South America Travel Blog

Researching drones in Salar de Uyuni made the trip seem fairly predictable. Then the trip started. Conditions changed, schedules shifted, and some of the most memorable parts of the experience had very little to do with flying at all. Most of the information I found before travelling focused on what the rules said. Much less…

The hotel room barely got a look in once I arrived in Sucre Bolivia. I dropped my bag, went back outside and started walking without paying much attention to direction. A florist was arranging flowers, the newspaper boy nearby stacked newspapers and another turning looked worth taking. Somehow Plaza 25 de Mayo found me before…

I thought the Lake Titicaca Bolivia side would be the main attraction. Looking back, it was everything around it that stayed with me. A morning wandering through Copacabana, another boat crossing, or simply sitting beside the water for a while somehow became just as memorable as visiting Isla del Sol. Nothing here seemed to encourage…

I remember opening the car door more than I remember arriving in Rurrenabaque, Bolivia. The humidity hit me immediately after days spent in Bolivia’s cooler mountain towns. Everything looked greener too, although the heat took longer to stop noticing. I thought the rainforest would be what stayed with me afterwards. Watching capybaras resting along the…

At the time, nothing about arriving in Copacabana Bolivia felt especially memorable. The bus rolled in a little late, everyone collected their bags and within a couple of minutes the small crowd had disappeared. Families headed home together, backpackers drifted towards the lake and the town settled back into its usual routine. For many people…

Not every negative travel experience fits the definition of a scam. Quite often, it is simply a visitor paying too much because they do not yet understand local prices or routines. These situations tend to happen in busy tourist areas rather than ordinary neighbourhoods. Once travellers recognise that, many become much easier to spot. Bolivia…

Some places leave an impression the moment you arrive. Potosí isn’t usually one of them. If you’re searching for things to do in Potosí Bolivia, the city has a habit of changing your plans in the best possible way. The altitude slows things down before anything else. Then Cerro Rico starts appearing above the rooftops,…

When researching drone laws in La Paz, many people expect to find a simple list of rules and restrictions. La Paz never quite felt that straightforward. Each new perspective seemed to raise another question or reveal another detail. A route that looked straightforward on a map could feel completely different once elevation entered the picture….

A few searches related to drones Bolivia quickly introduce terms such as licences, registrations, authorisations, and flight restrictions, often without much explanation about how they relate to one another. Before long, what seemed like a simple question starts branching into several smaller ones. Hopefully I can help you wade through this mass of information &…

Crossing Bolivia’s land borders is usually less difficult than people expect. At first, the whole process can feel a little confusing. One queue turns into another queue, people move around suddenly, and sometimes nobody explains much at all. Most travellers still get through perfectly fine in the end. It just takes a bit of patience….

Whether Bolivia feels good for digital nomads depends a lot on someone’s expectations before arriving. Some remote workers enjoy the slower pace, lower costs, and less commercial atmosphere quite a bit. A lot of people also end up staying longer than planned once they start exploring Bolivia beyond the main backpacker route. Others struggle once…

Alcohol is easy enough to find in Bolivia, especially in larger cities and tourist areas. Most travellers drink there without any serious issues. The part people misjudge is usually everything around the drinking itself. High altitude changes how alcohol feels, nightlife areas vary a lot between cities, and exhaustion catches up with travellers surprisingly quickly…

Bolivia is one of those countries where organised tours can actually feel fairly reasonable price-wise. A few travellers organise almost everything themselves in Bolivia. Others gradually rely more on Bolivia group tours once remote routes, awkward bus connections, altitude, or complicated logistics start becoming part of the journey. Most people eventually land somewhere between both…

Honestly, most travellers get around Bolivia at night without much trouble. The bigger issue is usually petty theft rather than anything violent. Even so, the mood changes after dark, especially in larger cities. In places like La Paz, one of Bolivia’s unusual capital arrangements, you notice it quickly. Busy restaurants, traffic, music, people everywhere, then…

For budget travellers, Bolivia often feels more affordable once the daily costs start adding up. Things such as accommodation, transport, food, & guided tours generally come in lower than they do across much of Peru. So .. is Bolivia cheaper than Peru? Although in practice, the gap is not always huge every single day. Peru…

You don’t really need Spanish to travel around Bolivia. Plenty of people arrive with almost none and still get through it fine. Some people pick up a few words along the way. Nothing major, just bits here and there. Even that tends to help more than you’d think. You can still get around without much…

Getting around Bolivia sounds intimidating until you actually do it. Big distances, high altitudes, winding mountain roads… it all sounds like hard work. In reality, it’s mostly just a case of understanding how transport works here & adjusting your expectations slightly – something that comes up often in a complete guide to exploring Bolivia. Short…

So you’re thinking of heading to Bolivia & want to build an itinerary that’s not just “highlights on a list” but something you’ll actually remember? Been there. Ate the llama. Froze on the overnight bus. Made a few questionable calls. I travelled the country for a couple of months, bouncing between cities, chatting to other…