Day 79 - Now we're in Argentina...now we're in Bolivia

After one month we finally said goodbye to Argentina and crossed into Bolivian territory on foot.

10.00 am

Yesterday we took the 3.30pm bus from Salta to La Quiaca. After breakfast this morning, we checked out of the hotel at 10am and headed to the border for immigration to Bolivia. It’s as simple as just walking to the next room in your house. We walked into Bolivia completely missing the migration kiosk, and without getting a stamp on our passports, and had to walk back where staff directed us to the immigration area.

The next task on our agenda was to get our remaining Argentinian pesos exchanged into Bolivianos and find a sim card for Munis (I am still without a phone at this point). We got some money and headed to the town centre of Villazon, which was quiet and the shops were closed mainly due to it being a Sunday but also we were told, by a taxi driver, on account of Fathers Day celebrations in Bolivia.

09:30 am

We also realised that we had gained an hour by crossing into Bolivian territory so it was actually 9.30am now and not 10.30am as our watches were showing us.  We got a taxi to the bus terminal to find out about tickets to Sucre for the night, but because we did not have enough money on us, took a taxi back to the town centre to find an ATM and withdraw cash, got into a taxi again to the bus terminal to buy tickets and leave our luggage and then took the taxi back to the town centre (sadly walking was not an option with our luggage, therefore, the multiple trips!). We still had 10 hours to kill, oh boy.

12:00 pm

We idled away time by walking around, found a sim card for Munis and then sat down for lunch at a local restaurant which seemed quite busy. Here we had our first introduction to Bolivian cuisine. After eating somewhat simple and plain tasting cuisine in Columbia and Argentina, a meal of rotisserie chicken, rice and chips was exactly what our palettes had been craving. If this is what food in Bolivia was going to taste like, I'd be a happy camper! Next we headed to the park to amuse ourselves as nothing else was opened. The weather was sunny but cold, we found a sunny spot where I laid on the park bench, whilst Munis read, and was able to catch some zzzs for about half an hour.

14:00 pm

The coffee craving had kicked in by now and we wanted some place we could sit and use our laptop. According to google, a couple of coffee shops were due to open at 3pm on Sunday so we waited until then in the same spot, however, come 3pm everything remained closed so we got up in search of any place that would serve us hot drinks. Luckily, we found one where I had the largest mug of coffee of my life.

16:00 pm

After coffee we returned to the park again (!) because there was no where else to go. It had started to fill up by now. We got some ice cream, soaked in the remaining sun, called bhai and then started thinking about options for dinner.

18:00 pm

Somehow we made it to this time and sat for a dinner of chicken milanesa and chips and soon afterwards headed to the bus terminal to get our luggage and board the bus which was due to leave at 8 pm.

20:00 pm

We took out our down jackets as it was freezing outside, got on the bus and were quite happy to finally have a home for the night. The bus was comfortable, the seats reclined all the way to the back, what more could we want. On the bus we read for about an hour and finally called it a night.

22:30 pm

I woke up as the bus was stationary, thinking we might be in a queue or traffic jam and hoping we'd be on the move again soon, I closed my eyes, but when I heard commotion outside I peeked out the window and saw the bus driver and a couple of other people standing near the rear wheels with flash lights, it was when the driver turned off the engine that I knew something was amiss. I soon saw one of the guys outside bring out a jack and roll out a tyre. We had a puncture! The number of buses we have taken in our travels in South America is ridiculous, so I guess sooner or later this was bound to happen. But it was only 10.30pm, I was hoping I'd been asleep for much longer. I won't lie, it was quite amusing to be on a bus on the side of the highway in pitch black with two punctured tyres!

00:00 am

We were finally on the move again, it took almost two hours for them to change the two rear tyres of the bus. I fell asleep as soon as the bus started moving again.

When I woke up again it was 07:30 am on March 20, 2023, we had entered the city of Sucre. It was 2 hours later than our initial arrival was planned but gladly we were able to check into our Airbnb early and begin our Bolivian adventure!

If you would like to read about my first impressions of Bolivia you can check out the following post.