Getting across the border into Bolivia was easy enough. We walked to the border just after sunrise and waited around for about half an hour while the authorities on the Argentine side dealt with some families that were crossing with children. Once we were stamped out off Argentina we walked 50 yards across the bridge and presented ourselves at Bolivian immigration. There was no queue when we arrived and they gladly accepted our $135 visa fee and, in return, put some shiny stickers in our passports. Nationals of most countries (including places like Yemen) don’t need to pay for visas to Bolivia, however, US policies towards tourists have led Bolivian towards a policy of reciprocity.
The Bolivian border town of Villazón was not nearly as seedy as we were led to believe. The town was actually quite clean, had a nice square and lively commercial activity. Our first goal was to withdraw some Bolivianos from the town’s one and only ATM. I requested 2,500 Bs from the machine (about $300) and after the usual whirling noises it dispensed my card and a receipt but no cash. Doh!
There were some bank employees standing around waiting for the bank to open and they advised Amy that she should be able to withdraw 1,000 Bs from the machine without a problem. There was some talk of the machine only being able to dispense ten bills at a time. She gave it a try and the same thing played out – no cash. By this point the bank was open so we went in and Amy spoke to the supposed manager of the bank. In a very couldn’t-care-less manner he told her that they knew the ATM was broken yet there was no sign on the machine. Perfect.
Time for the backup plan. Good old US dollars. We hit up a couple of cambios (currency exchange shops) before we found one that would accept the two wrinkled $20 bills that I had handy. They gave me a half-decent rate and we had enough money to get out of Villazón on the bus.
The drive to Tupiza is only about 60 miles but it takes about three hours thanks to the crappy roads. Frustratingly we drove alongside of a beautiful paved highway most of the way but none of the bridges were complete. We are definitely in Bolivia now! The scenery was interesting through and we made it to Tupiza on time.
After getting to Tupiza we spent the better part of a day working on the money situation. The first step was to get in touch with our banks about the ATM withdrawals in Villazón. Sure enough, both has been debted from our account so we were (and still are) around $440 in the hole. Both of our banks have opened investigations into the matter so hopefully we will see the money back one day.
Tupiza doesn’t have a single ATM machine that accepts foreign cards. Tourists have three options: 1) exchange dollars, 2) have a local bank pull a cash advance against your VISA or MC or 3) cash travelers checks. We explored all three options and eventually decided on the cash advance. Cashing the travelers checks turned out to be an incredible ripoff at 18% away from official rate. We had plenty of US dollars but we wanted to hold those for emergencies.
Processing the cash advance also turned out to be a pain. Despite placing travel notices on our accounts the cash advance transactions were denied at the bank. After a handful of expensive phone calls back to the states (there are no pay phones through which you can call collect!) we had the issues sorted out with the bank. When it was all said and done, we got some cash from bank within about 5% of the official rate including all the fees. It took a day and a lot of running back and forth between phone centers, our hotel, and the bank but we got it all sorted out. Not a smooth start to our time in Bolivia, fortunately things got much better.
WARNING TO OTHER TRAVELERS: When the guidebook says to bring cash, it means it! Brings lots of crisp and new US notes to avoid hassles at dinky border towns.