Bolivia - The Rough Guide to South America on a Budget - page 154

FROM BRAZIL
The busiest crossing is the rail border at
Quijarro (see p.215), near the Brazilian
city of Corumbá, where the Bolivian
Pantanal meets its more famous Brazilian
counterpart. From Quijarro, it's a full
day's train journey to Santa Cruz. There
are also a couple of borders in Amazonia ,
from Guajará-Mirim (transit point
Porto Velho) by boat across the Rio
Mamoré to Guayaramerín, from where
there are regular onward flights; and from
Brasiléia (transit point Rio Branco) to
Cobija, the capital of Pando province
(see p.221).

can purchase one on arrival for about
US$50 per person.
Citizens of the United States can apply
for a tourist visa on arrival, at a cost of
US$135 per person paid in cash; they're
valid for five years and allow visitors to
enter Bolivia three times a year, with a
maximum of ninety days per year spent
in the country. Check W travel.state.gov
for further details of entry requirements
for US citizens.
For other nationalities, the situation
changes periodically, so always check with
your local embassy or consulate a month
or two before travelling. On arrival, you'll
be issued with a tourist card ( tarjeta de
turismo ) valid for thirty or ninety days,
depending on your nationality. Before
entry, check the number of days you're
allowed to stay and make sure the border
officials give you the stamp with the
maximum number of days your nationality
allows you; if they give you less than the
maximum, you can request it on the spot
(though there's no guarantee you'll get it)
or go to the immigration office in La Paz
or the nearest city to your border crossing
and receive another stamp. The annual
limit, at the time of writing, was restricted
to ninety days, and, officially at least,
you cannot just cross the border and get
another ninety-day card.

2

FROM CHILE
here are two trans-Andean routes which
cross from Chile, the most popular being
the road up from Arica on the coast to
Tambo Quemado (see p.187), and on to
La Paz. A more adventurous option is the
remote border crossing of Laguna Verde
(see p.196), at the southern edge of
Reserva Eduardo Avaroa, accessible via
organized tours from the Chilean town of
San Pedro de Atacama.

FROM PERU
The most widely used land border of all is
the Yunguyo-Kasani crossing (see p.178)
at the southern tip of Lake Titicaca near
Copacabana, easily accessible from Puno
in southern Peru. Less busy but just as
easy to get to from Puno is the crossing
at Desaguadero (see p.175), with regular
onward transport to La Paz.

GETTING AROUND
Bolivia's topography, size and lack of
basic infrastructure mean that getting
around is often a challenge, especially in
the rainy season. However, buses are very
cheap and numerous, and flying within
the country is affordable.

FROM PARAGUAY
For the adventurous only, the trans-Chaco
border between Bolivia and Paraguay
(see p.216) is navigable only in the dry
season, during which the route - all the
way from Asunción to Santa Cruz - is
served by an endurance-testing two- to
three-day bus journey.

BY PLANE
La Paz, Santa Cruz, Sucre and
Cochabamba are all connected by
daily flights (B$550-900), and there are
also frequent services to Tarija, Trinidad,
Rurrenabaque and a number of remote
towns in the Amazon and the eastern
lowlands. The principal carriers are
Amaszonas ( W amaszonas.com), Aerocon
( W aerocon.bo), state-run Boliviana de
Aviacion or BoA ( W boa.bo) and
military-run Transportes Aereo Militar or

VISAS
Many visitors to Bolivia - including
citizens of the United Kingdom , most
European countries, Canada , New
Zealand and Australia - don't need a visa.
Citizens of South Africa need a visa but