March 4 brought us to Bolivia…for the first time in about a month and a half we were heading to a country we hadn’t been to, we had gotten really used to crossing the border between Argentina and Chile, that it came as a slight shock when I had to pay for the $160 border visa. Ah, the joys of being an America in South America where we have reciprocity fees and visas that are only for us, since thats what our country puts other citizens through.
Really, I’ve grown increasingly aware I have no right to complain about border crossing and visa situations. But it was still very bizarre to me that we(Ryan, Dave and I) had to fill out these arbitrary forms with multiple ways for them to contact us, the driving route we were taking, and other personal details. We could also only pay this fee in cash, and only with bills that passed inspection(no tiny rips or markings allowed). I was grateful to be able to borrow some money off Dave, as one of my bills was rejected(and I hadn’t a lot of American money left on me after Argentina). Again, I guess I had gotten used to the easy-ish crossings of Chile and South America, that hour we held up the group seemed like it really was a personal grudge. Probably all in my head, but still equally irritating.
Anyhoo, the moment we crossed the border, things were different. You could see a lot more indigenous people in traditional dress, more animals, buildings more spread out, etc. It reminded my a lot more of Central America than any of our previous destinations. It was a nice culture change.
That first day also saw us winding up quite a bit in elevation(we’re talking thousands of meters–like maybe 2500, 3000? can’t remember). But it was noticeable. We had been told to drink tons of water to help ward off any potential altitude sickness. It was probably the only day that we actually buzzed multiple times during the day for breaks to use the bathroom(and by bathroom, I mean out out into the bush with a shovel). Considering we had probably only buzzed 3 or 4 times in the previous two months, it was a big deal.
First night in Bolivia was a gorgeous bush camp in the middle of nowhere, and next day we had an earlyish start heading through Potosi(highest elevation city in the world at 4100 meters above sea level), and then ultimately onto Uyuni, where we had some of the best pizza, and where we finally found maple syrup on the menu. This was thanks to the ex-Pat owner who understood how pancakes are meant to be served.
Next day we headed out to the famed salt flats…to be fair, I think the main(okay, only) reason I was super looking forward to them is because of all the pictures I saw of them on Pinterest(darn you Pinterest!). When they’re wet, it’s meant to be an exact mirror reflection of the sky…unfortunately the only wet bits we saw were a little dirty from all the jeeps driving through giving people tours. Whomp wha….really, it just turned into a photo shoot day. Laying down on the salt flats, staring into the bright light, trying to get the perfect perspective picture of someone in a water bottle, fighting a dinosaur, etc. Still cool, but maybe not what I was completely expecting. Ah well. Rest of the tour consisted of seeing a man scraping the salt into bags to sell, lunch at cactus island, view of a hotel made completely of salt, and a stop at a train graveyard.
It probably sounds more exciting to just leave no explanation of those last ones than to continue with an explanation. 🙂 All in all, not the best first impression of Bolivia.
Belated Gap Year 