inexpensively, but land purchases in Nicaragua are so risky that they could often end up costing more than it originally appears and entitling one to fewer rights and less land that one expects originally - as for instance I alluded in another thread about a story on a confiscated property in Nicaragua. 

One other thing that makes Nicaragua deceptively expensive is that the utilities (water, electricity, roads) are so poorly maintained that a person who wants to have a semi-western lifestyle needs to have a backup water tank, generator, and fix the road himself. In the US (for instance) a person who has his house connected to the electricity grid doesn't need to have a backup generator; but in Nicaragua it's important - and to buy the generator will cost two to three times the price in the US.

Here is one new site listing wiki-style various prices in Nicaragua - the kinds of things that are always cheap - you might add to it if you like (no affiliation with this website) - http://wikicostofliving.org/index.php5?title=Nicaragua - or add by replying in this thread with your specific questions or experience. 

Just how far does a cordoba go?