By the Skin of Our Teeth

To La Paz, Bolivia -- March 24-25 -- Day 1-2

The last couple days have been consumed with traveling, and we have now left the far south behind. Given the time, effort, and cost to get down to Patagonia, I suppose we could have spent more time enjoying the scenic beauty. Still, what we did see, the Perito Moreno Glacier and Fitz Roy range, was absolutely stunning.

Yesterday, we had only to get from El Chalten to El Calafate. That gave us some time for the kids to finish their blog about the Glacier and write some post card, not mention for all of us to reorganize our bags again. It seems crazy that we can't possibly keep track of all our stuff. When unplugging the spare battery yesterday, we apparently left the adapter in the outlet at the hostel; then Dex informed me he doesn't actually know where his iPod Shuffle is anymore!  Arrgh. It's par for the course, I suppose. Since we are constantly moving, packing, unpacking, and almost never in the same place for more than a day or two, I guess that's the way it goes.

Of course, if we’re not losing things, then we're breaking them. Dex and Kylie had fun the other night using the wooden skateboard ramp in Puerto Natales as a slide. Afterwards, though, Dex realized his pants were a bit breezier than normal with a jagged hole along the seam. Fortunately the glue-on, Thermarest patches seemed to have done the trick, even if it doesn't look that great. My Nepal hiking boots finally gave out with one sole peeling off the front. I suppose for sixty bucks they did the job. As a result of all this, we now have an awful lot of items we didn't leave home with -- our 20 liter day pack, the kids’ small travel bags, our hats, various sunglasses, shoes, pants, shirts, and even a couple sleeping bags. I guess the upshot is, you can usually find what you need... eventually.

Today, we had three planes to catch (the 30th, 31st, and 32nd of the trip!). For the second one, in Buenos Aires, we had to change airports, which wasn't much of a problem since we had five hours between flights. The bigger problem was between the second and third. Here’s Meg’s take:

Early morning in El Chalten

Good bye Patagonia

As you have probably guessed, Dean and I are not detailed planners.  For the most part, our laid back approach has treated us well for the first ten months.  Before leaving the country we're in, we check the countries we are going to regarding visas.  So it was, before we left New Zealand, we checked over Chile, Argentina, Peru and Ecuador, and each time Lonely Planet stated that US Citizens do not need visas.  We just might have forgotten to check Bolivia....

As we were checking in for our flight from Buenos Aires to La Paz, the airline attendant asked about our Bolivian visa.  Umm, what?  Not to worry, though; apparently, we could obtain one upon arrival, much like what we’d done in Nepal, Thailand, Cambodia, Namibia, etc.  To allay our fears, we checked the Lonely Planet to find this: "At the time of print, visa's may be obtained at the airport, but check with the Bolivian Embassy."  So much for that.  With our bags already checked through to La Paz, but with us stopping first in Santa Cruz (our entry point to Bolivia), we checked the Bolivian Embassy website to find a lengthy list of requirements -- bank statement, proof of Yellow Fever vaccination (Dean's was safely tucked away... in his checked in luggage), outbound ticket info, hotel confirmation or a letter of invitation and, the kicker, US $135 per visa. Upon reading all this, we started seriously reconsidering whether we should even get on the plane and risk being stranded at the first stop in Santa Cruz. However, if we abandoned the flight, the odds of getting our bags back before take off seemed slim.

Blue skies over Buenos Aires

We explained our situation to the Airline attendants of Boliviana de Aviacion (BoA) and Cynthia, a supervisor, went into fast action.  We decided that the money was the biggest hurdle. Luckily, Dean and I still had US dollars from our days in Cambodia (where you could get dollars from ATM's). Between us we had $385, $155 short of our required $540 (Cynthia confirmed the $135 amount).  We were instructed to use the nearest ATM to withdraw US dollars. Unfortunately, US dollars were not an option from this ATM.  OK, back to Cynthia at at which point she suggested getting Argentinian pesos instead and her team would exchange them for us. Yeah, problem solved! Off I went to the ATM for pesos, not dollars, only to see "Unable to give out money at this time" on the screen. Grrr.

Cynthia and her team

With the flight from Buenos Aires now being boarded, I returned empty handed and considerably more nervous.  Another woman, Marite, seeing our concerns, came over to ask us if she could help. She was from La Paz and felt certain things would work out.  Cynthia made some calls and suggested that she could take our ATM card downstairs, past security, and withdraw the required pesos.  After ten tense minutes, she returned with a smile on her face and cash in hand.  We were so impressed and grateful for the service and help Cynthia and her whole team provided us.

Confident it would all work out....

So with one hurdle leaped, we boarded the flight, but we had many more obstacles ahead.  If nothing else, we knew that the lay over time in Santa Cruz, an hour and forty minutes, was not long and wouldn't leave a lot of wiggle room for going through customs.  So it was, we were on a flight into Bolivia, not sure if we had enough money for visa's, certain we didn't have all the paperwork, and fretting that our bags were going to La Paz with or without us.  I was wishing for more than just a Diet Coke during that flight....

Good bye, Buenos Aires

Through all the excitement at the airport, the kids were troopers.  Our day had started at 6 a.m. in El Calafate, Argentina for the first plane ride.  Dex and Kylie made friends with some of the littler children waiting for the flight to Santa Cruz. Once on the plane, they made their own Chutes and Ladder game, complete with a paper dice that Kylie created.  They at least weren't too worried about our next steps.

Let's just say our brief stay in Santa Cruz was a nail biter.  We rushed off the flight and into the immigration line only to be asked almost immediately for our outbound transit information... which we didn't have.  Then we were asked for a printed copy of our hotel reservation -- a screen shot on the phone was insufficient -- and, to make matters worse, the visa fee per person was actually $160 per person, not the $135 we were told in Buenos Aires!  Now we were $100 short.  The agent pointed to some nearby seats and proceeded to process the rest of the passengers -- not good.  As the line dwindled and time ticked on, Dean scrambled to book a bus out of Bolivia. The lovely Bolivian woman, Marite (a.k.a. Guardian Angel #472) who had offered her assistance in Buenos Aires, found us once again. Explaining our situation, she quickly spoke to another agent and arranged for a police escort to an ATM outside the customs area for extra dollars. She assured us it would work out -- it's the Boivian way.

While I got the money, Wilmer by my side,  Dean was able to send our Galapagos itinerary (as proof that we were in fact leaving Bolivia) and our hotel reservations to one of the agent's email address for printing. Wow, it was actually looking like we were going to make it (no bank statement or proof of yellow fever vaccination required).  We still had 45 minutes before departure... then nothing. Apparently, there was a glitch in the computer system part way through the process of printing, stapling, snapping photos and stamping the passports! Yikes. Thirty minutes later, with three minutes to spare, and yet another escort through a hasty customs check, we arrived at our gate just as Marite predicted. She greeted us, a relieved look on her face. We were fortunate she had been in Buenos Aires to drop off her eldest daughter for college.  She gave us suggestions for what to see and do while in La Paz, and I look forward to trying them out.

Marite and Meg

So once again, we made it! The long day concluded with a forty-five minute taxi ride down the narrow, windy, and congested streets of La Paz to our snug little hotel in the center of town.  As they say, getting there is half the fun. Welcome to Bolivia.