Bolivia: Transportation

Hola everyone! The sights we've been seeing are wonderful, but how do we exactly get there? In the States, you would hop into your car and turn on the GPS. In Bolivia, it's a bit more complicated. Several people own cars, but not the majority. So how do people get around?

Well, there are several ways. You could call your taxi service, and they would pick you up. Or you could stand on the street and hail one of the identical-looking minibuses rushing by. Or you could signal an enormous micro (pronounced mee'cro; another word for bus in Bolivia) heaving past to stop on its assigned route. There are also variations in between a taxi and minibus, like the trufi. Usually, we call a local taxi service and ask for an available taxi to stop by our house.

For our charango lessons though, we walk a little less than two blocks and hail the micro, or bus, called "The S." This route takes us downtown. Once we're there, the driver gives everyone little green tickets, and lets them off to wait for the next "S." The purpose of this to empty out the bus, and give riders a free pass for the second stretch of the route. Once the other bus drives five blocks, we get off and walk another three blocks in a different direction, finally arriving at the studio. This might seem complicated and unnecessary, but it's way cheaper than going by taxi, and normal to us now.

Another thing you might have noticed is how I'm measuring distance in blocks, and not miles or kilometers. That's because we're living in the city, where everything is crowded and mostly within walking distance. All the cities we've ever visited in Bolivia are like this, and the very opposite of our spacious, spread-out Jacksonville. That's why we walk more here than we've ever walked in the States! We walk to shop for food, walk to restaurants, and walk to church on Sundays too.

Trying to squeeze into this taxi!

This is a bus called "the 27" 

that passes close by to our house.

Turning to long distances, we've taken a taxi to Casa de Esperanza in Caranavi (four hours), and a minibus to Torotoro (six hours). There are also buses called Flotas designed to drive many people from region to region. If you can't afford to fly from Cochabamba to La Paz, you would take a Flota there. Unfortunately, traveling in a Flota would take seven hours, whereas traveling by plane would take about an hour. Why? Because of the roads. Some are partially paved, some aren't paved at all. So imagine rattling along a winding dirt road for hours on end. And yes, roads here always wind, because much of Bolivia is mountainous country :)

Bolivia is a country with much varied transportation. Taxis, trufis, minibuses, micros, and flotas can take you wherever you want, but you still might have to walk some of the way. Sometimes the going is easy; sometimes it's hard. In the end, transportation is a small part of Bolivia's varied culture!