No Go, on Bolivia - It Ain't Happenin' - So Peru tonight ...

The Central Plaza in Arica, Chile

 

 

 

Excitement and Adventure comes in many different forms ... or maybe we could start with the headline below:

Man Makes Plans, God Laughs

I think I could say with some modesty that my wife and I are avid travelers, and are generally pretty good at planning and getting organized.  We have been to 40 countries in the last two years, for the most part without a hitch.

But ahah!  Despite our best laid plans, the last couple days have tested our skills and offered a chance to be humbled in the face of overwhelming odds and furthermore ... yeah, okay, blah blah blah.

We were planning to go to Bolivia and had already bought the bus tickets and made the hotel arrangements.  But ... well you can read the story below.

But First, Chile (and the far south) come to an end

We were in the city of Arica, at the very north of Chile.  This is a country that is 5,000 mile long from top to bottom, and we drove the whole thing, with some major chunks of Argentina thrown in. 

Arica bills itself as the driest city in the world.  Not sure how they measure that, but it's connected to the Atacama Desert, (not to repeat myself, but the Atacama is the driest place on earth, and that's a fact).

So we spent a day of leisure before our planned trip to Bolivia.  When you're in a place like Arica, it can feel like you are isolated from the rest of the world.  Not altogether unpleasant, but definitely off the beaten path. 

Our Hotel in Arica, right on the Pacific Ocean

 

 

As an example, the vast Atacama Desert runs right down to the sea, and the Chileans and other tourists make the best of it, with a crowded beach not 100 yards from the desert sand - "Hey, we're gonna have a good time, dammit!"

 

So we spent the last couple days making plans to travel, and then eventually spent all day getting on a bus to Peru - but I'm getting ahead of myself.  Read on. 

 

Part of our trip north back to Oregon included a sojourn into Bolivia.  

It was always a push, going to Bolivia, meaning it was going to be difficult and quite a bit out of the way.  We finished our time in Chile and the next natural stop north would typically be Peru, but we had our mind set on a stop in Bolivia. 

Long story short - it ain't happenin'.   Turns out the process to obtain a visa to visit is, well ... it's baffling, unpredictable, expensive, difficult, and in the end:  impossible.  

We spent a lot of time in advance trying to get things lined up, but there is very little available on line.  And what information there is, it's unreliable. 
Fiona is really good at this stuff and she was stumped.  So our best bet (and only option) was to go the Bolivian consulate here in Arica, the launching point from Chile. 

The hours that they're open are very limited.  We went the day before and they were closed.  When we finally got to talk to a person there at the consulate, he was apprehensive.   "There is a lot of paper work and ... it can take ... a long time."  
"Well," we said "Uhh, we don't have a long time, can we get this done in one day?"
"I don't know.  Maybe."  was his answer.

Well, maybe not!  Our day included stops at the photocopy store, numerous computer print outs, pictures, taxi rides, forms and more forms, and - the last straw - an interminable stop at the bank to pay the rather exhorbitant fee of $320 for a visa for the two of us. Ultimately, we waited at the bank almost two hours, till it closed for lunch (at 2:00, siesta?) along with the Bolivian consulate (which closed for the day).  Everybody closes for "lunch" in Latin America.

So we didn't get our visa.  ... now it's the weekend and our bus to La Paz, Bolivia, left first thing in the morning and we weren't on it.  Oh well, you have to be resilient to do this kind of travel.  

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Oh, and one last point.  I was frustrated, but politely told the guy at the consulate at one point "you know, with all this complicated visa stuff, you are missing out on a lot of people who would go to Bolivia and travel and spend money."

And he looked at me for a moment, slightly dumbfounded.  It was as if he wanted to say something rude, but didn't - "you Americans are going to lecture me on letting people into our country?"   

But he didn't say that.  He said:  "It's all political ... and your country ... well, ahem, ... it's only going to get worse with your new administration."

Hey - I'm just sayin' ... I mean, that's what he said.   Kind of like, what goes around, comes around ... I'm not sayin' ... well, I'm just sayin'.


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You have to roll with the punch - we changed horses in midstream and made our way to Peru. 

And so tonight we find ourselves in Tacna, Peru.  It was another day of long lines and border crossings (some time I'm gonna do a blog post on border crossings) but we made it here.  And you know what?  This place is cool!

Once we got here, we had a walk around town and dinner and a big ice cream at the Plaza at the city center.  Every Latin America town has a plaza at the city center, and I love 'em.  They are great places, usually nice and green and well kept, and peaceful and quiet. 

I take a lot of pictures in plazas.  The outskirts of cities may be funky and dirty and not nice, but the plazas? ... they're always nice, some of my favorite places.  Like the one at the top of this blog in Arica, Chile.  Or the one below, here in Tacna, Peru.