My First Day In Bolivia, Villazon & Tupiza, Bolivia

May 29th, 2007 | By admin | Category: Travel Journal

My first day in Bolivia started with the bus trip from Humahuaca to La Quiaca, the Argentinian town that borders Bolivia. After Humahuaca the road gradually rose (La Quiaca is over 3600 metres above sea level) and passed between the colouful, twisted rock formations of the Andes and through the dreary towns of Tres Cruces and Abra Pampa. Humahuaca seems to be the northernmost town of any interest, beyond that we were in bleak border territory.

La Quiaca had a different feel from the other towns of the Argentinian north-west. Perhaps because it’s a border town, and there’s nothing on intrinsic interest there. It seemed poorer, a little more rough and ready. The sun was incredibly fierce, because of the altitude.

We took a taxi to the bridge that separates La Quiaca and Villazon (the Bolivian town on the other side of the border). We passed through immigration suprisingly quickly, and we were on the other side of the border, in Villazon.

It’s always struck me as strange that an imaginary line can make such a difference to people born and living only a few metres apart. The border here separates one of South America’s most developed countries from one of it’s least developed. Villazon was very different from La Quiaca, it seemed poor and chaotic, with lots of shops selling eveything imaginable under the blazing sun. It’s a trading town, people come here from the north of Argentina because everything is so much cheaper. It was easy to get a poor first impression of Bolivia from Villazon, and if the entire country was like this town it wouldn’t be much of a place to visit.

From Villazon we caught the bus to Tupiza, the nearest town with any tourist infrastructure to the border. My first bus experience in Bolivia was….interesting. Our tickets told us to be ready for the bus 30 minutes before departure. I thought that was a little strange but soon found out why. The bus pulled in 30 minutes beforehand and had certainly seen better days. It was old, the windows were cracked, and it was painted bright yellow. A man climbed up on top of the bus to secure the passengers suitcases and bags to the roof rack. The next twenty minutes or so was spent securing luggage, which even included a dismantled wooden bed and rolled up mattress. Then we got on the bus, and found our seats. Luckily there was enough space between the seats for me to sit comfortably. The seats were numbered and we had to sit in the seats printed on our tickets. The thing is that some of the old Bolivian women in the bus couldn’t read and were sitting in the wrong seats, we watched them change around and find their right seats for the next ten minutes or so. Then the latecomers that had to stand boarded, and we were ready to leave.

Bolivia is notorious for it’s underdeveloped roads and we spent the next two and a half hours bouncing up and down on a dusty unpaved road. We overtook several trucks as the journey began, the driver’s overtaking method seemed to be driving blindly into the dust the trucks were throwing up while honking wildly on the horn to warn any vehicles that might be coming the other way. It soon settled down though, and some time later we arrived in Tupiza.

Tupiza, La Joya de Bolivia (jewel of Bolivia) is a beautiful place. It’s built in a valley surrounded by jagged mountains and strangely shaped rocks. It has a completely different feel from Villazon. It’s similar to the northwest of Argentina, dry and sunny, hot during the day, cold at night. It’s the dry season and there’s very little water in the nearby river, and everything is bone dry and very dusty. But it has a strange charm, the people are very friendly and it’s a peaceful, laid back place.

I spent the last hour or so of daylight walking around the town with my camera, taking photos. It was a Sunday and a holiday (Bolivian Mother’s Day) and most of the shops and businesses were closed. There were people walking around, sitting in the plaza, kids playing. I was taking some photos when some kids ran in front of the camera and started posing. Then their dad appeared and wanted a photo too, he had his car nearby with more kids inside, he’d obviously been drinking. He was very friendly and shook my hand and gave me a hug, I took the email address of one of his kids so I could send them the photos, he even invited me to dinner (I declined).

So, this was my first day in Bolivia. From Humahuaca we had passed into a different country and a whole other world.