Arrival in Bolivia

Bolivia, Day 1: La Paz

Eliana and I arrived in La Paz, Bolivia, after a 7 hour sleep on a red-eye flight from Miami. Our primary goal for this trip is to deliver donated veterinary supplies to Inti Wara Yassi, a wildlife refuge in Bolivia, that is in desperate need of equipment. Bolivia is one of the most biologically diverse countries in the world, and also the poorest country in South America. While we’re here, we’re also planning a few interesting side trips to various Bolivian cities, and will be joined by our South Florida friends Chris and Misti (a.k.a. the “SeaAggies”).

Our travel partners, Misti and Chris, got turned away while checking in at the Miami airport, so have not joined the adventure yet. Chris’s passport was still valid, but was expiring in 2 months ... and American Airlines dropped the huge bomb of news on us that his passport needed to be valid for at least 6 months. Inconsistent with what we had previously heard on travel to Bolivia, and in light of the fact that the Bolivian embassy still issued him a visa, American airlines issued him a round-trip ticket, and that this rule was nowhere to be found except at check-in time... we were all pretty bummed that they had to delay traveling. We are going to wait for them in La Paz until their arrival on Tuesday after Chris gets a new passport.

We felt rather uneasy going through Bolivian customs with all of our donated vet supplies. We didn’t want any trouble or have to pay insane import taxes on all the supplies. As fate and random bad luck would have it -- Eliana pressed the customs inspection button and the light turned red on us -- which meant we were selected for an inspection of our luggage. Doh! A customs officer searched our bags and in the second bag discovered our huge supply of syringes and needles for the wildlife refuge and we’re sure the words “drug dealers” popped into his head. Our heartbeats started racing when he removed them from our bag and visions of Bolivian jail began drifting through our heads. Fortunately, Eliana smooth talked the customs officer and flashed the notarized letter we had from the consulate and they let us through with everything. Nice!

Arrival in La Paz at 11,000 feet above sea level has left us a little short of breath, but not too bad, we are doing fine. Sometimes going up the hills here can leave you a bit winded, but we are adjusting well. The weather has been gorgeous, sunny and warm during the day -- the morning was a little chilly around 40 degrees but it warmed up fast into the 60’s. Eliana’s two bad fingers were pretty achy and sore from being exposed to the cold mornings.

We are staying at Hostal Estrella Andina hotel in La Paz, which seems reasonable so far. I’ve tried using my Garmin GPS here in La Paz and cannot get a satellite signal. We spent the day wandering through the “witch market”, La Paz’s buzzing tourist street market, browsing thru handicrafts and enjoying coffee and breakfast in cafes. Also visited the San Francisco Cathedral. Took a long nap in the afternoon and started working on our blog material.

Chao amigos!