Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with bolivia

Books about Peru & Bolivia?

UbuRoivas — Mon, 18 May 2009 16:15:37 -0800

Books about Peru & Bolivia? Looking for recommendations for books (fiction or non-fiction) to read as background info for an upcoming trip to Peru & Bolivia.

Al sur.

donpedro — Sat, 07 Feb 2009 18:57:21 -0800

Requesting travel, transport and itinerary suggestions for southern and western South America. I have a guide book for the continent and ideas about where I want to go, but the distances seem vast and I'm having trouble envisioning how to string together several destinations in multiple countries without spending a fortune. Difficult to tell where overland travel is or is not feasible.

* Time frame: 18 days, including travel down and back from North America. I live near a major international airport that has direct flights to many South American cities.
* Time of year: March (i.e. Southern Hemisphere late summer, early fall).
* Budget: TBD, though certainly not unlimited. I imagine airfare will be the single greatest expense.

Things I'm interested in seeing:
* Usuhaia, Argentina, and nearby parks. Tierra del Fuego.
* Glaciares National Park, Argentina. Specifically, a hike around Cerro Torre. -Or- Torres del Paine in Chile.
* Santiago, Chile.
* Atacama Desert.
* Lake Titicaca and/or La Paz, Bolivia.
* Cuzco/Machu Picchu.

I seriously doubt I could see all that in the given period of time. Does anybody with experience traveling in the region have any good suggestions for how to do as much as possible, without being a total road warrior? Any particularly obvious links between places, such as good short reliable ground transport between Cuzco and Bolivia? Are flights between Santiago and Argentine Patagonia/Usuhaia reasonable? Etc. This is a rather expansive question, I realize, and am very appreciative of any advice you're willing to offer.

About me:
* U.S. citizen.
* Fairly travel-savvy and mobile, does not require luxurious accomodations.
* Fluent in Spanish.
* Has been in South America previously (Argentina, Uruguay, Paraguay).

Help me find a volunteer project in South America

postergeist — Fri, 28 Nov 2008 08:14:27 -0800

Help me find a volunteer project in Bolivia, Peru or Ecuador. I am travelling all over south america for a year and am extremely interested in joining a volunteer project for a period of at least a month somewhere in one of the above countries. I do however have some specific desires; 1. Not interested in teaching English (dime a dozen for projects)
2. I love using my hands and building things (and am good at it) and want to find a project where I get to construct something, structures of any kind. A school, a fence.. whatever. Sort of like habitat for humanity (habitat itself is too large scale and expensive)
3. Not in a city. want countryside, the more remote the better
4. Smaller scale, more grass roots level
5. One where I dont have to shell over $2000+ just for the privilege of volunteering my services.

So far all of the more interesting projects i have found require a very large contribution. I guess I can understand that the money is how they fund the project but I was always of the opinion that the volunteers themselves should not have to be the ones who pay the very large sums and that the organizations should solicit the funding through philanthropic measures.

If anyone has any experiences, suggestions or knows anyone you can network me with I would appreciate it greatly. Thanks in advance

Bowlers in Bolivia and Peru

tellurian — Fri, 07 Mar 2008 21:30:01 -0800

There are two different stories about how bowler hats came to Bolivia and Peru. I'm looking for some original sources for the stories that bowler hats are "worn by Quechua and Aymara women in Peru and Bolivia since the 1920's when supposedly a shipment of bowler hats was sent from Europe to Bolivia via Peru for use by Europeans who were working on the construction of the railroad. The hats were found to be too small and were distributed to locals." -OR- It is a result of an over-order and an enterprising salesman who supposedly convinced them that the wearing of the hats would increase their fertility.

L'Oreille Cassée

prettyboyfloyd — Tue, 10 Jul 2007 15:07:02 -0800

Bolivia? Planning on Going to Spanish School in Sucre. Your experiences there? Tips? So I'm finishing with the bar exam in a couple of weeks and am on the verge of buying my plane ticket (ouch!) to go down to Bolivia for 6-8 weeks and solidify my Spanish with a tutor in Sucre.

Your tips? Experiences? Do's and Don'ts? I've travelled in europe, china, and central america and will be flying to LaPaz from SFO.

I picked Sucre dbecause it seems like a nice medium sized city with some history where I could get up into the andes. I've been trolling the Thorntree, but if any of you Mefiters have any personal experiences to add I would be much obliged.

About me: 30 something male (committed relationship), just graduated from law school, moderate but rusty spanish, would like to attain 'fluency' so that I can work with my spanish speaking clients. I'm interested in Morales and the social movements going on in Bolivia right now and think that this would be an interesting time to be there. I play soccer, but I'm pretty terrible (should I even bother trying to get in on a pick up game at 6000 feet?)

I'd like to have a nice time, but I'm pretty committed to getting my spanish into top condition.

Thanks!

Getting a Brazilian Visa (from the USA)

jare2003 — Mon, 06 Mar 2006 10:38:54 -0800

Getting a Visa to Brazil.

I'm a US Citizen that will be traveling to Brazil (stopping there for a week or so, before going to Bolivia for 2.5-3 months) or so. Two issues:1) getting the visa, 2) departing out through Brazil three months later.
Please help. 1) Brazil, in addition to the regular $100 fee, requires that you now get the visa IN PERSON. The website says that no mail submissions are now accepted...so for anyone that has waited in line at the consulate in NYC - how long should i expect this to take? is there a chance that i won't get it? how early should i show up?

2) If I fly from NYC in early June, stay in Brazil for a week, then go to Bolivia for 2.5, will i have problems if I fly back out through Brazil later in late August? Is this permissible? I would be going through different local airlines.

Back from Bolivia with no passport?

BigCalm — Thu, 09 Feb 2006 08:02:54 -0800

My Dad, a British Citizen, is currently in Bolivia and has had his passport stolen. How do we get him home? While it seems obvious - go to the embassy (done), get temporary passport (applied for), fly home, but it's not turning out quite that simple. For one thing, there's no direct flights.

The first major stumbling block is US immigration, they don't let anyone fly through on a temporary passport. My Dad went out via Miami and was going to come back that way, but a proper passport could take up to a week to get, and we'd like to get him home a bit quicker.

Simple, we thought, fly to Brazil or Argentina and fly back to Europe from there. No go, also stolen with his passport is my Dad's yellow fever certificate. You can't get into these countries without one.

Any advice greatly appreciated.

going through brazil on the way to bolivia

jare2003 — Sun, 06 Nov 2005 14:46:38 -0800

Going to Bolivia next summer, and interested in spending a week or two in Brazil on the way. How feasible is this? I am going to Bolivia next summer to do research for my masters thesis, and I was thinking of potentially flying to Rio or Sao Paulo instead to spend some time - then taking a bus/train/flight to Cochabamba (where i will be), or La Paz. Has anyone done anything like this? Any suggestions for flying to Brazil cheaply?

Flying to Bolivia was quite a bit more expensive, so i was thinking that I could come out at roughly the same prices by trying this - and see Brazil some in the meantime. How much should a Brazil flight cost? (from NYC)

Peru and Bolivia

moonbird — Sat, 05 Mar 2005 12:32:34 -0800

I'm going to Peru and Bolivia in late May, with a small group. We're starting in Cusco and winding up in La Paz, with Macchu Pichu and other relatively well-known archeological sites on the itinerary. Have other MeFites had experience in that area? How about wonderful, off-the-beaten-track recommendations or practical tips? Google is remarkably short on substance on this.