My observations on our trip through Bolivia
I am pleasantly surprised. As far as I know, Bolivia has a bit of reputation, particularly La Paz. This is bolloks! We walked and walked, day and night and were never put in an intimidating position!
It’s been 10 weeks since the last coup attempt. You’d hardly know, except for the riot police around the main square. Scary looking dudes!
Bolivia is land locked, but has a navy.
You definitely need cash. Especially for a wee! ATMs work (pick one of the main banks for no commission). A wee is between 1 & 5 Bolivianos. A boliviano is randomly called a peso, just to confuse!
Usual travel rules apply! With the definite exception of “rent a car”. In Peru you need to be a psychopath. In Bolivia (La Paz) you need to be a psychopath with ninja level clutch control and 4 dimensional map in your head! Lane discipline and priority at junctions is a source of bafflement.
La Paz is an interesting city. World’s highest capital city. Old and modern thrown together in a mass of chaos and telephone wires. Very few tourists.
Don’t worry, if you need an aphrodisiac, a tourist, a dried llama foetus or a spell for your enemy, pop down to the Witches market. You will there stumble across most of the tourists in La Paz. Don’t think you’ll get back in to the uk with a dried llama tho
The massive cable car system that connects the different parts of the city is pure genius. 11 lines that reach the different mountainous areas of the city extract you from the chaos on the roads and give an excellent view of the sprawling city and the towering peaks behind.
Is it wrong that my foot is starting to tap when I hear pan pipes?
The average height of a Bolivian female is 4ft 10 1/2 inches! Take care, they’re easy to trip over!
Finding good food is hard in La Paz. We broke rule number 3 – never eat in places with pictures of food. No green veg for 3 days.
I’ve now eaten my own body weight in lama!
Don’t look in the kitchen on the way out!
Trip advisor has been ruined by smelly back packers. #2 in the whole of La Paz is the cafe under a hostel! Can we get them banned from having an opinion?
Bit hard to get understood. Shudda mugged up on what little Spanish I know! Google translate is your friend.
Everyone is very friendly and happy to bear with us idiot British.
eSIM is still working. Thank the lord for Holafly. Ran out of puff halfway to the Chilean boarder! But given there’s nowt there, that’s excusable.
I’m boiling my tits off in a t-shirt and the locals are wearing jumpers and puffer jackets.
Tourists dressed from head to toe in Andean gear, on the other hand just look daft!
Stockholm syndrome? I’m actually enjoying the pan pipes!
Back packers actually smell.
Building standards and architecture are not a thing in modern day Bolivia. It will never be finished.
There’s a slightly strange obsession with Japanese Anime cartoon characters, which manifests itself in buildings dressed up as transformers (among other things).
Don’t bother with moon valley unless you’re at a loose end and want to see the worlds highest golf course. Neil Armstrong was quite diplomatic about it, apparently. His mind was blown by the salt flats.
Bother about the salt flats(Solar de Uyuni)! Go in July-August. February – March is high season when the masses turn up from China, Korea and Japan for the mirror lake effect. Impressive tho this is, there’s so much more in the dry season and way less tourists. One flight a day from La Paz, 2 in high season. Definitely the smallest airport I’ve been to.
The train cemetery is something to behold, devotees go dressed as train drivers, or cowboys
You must go with a guide in a Land Cruiser. It’s 1200 square kilometres of pure, white, flat salt. Only the mountains and islands to navigate by.
Water, water, water! Drink.
Dark skies, reacquainted myself with the Milky Way.
Everything is built of salt, even our hotel!
On our little trip through the volcanos to Chile in a 4×4 we saw more car smugglers than tourists. That’s my kind of trip.
It’s five hours of mind blowing volcanic scenery that changes every km or so. Again a guide in a Land Cruiser is necessary. No signs, no roads, just experience.
No toilets either – the Inka wee became a thing. Plenty of rocks to hide behind.
My most bizarre Boarder experience! God knows how the driver found it! Literally in the middle of a desert.
Closes at 5pm. Arrived at 4:15, doors locked! 15 mins of banging and the guide woke the border guards up! A little bit squeaky bum!
No real road in and an abandoned road out! You have to do it.
Hello Chile, bye Bolivia, hatstand, but we loved you.
