Our Time In Bolivia Cut Short

We worked hard to get to the capital of Bolivia. However no matter how far ahead you plan things are always subject to change here. Who knew that there would be political troubles when we made the decision to fly out of La Paz?? It seemed like the perfect way to ensure we spent some time there. Well, did that ever back fire!!!

Over the last month the political problems have escalated. To simplify it, there has always been problems between the East and West. The eastern part of the country is vey powerful and rich because of mining and natural resources. Just recently the first indigenous president (from the poor West) was elected. It was serious business. To ensure that things were a little bit peaceful no alcohol was sold for two days prior to the election. Being from the West the president sympathizes with the large majority of poor, subsistence farmers. The farmers would like the wealthy landowners in the West to share some of their loot and land. The Easterners are proud of all the work that they have done and are unwilling to just hand it off to someone less capable. It is a very complicated and troublesome 500 year old arguement.

But what that meant for us was uncertainties about flying. We began to hear rumours that blockades and rallies were interfering with local and international transportation. As the majority of the problems were not in La Paz we made our way there, hoping for the best. One of the first things we did was check in with the American Airlines office. The women who helped us spoke English and they were so helpful. That also happened to be the day that American Airlines cancelled all of their La Paz - Miami flights for the rest of September... until Oct 1st (and we were scheduled to fly out on the 2nd)! After a little discussion we were surprised when one of the ladies suggested we get out of there, I think her words were something like "Get out of here as soon as you can, it is not likely to improve". She meant that flying from one of their other South American hubs was recommended and they would cover the cost to change the tickets but not travelling expenses for us to get there.

Though La Paz continued to have demonstrations and there was an increase in the number of riot police after important talks, there were no serious problems while we were there. The high altitude means that the planes can only take off with a limited amount of fuel due to weight restrictions so they have to land with in a short time to refuel and upgrade their crew. This means the La Paz - Miami flight must land in the Bolivian city of Santa Cruz... in the tumultuous western half of the country. The protests, riots and road blockades meant that the Santa Cruz airport could not guarentee the necessary crew or fuel to the airline, which forced American Airlines to cancel their La Paz - Miami flights for the entire month of September. After hearing all of this from the lady at the AA office we had a tough decision to make. We could stay in La Paz and hope there would be a flight out on the 2nd of October, or we could leave Bolivia. If we decided to leave Bolivia... Where would we fly out of? How would we get there? When would we leave?

We spent many long hours analazing our options. In the end we retraced our steps to Lima, Peru. Flying to Chile and only having one or two days there just didn't seem worth the extra costs, though it was tempting. In total the two days of busing cost us about $100 (saving us around $800 over the other alternatives) and since we had little money and lots of time we went back to Lima. A bonus of the long bus trip back through Peru was we were able to return to Arequipa for one night and we were reminded of how much we loved the city. We also bumped up our departure so we could spend more time with Ian, Tamara and the girls in Florida. It was a little nerve wracking but it all worked out. An ironic twist is that as best as we can tell from trolling Google, it looks like miraculously our Oct 2 flight ended up leaving from La Paz after all!! Even though it turned out we probably could have just stayed in La Paz, we are happy with our decision to bail and head for Peru. The wise words of a fellow traveller still remain true, "In Bolivia everything is possible, but nothing is certain."