Bolivia | Jason Around the World

Upcoming Plans

Australia, Bolivia, Comoros, Ecuador, Egypt, Gabon, Libya, Madagascar, Mauritania, Peru, Senegal, The Gambia, Turkmenistan, United Kingdom 10 Responses »

Jan 152017

So, yeah, it’s been a long time since I’ve written a travel blog. I think after Iceland I was a bit exhausted, and combine that with the fact that October-December are always my busiest months at work it meant I really didn’t have much time for travel – or for writing about it.

If there’s any interest, I can put together blogs on two trips I took in the past few months to Zagreb and Bangkok, but you’re not going to see too much outside of hotels and tons of airplane pics because it was long work days without much time to get out and about. However, if you want to see more Lufthansa First as well as my impressions of the first day of United Polaris service I’ll be happy to put those up.

February is going to be an interesting month. I had originally planned to stay closer to home and enjoy the car I make payments on but never seem to drive and take a long roadtrip through the Southern United States to visit four of the eight states I haven’t been to.

However, travel has a way of pulling you back in, and so I started looking at what I could use some of my miles for…and managed to piece together a crazy 17 day round the world with stops in some of my favourite cities: Hong Kong, Bangkok, Cape Town, Paris….oh, and it would involve first class travel on ANA longhaul, Thai on the A380, Qatar on the A380, Emirates on the A380, and yes, more Lufthansa first. It’s pretty hard to say no to, even though I should be a bit fiscally responsible…time will tell!

I recently did an interview for another website which will be up shortly, and I’ll link to it when it’s live. As part of it, I was asked to pick some of my favourite travel photos of myself, which was fun going back through memories. So, my favourite are below. Promise I’ll write more regularly again!

Top of Huayna Picchu near Machu Picchu, Peru

Crossing the river from Rosso, Senegal to Rosso, Mauritania:

Jumerah, The Gambia

New Years Eve stranded in Gabon, due to a coup in Democratic Republic of Congo:

Darvaza Crater, Turkmenistan

Koala cuddling in Brisbane, Australia:

Cuzco, Peru:

Hanging out with the Wrestling Cholitas in La Paz, Bolivia:

On the equator in where else, Ecuador:

Waiting for the tube in London, UK:

Friendly lemurs in Madagascar:

Inland lake in Comoros:

Pyramids of Giza, Egypt:

Leptis Magna, Libya:

La Paz, Bolivia to Medellin, Colombia on TACA Peru (via Lima)

Airports, Bolivia, Bolivia and Ecuador plus Medellin, Colombia, Flights, Peru 1 Response »

May 302014

Thanks to the hotel, had another “taxi of death” experience up to El Alto, where the driver showed absolutely zero fear weaving in and out of traffic as he worked his way up the side of the mountain to the airport. There was no traffic at this hour, and we made great time. Got to checkin, and only had to wait one person to get an agent…who was so uncomfortable in English that we carried on the check-in in Spanish. I mean, I really appreciate all the practice, but I was blown away by just how reluctant Bolivians were to speak English. All four boarding passes came out, and I was set for today and tomorrow. Then, it was off to passport control. There was a 15 minute wait or so, but no problems at all…but again, the whole thing was conducted in English.

Most surprising, was after exit immigration…there was a luggage check. Open it up, and go through everything. Not too sure what they were looking for, but I got really good at the phrase “es ropa…sola ropa!” (it’s clothes, just clothes!) on this trip…and they let me go with a fairly minimum check.

Headed into the lounge, which was surprisingly nice. Juice, water, etc and a few small munchies on display, but more importantly there were outlets and a comfortable quiet place to wait for the flight. I could have used Priority Pass to get in, but Avianca business class also did the trick.

When it was time to board, the lounge agent came and got us, and escorted us to the plane. The jetbridge had an entrance from the lounge, so there was no need to go back into the terminal. A very nice touch which I never would have expected in La Paz!

Avianca flight 908 (Operated by TACA Peru)
La Paz, Bolivia (LPB) to Lima, Peru (LIM)
Depart 8:00, Arrive 9:05, Flight Time 2:05
Airbus A320, Registration N492TA, Manufactured 2005, Seat 2A

OJ and water offered prior to pushing back, and a view of the airport:

There was a great graveyard of old planes, but unfortunately with the sun and earlier rain, it was hard to get a good shot:

A view of El Alto on climbout. It was really unnerving taking off from El Alto, because with the high altitude the plane takes what feels like forever to get off the ground. I was hoping we’d go over the city to get a shot of how it sits in the valley, but no such luck. I was so excited to take pictures that I asked for a window seat, something I rarely do. Didn’t matter, because the aisle ended up staying empty.

Daytrip to Lake Titicaca, Bolivia

Attractions, Bolivia, Bolivia and Ecuador plus Medellin, Restaurants 1 Response »

May 202014

I wasn’t really expecting this daytrip to leave at 6:30am…it’s probably a good thing I didn’t know that in advance, or I might not have booked it. I was beginning to seriously run on fumes by this point in the trip, but hopefully seeing Lake Titicaca would make it all worth it. I had to admit, though, as anyone who wasted time watching Beavis and Butt-head as a kid, every time I hear Lake Titicaca I still think of the Great Cornholio…lol

Anyways, enough stupidity. Got to the lobby of my hotel at exactly 6:30, and there were no signs of life stirring yet. There was, however, a petite Bolivian looking lady wandering the lobby looking puzzled, so I asked who she was looking for. Yes, she was my guide…and the driver was on the way. This was all in Spanish, because up until this point she seemed extremely reluctant to speak English. She eventually warmed up, and we were underway.

It was about a 90 minute drive to Huatajata where we would pick up the hydrofoil across the lake. Although this was scheduled to be a group tour, there was nobody else booked from La Paz today, so I’d have the van to the hydrofoil all to myself. Additionally, the hydrofoil ride would be all alone, and we would pick up a large group of…you guessed it….Swiss tourists coming from Peru in Copacabana for the second part of the trip.

We made it Huatajata on time, after a long drive through the sprawling expanses of El Alto. Once there, there was a “museum” to see before starting the trip. When I was booking this, I discussed with several Bolivians I knew, and they all recommended to make the booking with Crillon Tours. Seems they had built much of the tourist infrastructure on the lake, including the hydrofoils, and had all the connections to make the trip the best possible. They’d even built a museum on Huatajata telling a bit of the history around Lake Titicaca, both before and after the arrivals of the Spanish. I was given 20 minutes to check out the museum while my guide got everything sorted for the hydrofoil. First highlight of the museum, a burial mummy:

…followed by the arrival of the Spanish:

Manco Capac, the first Incan incarnation of the Sun God, and his sister and Mama Ocllo in a traditional boat….

Outside the museum were some friendly alpacas (or are they llamas?) just hanging around….

Uyuni to La Paz, and La Paz Part II

Airports, Bolivia, Bolivia and Ecuador plus Medellin, Flights, hotels, Restaurants 1 Response »

May 182014

Originally when I’d booked the trip, my flight back from Uyuni to La Paz was scheduled for 9:35a, which would allow me to sleep in slightly, and still get to La Paz in time to have a nice relaxing day to see the city. Unfortunately, once again, Amaszonas had other ideas. Points to them for communications, but 48 hours before my flight I got an email that the flight had been moved to 6:45am. Are you KIDDING me people? UGH.

This meant instead of getting breakfast and leaving for the airport at the sane hour of 7:45 or so, I would have to leave for the airport no later than 5am. Yes, this meant another 4:15am wakeup call. UGH.

I went out front at 5:15a as agreed with my driver, and he was there…sleeping in his car….with heavy metal music blaring. I was slightly disturbed, but after knocking on the windows to wake him up, we had a safe 30-40 minute drive to the airport. All the stars were out, and it was gorgeous in the complete darkness.

There was already quite a long queue to check in which took 15 minutes or so in the semi-open air terminal, and I was stuck in the back of the plane this time. No big deal. The problem was, after security, we were in a waiting room that was semi-open to the elements and it was -5C outside. It was absolutely freezing, and I hadn’t brought a jacket. I sat hunched up in a little ball for about 30 minutes and ran for the plane the minute they let us board. There was absolutely zero to see or do in the airport, except freeze and wait for the plane.

Amaszonas flight 301
Uyuni, Bolivia (UYU) to La Paz, Bolivia (LPB)
Depart 6:45, Arrive 7:35, Flight Time 50 minutes
Canadair CRJ-200, Registration CP-2733, Manufactured 1998, Seat 11D

This flight was completely full, and I had the pleasure of an overly chatty Indian seatmate from Mumbai who insisted on talking for the entire 50 minutes. Even when I put in my earbuds, he prattled on and on. Ugh. Not at this hour, please. Impressively, for a full flight of 50 people and only 40 minutes in the air, the flight attendants made two full passes with drinks. I was impressed! The Coke Zero was the only thing keeping me going.

Landed in La Paz right on time, but there was one problem. It was rush hour, and it took nearly 90 minutes to get to the Radisson. Fortunately I knew the fair price this time, and the taxi driver was happy to accept it. Got to the hotel just after 9, but my room wasn’t ready yet…so they invited me to go up to the executive lounge for breakfast. Well, that was nice! Had a small breakfast, and by the time I was done my room was ready.

They’d upgraded me to the executive floor for some reason, which was slightly nicer in furnishings than my previous room. I collapsed on the bed, and caught an hour nap to try and feel somewhat human.

After I woke up, I headed out to walk the city. My first stop was the office of Crillon Tours, where I had to pay for my trip to Lake Titicaca the next day. The walk there was about 15 minutes, and it was a good chance to watch the city going about its business on a week day. There was, once again, nearly no English spoken in the office when I got there, but eventually I found the person I needed, got the tour paid by credit card, and I was off to walk some more.

I was headed to the old part of the city where some colonial buildings still stood, but on the way I ran into a group of…zebras? I have no idea what this was all about….

Just ten minutes further along, I ran into a chain gang of prisoners doing some hard manual labour repairing a road. And being supervised by….a police dog? I was beginning to wonder about Bolivians and animal costumes….

Finally, after a 20 minute walk uphill, and stopping frequently to catch my breath, I reached Calle Jaen, where some old colonial buildings stood. The streets were narrow, and the angle of the sun made it hard to get a good pic, but this was my best attempt:

I kept walking back through the city, and my next stop was the Mercado de las Brujas – the witches’ market. You could by all sorts of interesting “ingredients here” including dried llama fetuses. Supposedly when you’re building a new building, be it a house, office, or whatever, you bury one of these dried llama fetuses in the foundation for good luck. Go figure….

La Paz to Uyuni, Bolivia, Hotel Luna Salada, and Salar de Uyuni Salt Flats

Airports, Attractions, Bolivia, Bolivia and Ecuador plus Medellin, Flights, hotels, trains 2 Responses »

May 162014

When I’d originally booked this trip, the flight from Bolivia to Uyuni was at the annoying hour of 6:30am. That would mean getting up around 4:30a at the latest to head to the airport on my second day in Bolivia. UGH. Just as I was leaving DC I got an email…the flight had been retimed to 5:35am, and the reason was given as “due to a maintenance service in the International Airport EL ALTO in La Paz city and will be closed at about 4 hours, from 12:00 pm to 16:00 pm during all month MAY.” Uh, exactly how does that affect a 6:30 flight? No clue. However, I resigned myself to a 3am wakeup call to get to the airport no later than 4:30…an hour before my flight, and hopefully a little sooner.

Woke up, out the door in about 20 minutes, and soon I was queued up to check in at El Alto. I can’t say I’ve ever seen an airline bragging that they fly a “new fleet of CRJ-200s.”

Check in was super quick, although I was kicked out of the bulkhead I’d reserved online, because I was told my Spanish wasn’t good enough to be sitting in an exit row. Boo hiss. It was still about 1:15 before the flight, so I had time for a quick (and pretty awful) coffee in the check in area, with a much better chocolate muffin.

Security was completely painless and took maybe two minutes, and soon I was in the rather decent departures area:

Boarding was called about 30 minutes before the flight, and we walked probably 300 meters across the tarmac to our plane:

Upon boarding, the flight attendant handed each passenger a goody bag:

Amaszonas flight 300
La Paz, Bolivia (LPB) to Uyuni, Bolivia (UYU)
Depart 5:35, Arrive 6:35, Flight Time 1 hour
Canadair CRJ-200, Registration CP-2742, Manufactured 1997, Seat 2F

Upon boarding, for some reason, the seats on this plane looked and felt really familiar. Only when I pulled up my phone to check out its history did I see why…it was a former United Express plane, and still had the United Express seats. So, this is hell. My least favourite aircraft (the CRJ) with vestiges of United Express. Great. Door closed about 5 minutes early with the seat next to me empty…and we started to taxi….a few minutes later, we headed back to our parking position and opened the door.

A rapid stream of spanish followed from the cockpit, with the simple english translation of “something wrong with the plane.” Great! Well, ten minutes later “something” was fixed and we were off! The flight was a quick 45 minutes or so, and the flight attendants did do a quick beverage service from the trolley. Can’t really complain…beats United Express!

Landing in Uyuni, it was cold. Really cold. -4C or about 26F according to my phone, and I was just in jeans and a lightweight pullover. Brilliant planning Jason, brilliant. I’d prebooked a driver/tourguide for the day, since I’d been told there were essentially two options in Uyuni: hang around town for one of the 6-people-packed-into-a-Landrover backpacker trips for about $50 a person, or book a private driver. Since I only had one day and no clue when I’d come back, I opted for my own driver so I could do what I wanted and stop however long I wanted.

My driver was waiting in the arrivals area as the sun rose, and we threw my backs in the vehicle and were off. He waid we had to wait for a permit from the police in town, so we had about an hour to kill before we could head out. We headed into a small restaurant/cafe for coffee and a light breakfast, and slowly after us it began to fill up with backpackers who’d taken the 10+ hour overnight bus from La Paz. They all looked like death, and I was beginning to think the extra money I’d paid was well well worth it.

Permit obtained, we headed out to the “train cemetery” at the edge of town. Not much to see, but since it was featured in just about every travel article I read on the town, I figured we should stop. At least it was a cool contrast with the brilliant blue skies:

Stopped in town to pick up some snacks and waters, and in the centre of town was this…unique…sculpture:

Next stop was my hotel, the Hotel Luna Salada. It’s a good 30 minutes out of town, right on the edge of the saltflats. The hallways/common areas are open to the elements, so it got very very cold. This was the walkway to my room…note the floors, which are made entirely of crushed salt:

We were set to head out on the tour at 10, so I had an hour nap which made me feel much better after having gotten up at 3am! The hotel was cold…quite cold….since the salt walls don’t really insulate things much and it drops below freezing at night. There were electric blankets on all the beds (a first for me) and they kept me nice and toasty warm!

The drive to the salt flats (with the obligatory 15 minute stop at a local craft market along the way) was pretty good…and upon entering the salt flats the driver really gunned it. It felt weird to be speeding across the salt with no roads, no markings, just a sense of direction.

I’d told my driver I wanted to see an area where water had gathered, to get a pic of the salt with the reflection. He knew right where to go, and we found an area where water was a few inches deep. We had to drive very slowly in this area, because supposedly if you drive too quickly the water splashes up on the car’s undercarriage, and will corrode things, shorting out the electrical systems due to its high salt content and stranding you:

La Paz, Bolivia, Day 1

Attractions, Bolivia, Bolivia and Ecuador plus Medellin, Restaurants 2 Responses »

May 062014

Through immigration and customs in less than 10 minutes, and had to find my way out of the airport, which was easier said than done due to lack of signage. Fortunately, I found an ATM on the way, so I could stock up on cash for the next few days. Got a taxi for 80 bolivianos (which I now know is a ripoff – 60 is the “real” price) – but getting ripped off by $3 on day number one in a country is nothing to get too upset about. Now, the fact he drove 140kph on the switchbacks down the mountain, that’s another story. Checked into my hotel the Radisson by 3:15, and was out cold by 3:30. Woke up the next morning to a fantastic view of La Paz out my window:

After about an hour to get moving and adjusted to the thin air, decided to start on a walk. I seriously don’t know what we did before google maps. I decided to slowly head down to the main tourist area, and was stopping every 2 blocks or so to catch my breath. 13,000+ feet above sea level kinda hits you hard. Along the walk, I saw a restaurant with a name that sounded familiar. Checked TripAdvisor, and sure enough I’d seen it there, advertising great breakfasts. Plus, Cafe Il Lampu had a fantastic seat on a little second floor mini balcony to people watch from:

Fortified with some espressos, toast, and my new vocab word of the day “huevos duros” or hard-boiled eggs, I was ready for some more slow wandering. After another 10 minutes or so, I came upon the church of San Francisco, which had a fantastic plaza to camp out and people watch for a bit . Are you catching a theme here? It was lots of stop and go walking in the thin air for the first several hours:

Washington DC to La Paz, Bolivia on US Airways and Avianca

Airports, Bolivia, Bolivia and Ecuador plus Medellin, Colombia, Flights No Responses »

May 062014

Got to the airport in plenty of time, since the US Airways app refused to let me check in online. Was rather shocked when the agent was able to print out all four boarding passes up front. Went through the northern most checkpoint, since that’s where TSA precheck is located, as well as being the pier that my flight was supposed to leave from. The US Airways club is pretty grim, however, so I took the shuttle bus over to the middle terminal to use the American lounge. On the shuttle, we had to stop, because an HonorFlight was coming in, filled with World War II Veterans coming to DC for the day to see the memorial:

Made it to the American lounge, home of the best airport bloody mary anywhere. To quote the bartender: “I make them from scratch and I’m gonna get you there before your flight does!” He wasn’t lying – they were delicious!

Then it was time to take the shuttle back to the terminal and board the first flight on time:

US Airways flight 3264 (Operated by Republic Airlines)
Washington, DC National (DCA) to Charlotte, NC (CLT)
Depart 11:00, Arrive 12:32, Flight Time 1:32
Embraer ERJ-175, Registration N128HQ, Manufactured 2008, Seat 3A

Pre-flight beverages were offered and I had a water to offset the bloody mary, and soon we were off to the north, with a gorgeous view on takeoff:

Plenty of Salt, Not Enough Oxygen…a Trip to Boliva, Colombia, and Ecuador

Bolivia, Bolivia and Ecuador plus Medellin, Colombia, Ecuador No Responses »

Apr 232014

I’d been thinking about this trip for a long time. For about a year, I’ve had only two countries remaining to visit in South America, Bolivia and Ecuador. I’d always planned on doing it with American, but earlier this year when United seriously devalued miles I wanted to burn every last one. I started looking for weeks I could get away, and possible routings. Getting into La Paz and out of Quito were pretty easy, but getting between them was harder.

I could have done the easy thing and just buy it, but I had some more miles left, and United was giving me all sorts of exotic routings that would allow 23 hour connections in cities I hadn’t been to before. In the end, I decided on Medellin as it sounded the most interesting and exotic. I’ll admit, I didn’t do much research when putting this together. I had over 500,000 United miles to burn, and under a week to get things done, so I planned the in and out flights…and left the middle to chance a bit. That said, I leave in barely a week and still don’t have everything booked. It’ll all come together I suspect.

…any last minute “musts” or advice are certainly welcome.

The planned itinerary, and rough plans for this report:

Part I: Washington DC to La Paz, Bolivia on US Airways and Avianca (via Charlotte, Miami, Bogota)
Part II: La Paz, Bolivia
Part III: La Paz to Uyuni, Bolivia and the Hotel Luna Salada
Part IV: Salar de Uyuni – the Salt Flats
Part V: Uyuni to La Paz, and daytrip to Lake Titicaca
Part VI: La Paz to Medellin, Colombia on TACA Peru (via Lima)
Part VII: Short Stay in Medellin
Part VIII: Medellin to Quito, Ecuador on Aero Republica and COPA (via Panama)
Part IX: Quito, Ecuador
Part X: Quito to Washington DC on COPA and US Airways (via Panama, Cancun, and Philadelphia)

Routing:

I promise this won’t be one of those post and run trip reports….it’ll go live in just over a week with the first update! I also can’t resist sharing, as a teaser, the BIG trip I’m planning in October/November. Suiffice to say with a trip report name like “From Bula to Shalom!” I hope it will be epic…four weeks in the south pacific, a couple days in DC for laundry, and then Israel and Palestine.

Mar 092012

Count stands at 109, and in May, I have a trip to get five more countries already booked. Nepal, Bhutan, Seychelles, Sudan, and Bulgaria (strange combo, for sure) are already done. That marks 114.