Ms. Steele's Journals


Made it to Bolivia   ( Jan. 6, 2008 )
Well, I guess I couldn?t ask for a better start to the trip. I had three flights that were all successful. I flew from Austin to Dallas to Miami, and then to La Paz, Bolivia. Other than a couple of slight delays, they all went off without a hitch. I tried to sleep on the 6-hour flight to Bolivia, but it was rather bumpy, so I didn?t get too much sleep. The first thing we all wanted to do when we got of the plane was brush our teeth! I finally arrived in Bolivia this morning at 9am local time (just 2-1/2 hours late). The time here is just 2 hours ahead of Austin, TX.

It turns out that the International airport in La Paz is the highest altitude airport in the world at 13,300ft above sea level. When I first heard that, I was concerned about being able to breathe and about the possible low temperatures even though it is winter here. However, to my delight, I didn?t notice any problems with breathing, and the temperature was sunny and about 60 degrees Farenheit.

After I got off the plane, I had to go through immigration where they check your passport, your travel VISA (if one is required by the country, and in Bolivia it is), and your immunization card if required. For entrance into Bolivia, they require that you have had an immunization against Yellow Fever, which I got a couple of months ago. So, all was in order, and all went fine. Then I picked up my luggage and went through customs. It seems that they randomly select whose baggage to manually search by each person passing through a metal arch (but I don?t think it was a metal detector) and pressing a button. If the signal sounds, they go through your bags. It was my lucky day, I guess, because the signal went off. They simply opened up my bags, scanned through them for drugs and bombs, found none of course, and sent me on my way.

Fortunately the driver from the hotel where I?m staying in La Paz had waited 2-1/2 hours for our late plane, and was there to take me into town. It turns out that the airport is on the upper ridge of mountains, and the city of La Paz is actually down in a basin adjacent to it. It?s a big city with lots of people, but I noticed very few cars on the road. I asked my driver (my first opportunity to brush the dust off my Spanish-speaking skills) about the lack of cars. He said that Bolivians don?t usually work on Sundays (except a few people like him that had to pick me up at the airport). Typically, they spend Sundays partying with their friends and family.

Anyway, I checked into my room. The hotel is very nice for $30 per night, and they have free Internet access for me, yea!

Since ?no one? works on Sunday, I think I?ll just walk around and see what I can discover nearby, and take a nap! Tomorrow I am planning to meet up with the local botanist and visit the herbarium (Herbario Nacional de Bolivia).