Jessie Goes….

Subway Sandwich: 4.50

Cat food/Litter: 5.75

Bottle of water: 2:00

Total: $47.25 or 378 Bolivianos.

In the entire time I was in Bolivia, I spend in total 1,160 Bolivianos or approximately 4.40 Bvs per hour. I am now spending at a rate of 492 per hour, and I’m eating Subway for dinner! It is literally 100x more expensive in NYC.

Bolivia might be one of the cheapest places on Earth. The average full meal costs 1- 2 bucks. Average beer 80 cents. Average cab ride, 70-90 cents. Internet access, 25 cents/hour. Blow Up Kit: 1 buck. Average night in a cheapie hostel, 2 bucks. Average night in a reasonable hotel, 5-10 bucks. I have determined you could live very comfortably, at a hotel even, for between $10 and $15k dollars a year. If you got yourself an apartment, probably less.

Having spent a full night sleeping in my own bed, I thought I’d put together some thoughts on Bolivian travel, and my experience and impressions:

The People: Very friendly. Most speak only Spanish. With the exception to Sucre, begging is not the norm, which given the state of affairs in most of the country, is unusual. Many people are extremely poor, though some are definitely well off by Bolivian standards. The people in Sucre seemed to be the best off, which might account for the begging culture. Please do not help inspire a begging culture if you go. Give them food if possible, or pay them a little extra for something they do for you, but do not hand over money. Bad for you, bad for them.

The Scenery: Stunning, and unique. Even the ubiquitously horrible bus rides are mitigated by fantastic scenery through most of the country. As far as the cities are concerned, some are more picturesque than others. Sucre looks like a mix between a European city and a South American city, and it definitely is charming. Something about Potosi struck me too, though its dusty and chaotic. The Altiplano towns are an experience to see, but with a few exceptions, they amount to villages of little mudbrick huts, with little else.

The Bathrooms: If you find a good one, its like a grand prize. Though most are not Africa/SE style holes in the ground, (they actually have a toilet), many don’t work, don’t flush, flush but send flushed material all over (yuck yuck yuck), and most are probably cleaned on a yearly basis. In the cities things are much better at the hotels, but always carry your tp with you.

The Food: In general, good. Not particularly good for you and certainly not gourmet, but good. Jamon y queso is the standby, but we ate a lot of different varies of food, include whatever was put in front of us while on the Altiplano (Llama for instance). The sopas (soups) are particularly good, I thought. Several nights I also ate the equivalent of beef kabobs, which combined with rice, was excellent. Altogether, you will not starve in Bolivia, for lack of edible options. Vegetarians, you are in trouble. I’d recommend bringing some ‘tide over’ snacks with you, or else you will be eating a lot of rice and dry bread. Oh, and pringles seemed to be available everywhere.

Comfort Level: Widely variable. The Altiplano, about as uncomfortable as you are going to get while not actually camping out night after night. Showers and working facilities rare. Beds, not comfie, Sleeping bags a must for both skeeve reduction and because it is cold cold cold at night. Conversely, we stayed in fine, to quite nice places in the cities of La Paz, Potosi, and Sucre, none of which cost very much, and all of which had comfier beds, working showers and toilets.

Cultural Difficulty: Not difficult, as I mentioned the people are friendly, and the cultural ‘layout’ is pretty easy going. They do have a siesta from noon to 2:30, which makes it difficult to do anything but eat or sleep during that time, but unlike some places, people actually do come back to work at 2:30. Most of the population is Roman Catholic, so most western traveller’s will be very familiar with the customs.

History/Geology/Educational Opportunities: Many many many. This is not “a pop your feet in sandals and read a book at the beach” destination. Going into a working mine and taking the same risks as the miners, cannot be beat for real life education on the subject. Blowing up dynamite was fun too.

Getting Around: Difficult. Long and Difficult. And, they cancel flights for drizzle. If I had to do it again, I would schedule in an extra day just for ‘crap happens’ and have your flight leave a full 48 hours later than your expected date of arrival in that final city. Also, pack an IPOD or equivalent, a good book, and playing cards. And rum.

Climate: From very cold, to very hot. Many layers are the key.

Well, I hope you all enjoyed it.  I’ll be posting some mini movies to my website soon, and I’ll put a notification here when that all gets done, it should show a bunch of the country and our adventures.   I have to wait for Hannah to get back to the UK from Peru.  Until next time, thanks everyone (whoever all you people are) for reading, you definitely make it more fun to write! I’ll be back soon, going somewhere new.