Time in country: 25 days
Money spent: approximately $970 USD each (includes cost of Visa)
Currency: Boliviano
Conversion Rate: approximately 7 Bolivianos per USD
Food:
Again, a typical local plate can consist of a soup, plate with rice, salad, choice of meat, and juice. Most of which was very bland.
We did find some nice places serving high-end medallion filets on the cheap!
Places Visited (in order): Copacabana, La Paz, Uyuni, Southwest Circuit, Sucre, Santa Cruz
Random Thoughts:
Bolivia is one of the poorest countries in South America. Because of this fact a common phrase amongst travelers used to explain some of the less than ideal situations (such as Border offices being closed all day without notice, bathrooms, busses, roads, service, quality of food, etc.) was "well, this IS Bolivia".
Most of the roads in Bolivia are unpaved, so the bus trips are not very fun, but hey, "this IS Bolivia".
Due to strikes and road blocks being pretty common (specifically miners' strikes while we were there), we spent quite a few days waiting around in towns. Luckily for us it is an inexpensive country!
Since Bolivia is so cheap we were able to live it up a little bit. This included nice steak dinners, wine, and nicer hostels all for pretty cheap. So, although it may seem like we spent a lot of money in a country that's supposed to be cheap, we lived well :-).
La Paz, technically the capital of Bolivia, is the highest capital city in the world at 11,975 ft. This city and parts of the Salt Flat were quite chilly!
In most parts of Bolivia, the women still wear very traditional clothing consisting of long, colorful skirts, blouses with aprons a lot of times, and undersized bowler hats.
Thanks to reciprocity, the Bolivian Visa cost Americans $135 (crisp and clean bills only).
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