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Bolivia – A Country for Roadblock-Addicted Travelers
Thru October 2022, we visited Bolivia for about 3 weeks.
Here some practical information about our overlanding journey. For more ample details and pics please refer to our respective posts.
Kindly note all information given is based on our personal perceptions and observations. Of course, you might experience it in a different way and judge situations differently.
Just to start with: please take note that many parts of Bolivia are above 4000m. An altitude you’ll definitely feel for a couple of days, if coming from the lowlands. And continue to feel if you go for a hike. And it definitely gets pretty cold at night.
We stayed for about 2 months in the highlands of Ecuador and Perú, but still felt that in Bolivia we are some 500 to 1000m higher. Thus, might be a good idea to know what is mountain sickness before you go. Google in Bolivia may not be working should you get sick.
Will Mum Think it’s Too Dangerous to Visit Bolivia?
Yes, she will. Sometimes she reads in the newspaper about nasty girls blocking roads because they’re unhappy with their boyfriend, or about conservative nannies who think the new school uniforms for her granddaughter are too liberal.
She’s right. Bolivia is the country of continuous paros – strikes. For whatever reason, you can imagine. So, roadblocks become a normal way to complain about everything.
Be absolutely sure they declare that each’n’every roadblock will last forever – should the problem not be solved to their satisfaction. And here the good news: they never last forever, even if the reasons for the paro still exist. Thus, whatever agreement they find, it’s just the base for the next paro in a near future.
Of course, the government has to handle this situation in a way that not too many innocent Bolivies and clueless tourists are concerned. For this, they maintain a website with a map of Bolivia showing all roadblocks and the roads closed due to natural disasters or lack of maintenance. This map is updated on a daily basis. Thus, cruising thru Bolivia also means consulting each’nevery day on this site and to change the plans accordingly.
Well, when in Bolivia we rarely had to change our plans due to these roadblocks. Probably, it was just good luck.
Next: what about these bad girls trying to clean up each’n’every innocent tourist in Bolivia? Well, when we visited the country we suppose they were on strike as well. We could never see them. Still, a few of them in La Paz or other big towns may never go on strike. At least for us, Bolivia seems a pretty safe country. If you don’t do everything you shouldn’t do, probably you never have a chance to socialize with 1 of these nasty girls.
Red Tape – Do the Bolivies Even Accept US-Passport?
No, they do not really accept them. US citizens need a visa.
Still, for most other citizens entering a land border is pretty straightforward. By now you’re even allowed to stay for 90 days.
The Bolivies also ask you to previously fill in an electronic form: the Declaracion Jurada. Contrary to other countries they just want to know if auntie Jane ever had Covid and where you’re coming from. Fill in whatever you think is correct. Nobody checks it. Anyway, at the border we crossed nobody wanted anything else than the passports.
Still, Bolivia has its special way to tell foreigners how welcome they are: at the immigration they give you a QR code to connect you directly to their government. Not really to help you whenever you need it. No, you get the impression it connects you to these services you even don’t want to hear about. Their special investigation unit, the police department of advanced torture, or just the secret service’s chief officer. Whatever, it’s not too clear. They ask you to tell them each time you change your accommodation to indicate exactly where you stay. Of course, you don’t want to do this. Anyway, nobody checks it when you leave the country.
You Even Insist to Enter Bolivia With Your Car
No problem. Before arriving at the border, you should fill in another electronic form for your car: its birthday, color, VIN, and whatever else might be important to them. We tried – it didn’t work. Thus, we arrived without it. It looks like they already know that this form may only be filled in by highly trained/specialized Bolivies at the border. Therefore, they trust this important task to the photocopy shop next door. The guy just needs your car documents. 5’ later it’s done. He gives you a registration number and you hand out a few cents. Back to customs. The guy checks all data entered, prints out the TIP and 2’ later you’re on the road again. Easy, isn’t it? They didn’t check our mandatory car insurance. We opted for Mercursur insurance, also including Bolivia and Chile. Easily available on internet with gisela@speiserseguros.com.ar. About 80 USD for 4 months, payable within a month. We finally paid it in cash in Argentina which, with the blue dollar rate, cut it down to just 40 USD.
Money in Bolivia – Bolivars, Nothing Else
Should it happen to you that you need to pay something in Bolivia you need to change money. The Bolivies are definitely not happy with anything else than their Bolivianos. They even don’t appreciate greenbacks.
Thus, you need an ATM disbursing money without any surcharge. Look for an ATM of Banco Union. They don’t charge you anything. At least to us they didn’t. Disperse enough to buy a souvenir for grandma.
In many places, you may also pay without any surcharge with your credit card.
English is Spoken Worldwide – Maybe Not Really
Even don’t think about speaking English in Bolivia. Of course, this will not apply if you’re living in the hostel bubble or just travel with Bolivia-Hop buses. In these places, you’ll most probably find a backpacky who knows a few words of Spanish and can help you to find a toilet.
For all other cases just learn a few 1000 words of Spanish and practice the language over a few months with your Spanish boyfriend. Well, even a little bit less may be ok – and you’re not constantly getting into fatal misunderstandings.
Driving in Bolivia – What a Relief After Perú
To start with, just a word of warning: Bolivies love to have populistic governments because they promise to do everything for their well-being. In this context, we also classify the decision that foreigners should not take advantage of subsidized fuel in the country. So far, so good. We don’t pay taxes, so no need to take any advantage of their returns.
Fuel in Bolivia is heavily subsidized. Less than half of the international prize. Nice for the Bolivies, but a pain in the ass for all others. Nevertheless, foreigners are entitled to buy fuel at international prices at any station in the country. To make sure not a single liter is illegally sold at the subsidized rate to a foreigner they installed a pretty sophisticated control mechanism. With computer networks connecting each’n’every fuel station with whatever government institution you can imagine. With cameras observing each’n’every car buying a few liters of diesel. And with software making sure all these foreign cars can clearly be identified and have to buy at the correct price. A very sophisticated system, probably costing 100, or 1000 times more than the return from fuel of the few 100 foreign cars crossing Bolivia each year. Clearly, a populistic decision to show the population how efficiently government works.
Well, there’s a small problem with it: most stations don’t really know how to handle the software for foreign cars. Thus, they simply refuse to sell any fuel to them. Others just outsmart the system by selling them fuel in jerrycans at the local prices, or a bit more. Or by selling it in the name of a Bolivian, hiding the foreign license plate, or having cameras not always functioning as they should. A few stations even know to handle the software. Those have to search in a huge manual for all kinds of codes to identify properly the car – a process that takes quite some time. Then, in a 1st step they have to charge you the local price, then the difference to the international price. Of course, a complicated issue for them, asking for some calculations. And the result is likely to be way off what you should pay. So, a good opportunity to practice your Spanish.
Consequently, always have enough fuel in your tank. Some people go to many different stations before getting fuel. Others just get it everywhere. You definitely need to be very friendly to the guys, make some small talk, and often they agree to a win-win solution. Often ioverlander is of great help. You’ll find many stations handling this situation in a constructive manner.
Roads in Bolivia: astonishingly good. Not too much traffic, and not too many potholes. Even gravel roads are not too bad. The central road from north to south is even a double-line highway between the most important towns.
Of course, that only applies if there are no roadblocks. But we suppose by now you’re informed about that.
A place with a slightly bad reputation is La Paz. They have a very efficient highway system leading directly into the town center. So, no problem. A pain in the ass are the suburbs until you reach this highway. There 1000s of minibusses – either parked on the road or moving in a quite chaotic way, stopping every few meters – to make sure there’s constant chaos and you’ll have plenty of time to admire the buildings along the streets.
And Bolivian drivers? Traffic is pretty civilized. A huge difference to Perú. Rather like the South American countries further to the north. Thus, nothing to worry about – again, except for the minibusses in La Paz.
Need to Confirm to Your Boyfriend You Didn’t Find Any Better Guy Yet – Getting a SIM Card in Bolivia
Easy, as usual. We got entel. Said to have the best network in the country. We bought a SIM card in Copacabana. Within 5’. Just go to their office, get the card registered and it works. For a minimal fee.
And internet in towns is pretty ok.
The Most Important: Beer in Bolivia
Surely you know on high altitudes you need to drink a lot of liquids. Some say it should be water only. Our experience is that beer may do it as well, or even better. Of course, you have to know the good ones. Paceña is part of this category. If possible avoid Huari – it’s pretty rough.
In the south, there’s Potosi and Uyunense, definitely 2 of the better beers.