Chris and I booked a ticket last Friday to fly out this Friday to Santa Cruz, Bolivia. We had about one month to kill in the country before my best friend Liz met up with us in La Paz. We discovered last month that as of December 2007, all US citizens need a visa to enter Bolivia. We figured it wouldn’t be a big deal and took a taxi to the Bolivian Consulate today in Asuncion.
We arrived with our application form, proof of a yellow fever vaccination, proof of a hotel reservation, proof of a returning flight to the US (out of Brazil), $100 in cash (each), and bank statements to prove that we had sufficient funds to travel. And all of this nonsense was not good enough. We were told we needed to have proof of a flight or bus out of Bolivia (which we usually don’t get until the day before we leave a place), a complete written itinerary, and we needed to go to INTERPOL and get a printout that proves there are no warrants out for our arrest anywhere in the world. We were also told this application could take ten days to process, even though the Bolivian Consulate website states 24 hours.
Sooooooo frustrating. And it’s 100 million times more frustrating when you speak and understand the language on the same level of a three year old. Apparently Bolivia hates the US with some extra passion right now and they are making it really hard for Americans to get in, because they just don’t want us there. My friend Seth that works in Asuncion at the US embassy was cautious to come with us to the Bolivian Embassy because he thought they’d get paranoid and think he was sending spies into their country. He was afraid we might get tailed and spied on when we went to Bolivia, that our rooms would get searched while we were out. Combine with the State Department website mentioning things like kidnapping by strangulation and shallow graves containing some Austrian tourists and we decided that Bolivia can shove it. So this American is giving the Bolivian Consulate a solid two thumbs down and one solid middle finger. On top of us canceling our plans to Bolivia, now Liz and her travel buddy Matt have to do the same thing, and they’ll have to meet us in Lima, Peru.
After the consulate mess, we had to return to the travel agent and book a different flight out of Paraguay. Their elections are happening this Sunday and there are some fears of things getting a little crazy and borders getting shut down, so we have to go ASAP. Thankfully, we booked through a Brazilian airline called TAM that allows you to change flights and apply the money you paid for the original flight to your new ticket. We flew TAM from Chile to Paraguay and they gave us a hot meal, free booze, and six matching, very cute stewardesses. I appreciate it when they all have cute matching hair and outfits and aren’t fat and old and haggard like the majority of the flight attendants I find on US carriers.
Anyway, we thought about flying to the north of Brazil and sitting on some lovely tropical beaches for a bit, but to get there and get to Peru in time for Macchu Picchu and my Liz, would mean thousands of dollars that we don’t have. So on Saturday at 5:40AM (!!!) we are flying to Montevideo, Uruguay. From there, after we get done looking around Uruguay, we will take a ferry over to Buenos Aires, Argentina. On May 3, we will fly to Lima, Peru from Buenos Aires. After reading that paragraph, you might need an atlas for reference.
We’ve already done Buenos Aires and this whole thing is a total headache, but we’re too broke to do anything else. My advice to anyone traveling through South America for an extended time is to either be really really fluent in Spanish or have a ton of money to just throw at any inconvenience; having neither is a real letdown.
Tonight, Chris and I take an overnight bus into Brazil to visit Iguazu Falls. We’ll only spend the day and then head back to Asuncion. I must say that I’ve really enjoyed Paraguay, even though I’ve really only seen Seth’s house, a mall, and some bars and restaurants. The people here are really nice and helpful and patient with two people that can’t speak Spanish well. This is a place that no one visits (unless you have a large shipment of bootleg DVDs or cocaine to move into Brazil) and there aren’t many tourist sites, but the food’s good and it’s pretty easy to get around.
Anyway, check back in a couple of days for some giant waterfall pictures.
We arrived with our application form, proof of a yellow fever vaccination, proof of a hotel reservation, proof of a returning flight to the US (out of Brazil), $100 in cash (each), and bank statements to prove that we had sufficient funds to travel. And all of this nonsense was not good enough. We were told we needed to have proof of a flight or bus out of Bolivia (which we usually don’t get until the day before we leave a place), a complete written itinerary, and we needed to go to INTERPOL and get a printout that proves there are no warrants out for our arrest anywhere in the world. We were also told this application could take ten days to process, even though the Bolivian Consulate website states 24 hours.
Sooooooo frustrating. And it’s 100 million times more frustrating when you speak and understand the language on the same level of a three year old. Apparently Bolivia hates the US with some extra passion right now and they are making it really hard for Americans to get in, because they just don’t want us there. My friend Seth that works in Asuncion at the US embassy was cautious to come with us to the Bolivian Embassy because he thought they’d get paranoid and think he was sending spies into their country. He was afraid we might get tailed and spied on when we went to Bolivia, that our rooms would get searched while we were out. Combine with the State Department website mentioning things like kidnapping by strangulation and shallow graves containing some Austrian tourists and we decided that Bolivia can shove it. So this American is giving the Bolivian Consulate a solid two thumbs down and one solid middle finger. On top of us canceling our plans to Bolivia, now Liz and her travel buddy Matt have to do the same thing, and they’ll have to meet us in Lima, Peru.
After the consulate mess, we had to return to the travel agent and book a different flight out of Paraguay. Their elections are happening this Sunday and there are some fears of things getting a little crazy and borders getting shut down, so we have to go ASAP. Thankfully, we booked through a Brazilian airline called TAM that allows you to change flights and apply the money you paid for the original flight to your new ticket. We flew TAM from Chile to Paraguay and they gave us a hot meal, free booze, and six matching, very cute stewardesses. I appreciate it when they all have cute matching hair and outfits and aren’t fat and old and haggard like the majority of the flight attendants I find on US carriers.
Anyway, we thought about flying to the north of Brazil and sitting on some lovely tropical beaches for a bit, but to get there and get to Peru in time for Macchu Picchu and my Liz, would mean thousands of dollars that we don’t have. So on Saturday at 5:40AM (!!!) we are flying to Montevideo, Uruguay. From there, after we get done looking around Uruguay, we will take a ferry over to Buenos Aires, Argentina. On May 3, we will fly to Lima, Peru from Buenos Aires. After reading that paragraph, you might need an atlas for reference.
We’ve already done Buenos Aires and this whole thing is a total headache, but we’re too broke to do anything else. My advice to anyone traveling through South America for an extended time is to either be really really fluent in Spanish or have a ton of money to just throw at any inconvenience; having neither is a real letdown.
Tonight, Chris and I take an overnight bus into Brazil to visit Iguazu Falls. We’ll only spend the day and then head back to Asuncion. I must say that I’ve really enjoyed Paraguay, even though I’ve really only seen Seth’s house, a mall, and some bars and restaurants. The people here are really nice and helpful and patient with two people that can’t speak Spanish well. This is a place that no one visits (unless you have a large shipment of bootleg DVDs or cocaine to move into Brazil) and there aren’t many tourist sites, but the food’s good and it’s pretty easy to get around.
Anyway, check back in a couple of days for some giant waterfall pictures.
No comments:
Post a Comment