A Little Rough Around the Edges

We spent 24 days in Bolivia, July 3rd to July 27th. We have extremely mixed feelings about Bolivia. On one hand the sights are incredible, but on the other hand the food and transportation were seriously underwhelming. To be honest, much of this may be due to the strikes that prevented us from visiting Potosi and Sucre – two towns we were really looking forward to. This incomplete picture of Bolivia has left us on the fence about this country.

1. Go

Our transportation in Bolivia was not great. This was due to several major issues:

Frequent service interruptions – We had three different instances were buses and trains were cancelled on us or just not running at all (due to the Pope’s visit and strikes).
Safety (or lack thereof) – Seat belts were often missing and in one horrible instance we hit a pedestrian (she seemed ok, but shaken up).
Breakdowns – We had a few vehicles that were barely running. The driver would get out every once and a while to check the tires or something under the hood.

One major highlight was the cable car in La Paz.

Bolivia – La Paz – Cable Car

Total traveling distances:

Bus – 1428 km
Minibus – 5 km
Taxi – 10 km
4×4 – 700 km
Boat – 42 km
Cable car – 15 km
Bike – 60 km
Foot – 409,000 steps

2. See

For us, Bolivia’s best attraction was the outdoors – which are spectacular. Everything else was pretty mediocre, therefore we do not have any favorite museums, churches, or ruins from Bolivia.

Favorite Outdoors:

Isla del Sol, Lake Titicaca – Although there was a freak storm while we were visiting the island that made it bitterly cold, it was still beautiful.
Salar de Uyuni – The largest salt flats in the world did not disappoint. The hexagonal salt tiles stretch for nearly 3 million acres. It truly feels as if you are on another planet.
Reservera Nacional de Fauna Andino Eduardo Avaroa – This National Park seems to be a contradiction: half the time you feel like you are on Mars and the other half you think you might have had magic mushrooms for lunch by accident. Pink flamingos hang out on a red lake, under a blue sky, surrounded by snowcapped volcanos, braving wind and cold at over 12,000 feet elevation.

: Bolivia – Isle del Sol, Lake Titicaca – View from the south tip

: Bolivia – Salar de Uyuni

: Bolivia – Salar de Uyuni – Tunupa Volcano

: Bolivia – Reservera Nacional de Fauna Andino Eduardo Avaroa

Favorite Wildlife:

Flamingos – It’s hard to believe that there are flamingos in the frigid conditions in Southern Bolivia. They are surprising spots of pink and white dotting lakes of blue and red.

We are confident that both Potosi and Sucre would have appeared in our favorites list if we had the opportunity to visit them!

3. Eat

After the incredible food in Peru, we had high hopes for Bolivia, but were extremely disappointed. The food was pretty bland and pretty much the same everywhere we went. There were boring pizzerias in every town.

Favorite Foods:

Salteñas – Yummy, easy street food. The slightly sweet dough holds a meaty stew inside. Best as a mid-morning snack while wandering town.
Besos de Negra – Similar to mallow mars but made fresh. Pat couldn’t get enough of these.

4. Drink

The beverages in Bolivia were similar to those in Peru, with the exception of wine – more of it and better quality.

Favorite Drinks:

Judas – A decent amber beer with a really cool label.
Red Wine – The city of Tarija in southern Bolivia makes some really decent red wines. We indulged a few times…

5. Sleep

To avoid the intense party scene, we paid a little more than we needed to for our hostels and hotels in Bolivia. We got some quality rooms for low prices and each was unique.

Favorite Sleeps:

La Cupula, Copacabana – We splurged on a suite for our 8-year anniversary. We had only planned to stay two nights, but then Pat got sick and our bus to La Paz was cancelled (due to the Pope’s visit), so we were “forced” to stay another night.
Sol y Luna, Coroico – This open-air bamboo hut was a nice change from the cold Altiplano. When the clouds cleared, we were able to see mountains from our bed in the loft.

Bolivia – Copacabana, Lake Titicaca – La Cupula

Bolivia – Coroico – Sol y Luna – Jatata

6. Move

Pat ran once in Bolivia and Lindsey did not run at all. This was partially due to safety concerns and partially due to the frigid temperatures. Despite not running, we tried to stay active (after Pat got healthy). In addition to all the hiking and biking, we did the FitDeck in our hotel rooms a few times a week.

Favorite Activities:

Hiking Isla del Sol – We bundled up against the cold by wearing nearly everything we brought. Exploring this cold barren island was a nice start to our time in Bolivia.
Biking the Death Road – Descending 10,000 feet in 60 km is no small feet.
Hiking Chacataya Peak – This is the highest we have even been! 17,785 feet makes it hard to breath, even if you’ve been above 10,000 for three weeks prior.
Hiking Tunupa Volcano – After gaining 3,500 feet in 4.5 miles, we felt like we truly earned the views of Salar de Uyuni from atop this volcano.

Bolivia – Isla del Sol, Lake Titicaca

Bolivia – The Death Road (taken by Gravity Assisted staff)

Bolivia – Chacaltaya – Illimani Peak in the background and the highest we have ever been! 17,785 feet

Bolivia – Salar de Uyuni – View from Tunupa Volcano

7. Etcetera

As we’ve mentioned before, our rough budget for this trip is $100 a day (for two people). This includes everything from our visa to transportation to postcards. Our daily average in Bolivia was $97.40. Although this is under daily budget, we were surprised it wasn’t further under. Lots of things in Bolivia were really cheap, but we often paid a little extra for safety and cleanliness. Bolivia is on the South American party route, so lots of hostels are loud and rambunctious. To avoid these, we stayed in slightly nicer hostels and hotels.

Check out all our photos from Bolivia on Flickr and our post, Colors of Bolivia.

Also, check out our weekly posts from Bolivia: