Bolivia (1) – TRAVICARIOUS

G Adventures National Geographic Tour – Highlights of Bolivia May 19 to 26, 2024

Tom Eng and 11 other travelers (half 40 years old or younger)

van transport to Orlando, sat on Avianca plane for 3 hours, first with electrical problems and once repaired, waited for stormy weather to clear, but by that time the pilot and flight attendants work time had run out. They had no other pilot, so we were herded off the plane and told it would be tomorrow before we could leave; but they didn’t know when, since their computer crashed. The next day Flew 4 hours to Bogota, 1-1/2 hour layover and 4 hours to La Paz.

tour guide, female, Solidad Tito; a tour guide for 20 years. She’d like to start her own travel guide business and provide cooking classes. she needs to upgrade her kitchen before that can happen.

BOLIVIA KICKED MY BUTT!! I’ve been home for 2 weeks, our time zones were exactly the same, and yet I am now FINALLLY getting some of my energy back!!

I guess I’ll start with all the problems I had on this trip and then move into the fun I had.

It turned out to be a very expensive trip.

The country of Bolivia makes it very difficult for Americans to obtain a visa to visit. I could have driven 4 hours to Miami to try and get a visa; but someone else on our trip found it impossible to get one from their embassy; so I’m glad I didn’t even try that route. I used a Visa Service to the tune of $500!! Yes, it’s a visa for 10 years; but who cares!! I won’t be returning!

And then through all the fault of my own, I ignored several emails from Avianca Airlines because it was in Spanish. (Later I noticed a tiny spot that said “English” where I could have translated it). So when I got to the gate I realized I was going to have to pay $120 EACH for a carry-on and a checked bag. One Way!! Sheesh!

I was smart enough to pay early for the bags returning home and it cost me only $105 total.

I also lost my $500 diamond stud earring in a hotel. Yes! It was the same diamnd earring I lost in South Carolina in September that I finally replaced for my birthday in January. And now it’s gone again!! For twenty years I wore them constantly and then lost it TWICE in 6 months!!

And there was the $240 hotel bill for staying ovenight at the Orlando Hotel — just 90 miles from my house!

Oh, and did you know they charge DOUBLE the price of restaurant food PLUS A $10 ROOM SERVICE FEE, for room service? It was $55 for a small meal! AAUGHH!

But I chalk all that up to the cost of traveling. If the base trip cost $1,500 more, without my extra expenses, it would all work out the same.

There were some positives to getting bumped from my Avianca flight. (1) I know never to flight Avianca again. (2) I’ve always wanted to stay at the hotel INSIDE the Orlando airport. (3) It was interesting to hear 200 angry Columbians all yelling in Spanish at a poor airline worker when announcing that because the delay was weather related, there would be no refunds, no free hotel for the night, nor any food vouchers.

Man, were they angry! I was calm because I knew, like insurance companies, they always deny the claim. I expected nothing; and got nothing from them.

This is the view from my room in Orlando. Before I rented this room I was told the sliding glass doors were locked “for my safety”.

And yes they were!! It was a nice little balcony that you could NOT access. Ridiculous!

My 7th floor view of the Orlando Airport. Look at the tiny people in line, probably for TSA. I had been to the Orlando Airport many times, but never was able to enjoy this view.

When I finally got back to the international terminal at 11:30 am I decided to try to check my suitcase, EVEN THOUGH THE TICKET COUNTER MAN THE DAY BEFORE ASSURED ME THE COUNTER WOULD NOT BE OPEN UNTIL 1 PM AND NO ONE WOULD BE THERE. HAH! They were open and operating with a line of people snaking across the building, and around the corner to Jet Blue.

I got in line and the airline employee (possibly the one taking all the abuse yesterday) was calling “Bogota!” I raised my hand and said Bogota and then to La Paz and she put me at the head of the line and got me right to the desk. It was the least she could do, but it was still nice.

I flew 4 hours to Bogota, 1-1/2 hour nervous layover (would I make it!?) and then 4 hours to La Paz, where I would miss my transport to the hotel and a extra night and day at the hotel.

My new plan was to arrive at the airport at 2 am, sleep until 6 am when my travel group drove 45 minutes from their hotel to the airport in order to fly domestically to Sucre, Bolivia.

I was tired when I stepped off the plane, but had no idea what altitude sickness had in store for me.

I was in line to go through immigration when I realized I was close to fainting. I kept breathing in deep lungfuls of air — loud enough for the couple in front of me to keep turning around and looking at me strangly.

I picked up my suitcase and got through customs when I noticed people pulling jackets and gloves from their suitcases, so I did too. I was afraid of leaving the building and having to go outside where the temperature was about 36 degrees.

I stopped to tell an airport attendant I wasn’t feeling well. Bolivians don’t speak English and they don’t care if you don’t speak Spanish. She pointed me to another attendant who ALSO did not speak English.

I just gave up and planned to head outside. Luckily it was the room with the domestic ticketing counter.

I had to run into the bathroom to throw up. I HATE throwing up!! But I felt better, went out into the waiting room and slept on two little seats for a couple hours. The doors to the outside were just swinging doors and it finally got so cold about 4 AM that the cold woke me up and I went into the bathroom stall, pulled out all my warm clothes and coat and gloves and changed.

To top it off, I set my alarm for 6 am but apparently slept through it. I woke up to a text saying the group was at the airport and ready to board. I got up and every city in Bolivia was listed at the ticket counter except Sucre. WTF!! I panicked and was walking across the room when travel parttner, Tom, screamed my name and said how happy he was to see me and he walked me over to meet our Tour Guide Solidad.

I felt like shit and had no desire to meet the other 11 traveler, but I did.

I sat next to Tom at the window — all the while fearing I’d throw up again. I did not.

I began to drink lots of water with electrolytes but it really didn’t help.

So I started taking my prescription altitude sickness medicine that flushed me from my chest, up, up, up to my head, making my lips numb, my tongue numb an even behind my eyes. Eventually it made my hands and feet buzz like I had a hundred bees inside my hands. I found out from Surabhi, a just-graduated doctor, that it’s called neuropathy.

I continued taking those pills twice a day for the entire trip and the buzzing never letting up.

We had this bus for two days. The aisle was so narrow I actually got my hips stuck; and had to go down the aisle sideways to get to the back of the bus.

The bus wasn’t bad but the roads were so bumpy you couldn’t hear anything the Tour Guide was saying.

The landscape was pretty austere. The temps would hit the 30’s at night but then would go to 78 degrees in the daytime. And the sun was definitely hotter and brighter at 12,000 feet altitude versus the 9 feet at which I live

This is the first hotel I stayed in and, from these picture, I realize it was pretty nice. I know it had a metal key to get in, but you needed that key to lock the door from the inside. Because there was glass in the door, you wouldn’t leave the key in the lock and give access to a burglar; you would remove it and put it in the room somewhere. This is highly illegal in the U.S. because if there’s a fire and you can’t find the key, you burn to death. But there are a lot of safety issues other countries don’t seem concerned with that we United Statesians do,

Photos of the downtown Sucre. We got a lot of history here, but I wasn’t feeling well enough to care. I am always amazed at the amount of wires overhead in a city!!

My favorite!! A market. And my travel partners were eating mangos and other fruit but I was just to miserable to try them. The cheese and the cakes looked delicious!

We went into an open air area and everyone ordered empanadas a favorite of Bolivia. The business serves them fast and hot, but only before noon. It’s their tradition. I couldn’t try one.

The orange edifice was their “baby Eifel Tower”. If I had felt better I would have climbed to the top myself. It was designed by th Eifel tower designer.

We all stropped at a chocolate store on the way back to the hotel and FINALLY I was able to eat two delicious truffles.

Tom and I stopped later that day and I bought 3 different chocolate bars.

This is the cacao beans and the chocolate nibs, which I learned from my trip to Columbia.

Tom and I went to this Colonial Museum and found many skulls and mummies holding their babies. Quite eerie.

We met at the rooftop bar to see the sunset and order drinks and food.

As an example of the difference between the six people under aged 40 and the 7 people over 40 — Tom and I being the oldest ones, they had a QR code menu to order drinks and food.

By the time Tom and I pulled up the QR code, everyone had ordered already.

In addition, we didn’t want to eat dinner food held in our laps or eaten off of the coffee table.

We had a drink but then left them to party while we went for a real dinner down the street.

What really broke my heart was Cole and others were going to see the dinosaur footprints. It it was described as having to walk up and down and then up and then down and they made it seem like it would be very difficult. Because I was still feeling poorly and was puffing anytime I had to climb some stairs, I did not go because I didn’t want to be that old lady that couldn’t keep up. It was probably a good thing I didn’t go.

We had dinner here (vegetarian lasagna, a nice break from Bolivia food and only $4.12 USD) and we thought this sign humorous.

They had specific times you couldn’t smoke cigarettes, so unlike the U.S.

Solidad said only a very few of her friends smoke. I think it has something to do with the altitude and thin air; and adding smoking would just put you over the top for breathing problems.

If you divided the cost of Bolivian money by 7, it was close. So 50 Bolivians was about $7.

I noticed they had two different 50’s and 20’s. They started using prettier money with flamingos on them.

This may be a statue of Antonio José de Sucre, and thus, the name of the city. Simon Bolivar named the country but did not live in Sucre.

We went to the mineral museum but no photos were allowed. We learned some very interesting stuff about mining. They discovered silver in the caves of the mountains and learned how to melt the dirt, etc. they dug out of the mines where the silver would melt and pour out the bottom of special vats. They also discovered zinc (or was it tin?) that they use in a lot of electronics.

I had no idea that once copper is oxidized, you couldn’t just polish it back to shiny, like you do with silver. Once it’s oxidize, you can’t get it back to copper unless it becomes a stone (amethyst, maybe?) and THEN you can melt the stone down to copper again. Off course this takes thousands of years.

We also saw how geodes are made. They are basically bubbles of air that are encased in the molten rocks and stones inside an erupting volcano. Over Millenia water seeps inside these air bubbles inside the geodes and crystalizes into 6 sided gems.

Sadly, pictures are worth 1,000 words and we were not allowed photographs.

4-1/2 hour drive to Potosi. The windows didn’t open on our bus and it was getting HOT! We made enough fuss that the huge-sized driver stopped and tried to open the windows for us. I told the men that, being a landlord in another life, I would get a very large flathead screwdriver and pry the windows open. Just after my statement, the driver showed up with a little screwdriver to do the job.

The temps changed so quickly, I knew I was going to be freezing my butt off in a couple hours and I was right. Good thing I had 7 layers of clothes to put on .

These are pics of some of the worst toilets I’ve had to use. Some women on our bus just quit drinking water in order not to have to use these facilities. Note the spider webs in the corner of the filthy bathroom. And YES! this is a little wax candle attached to the wall that they would light at night for light and it would burn the hell out of the walls. And look at the electric cords!! Creepy!!

The city of Potosi.

We went to and spent the night at a working farm. We arrived after dark and never did see the cows they were feeding or milking. But it was still quite the experience. The rooms actually had a wood burning stove and electric blankets on the bed.

It was listed as a boutique hotel — which means “old, but we hope you think it’s cool”. The electric blanket would only stay on if you didn’t wiggle the bed and the plug in. I couldn’t use my coffee pot because they didn’t have a third hole to ground the electric socket.

I guess un-safety gets grandfathered in if it’s too hard to upgrade.

We had a tour of the old house and it was mind-blowing!! They let us touch anything we wanted!! The old, old books, type writers, we walked on the ages-old carpet. We were all very interested in the old books and diaries of the former owners. Solidad said no other group showed any interest in the library. I couldn’t believe we could hold and read whatever we wanted, no matter how old the books were.

Now this piece of artwork is bizarre. It was painted with the idea that you would see the actual work reflected on the metal tube set on the painting. If you look closely, you will see, on the silver tube, Crist on the cross. Amazing!!