I have to admit keeping up with this blog was difficult considering I rarely had access to a computer and the wifi in South America is decent at best. I have not forgotten about you all. I spent the majority of my last month traveling in Bolivia (7/13/17-8/2/17).
After moving to Minneapolis, Minnesota, I asked my dad if it’d be okay if I became a Minnesota Vikings fan. I distinctly remember my dad lifting up his sweatshirt and his t-shirt underneath read in order of the Chicago Bears, Green Bay Packers, and Minnesota Vikings: the good, the bad, the ugly. I find this the perfect way to share my experience traveling in Bolivia. Let it be known I never became a Vikings fan living in Minneapolis. I did eventually become a fan of the Packers although you can’t really call me a fan of American football.
The Good:
Justin and I have already blogged about this and shared why we thought our 3 day tour starting in San Pedro de Atacama and ending in Uyuni was not only amazing, but life changing. When asked what was a highlight of my entire trip, this is it.
Isla de Sol, Lake Titicaca
I heard a variety of things about Lake Titicaca and the surrounding towns in Peru (Puno) and Bolivia (Copacabana). The Isla del Sol (Sun Island) is located on the Bolivian side of the lake and is accessible from Copacabana. I was planning to spend time in Copacabana, the island, and Puno. After talking with other travelers and locals, I decided this was not the right plan. As it goes, my plans changed.
Upon arrival in Copacabana, Bolivia I dumped my big backpack at a random hostel, promising to return, hit up an ATM and made my way to Isla del Sol for my Hostelworld reservation on the north side of the island that I made a week or so prior to my arrival. During my stay (late July 2017), a township in the north was in conflict with one in the middle townships. Therefore, tourists were not allowed there. Plans change some more.
I climbed up the 200 some Inka stairs and found a cheap hostel with a beautiful view of the lake and the snow capped mountains. This is exactly what I wanted…a place to relax. My time on the Isla del Sol was spent finishing a book, watching the sunrise, visiting the local festivities on 8/2/17, climbing to the mirador (aka. viewpoint) at an elevation of 13,200 feet, catching up with my South African friends, Luke and Rebecca, and relaxing. Oh, I wrote this post too.
Cochabamba, Bolivia:
This city is located in the center of Bolivia and is known as the city of eternal spring because of the warm weather year round. After spending weeks in the cold winter of Argentina, Chile, and Bolivia, I needed some sunshine. The temperature was in the high 70’s. I spent my 3 days in Cochabamaba working out in the mornings and relaxing on my the hammocks in the patio of my hostel in the afternoon.
Cochabamba also had the prettiest plaza I visited in Latin America. The brick sidewalks appeared to be perfect. One side of the street was paved for pedestrians only. The grass was green and the flowers were in bloom. It was beautiful.
For nearly exactly $500, I spent 8 days in the rain forest and jungle of Bolivia attending two 3- day tours. This included my hostel, food, and flight from La Paz.
I was able to survive the high temperatures and humidity because of the nice pool at my hostel.
The hostel also came with a great BBQ. Sign up & get happy hour specials all day.
I wasn’t planning on creating a separate post about the tours I did here. It became apparent I wanted to tell you all about it so check out my Jungle and Pampas post here.
La Paz Chacaltaya and Valle de Luna tour:
La Paz itself is just a city high up in the sky surrounded by mountains.
I spent one day in La Paz doing a tour of Chacaltaya Mountain and the Valle de Luna (Moon Valley). We drove an hour or so outside of the city up to 17,200 feet of altitude. The tour group trekked to the peak of Chacaltaya at 17,700 feet. What is it like to be up that high? My heart was basically pounding the entire time and it was rather cold. The hike was short (only 30 minutes), and I made sure to take it slow. Breathing was more difficult considering the altitude.
It was beautiful at the top although the drive there was quite rough. Here is a view from the ride!
Many Cholitas
In nearly every city, you will find the local women dresses up in their skirts and hats. They typically have long braids that are tied together behind them.
Cheap!
The accommodations and food in Bolivia is very cheap!
Sucre, Bolivia
So I didn’t want to categorize Sucre as bad, but I didn’t think too highly of this city located in Southern Bolivia. It is well known for being the white city. I learned a bit more about why that is – if you are interested. In many places in Bolivia, taxes are lower if a house is unfinished. Therefore, several families do not finish their house on purpose. La Paz is an example of this practice. In order to mitigate this in Sucre, the city passed a law that if you finish your house and paint it white, the property taxes will be lower than an unfinished house. Interesting, eh?
The bad:
USA Visa Required: $160. It really was $165 since my boyfriend and I didn’t have a copy of our yellow fever vaccine. It was easy enough to get though when we crossed the border from Chile. It also lasts 10 years… I don’t think I will be going back for at least the next 9.
Based on my experience, I felt Bolivia is the furthest behind when compared to the other countries in South America. This includes…
Wifi is not very good. I considered it a miracle every time I am able to download or upload something.
Very often I found doors don’t seem to shut or lock properly (i.e. bathroom doors, room doors).
I had more cold showers here than anywhere else…. but here was the very zen (still cold) shower at the lodge in the jungle.
While I am proud I finally took a bus in South America in Bolivia, my bus ride from Cochabamba to La Paz was bad. The windows didn’t shut all the way. The bus motor was extremely loud. I was afraid it was going to break down. I also had heightened fear of theft on this bus for some reason.
Justin was extremely nice to let me borrow his drone, but everywhere I tried I wasn’t able to calibrate the compass because it was too magnetic. Apparently it’s a thing that Bolivia is magnetic.
Things are not efficient. For example, three people from my hostel signed up for a tour. Two of us took one bus and the other had to go on a different bus alone. Obviously it would be more efficient to pick us all up at once and not send two buses.
Not sure if this is that bad, but there are no real safety precautions in Bolivia.
The ugly:
Bolivia has a trash problem. There is trash everywhere. It Is in the streets and along side the road. In Uyuni, I remember it being stuck to some of the smaller plants on the ground. I didn’t think about taking a photo until I was admiring Lake Titicaca for the first time. Then, I noticed all the trash alongside the road. I couldn’t help to think of “Keep Tahoe Blue” and how much we care about the environment there.
Anaconda hunting.
This was the worst experience I had in South America. It was on the agenda for the 3 day Pampas tour. No one gave us a description of what this involved. My guide said we would wear boots and water would get in. I thought we would be walking along the river…
I was wrong. We had to trek through a swamp. I wanted to turn around about 15 minutes in and wish I had. I kept going through this muddy swamp water and getting attached by 10,000 some mosquitoes.
Our tour guide led us through the swamp. The water was up past my knees. I’m 5’11. I got bit by this “water bitter” that hurt very bad. As I am trudging through the swamp with the two girls, I see my guide 100-200 yards ahead.
Let it be known I was not scared of snakes. I hated the fact I was walking through a swamp in the high heat looking for an animal I could care less about.
As we are trying to catch up, I notice other people are not wet. Apparently, you do not need to walk through the swamp as deep as we did.
So, I am fed up and ask my tour guide if I can go back to the boat. And he says yes. I stick around a bit longer then head back… well not back the completely wrong way. I had no choice but to go through deep swamp water where I got another “water bitter” in my boot. I tried to squish it from the outside since there was no land nearby to take my boot off. It did not die because it bit me again. The pain on a scale of 1-10 was an 8. You know the signs the doctors show you?
Well, maybe it was higher because I start crying because I didn’t know how to get it out. A nearby tour guide came over and helped me take my shoe off. He was the one who called it a water bitter. I then asked if I was walking the right way and he said no.
I couldn’t believe it. So I follow this nice tour guide and his group back to the boat. The whole group was walking together in a line. The tour guides walked through the swamp looking but the people didn’t have to.
I eventually see my tour group walking back… so I saved no time. When I make it over to them, I learned my tour guide pointed to the right direction (I don’t remember). He also was calling me the American tourist because this is apparently the a very American thing to do. I was so frustrated and upset.
I learned how much of a princess diva I am on the jungle tour, but this was the biggest diva moment.
Oh, my tour group saw an anaconda.
Allergic Reaction
My first night in Rurrenabaque was spent in a dorm room with 3 European girls. These girls seemed to think it was fine to smoke cigarettes outside our dorm room at night with the door open…. You just read about how many mosquitoes I had to deal with above. In town, our dorm was only two blocks from the river and right outside the hostel pool. I was so mad and called one of them an “idiot” under my breath. This was right after I went to the bathroom and saw 6 large bug bites on my knees.
Around 6:30 AM, I wake up and my chin felt itchy. I went to the bathroom and realized that my chin was swollen. I lifted up my shirt and found my stomach covered in hives. I knew my benadryl I packed for the trip expired in 2013 and wasn’t going to do me any good. I made my way to the closest pharmacy and purchased some antihistamine to help recover. It was definitely ugly!
BOLIVIA –
Bolivia had some of my best and worst memories of my trip. It is not for the faint of heart.
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