Legal At Last!

Legal at Last!

 

Phew is it fun to type those words. Let me do it again, legal at last! Ok one more time, my mom and I are legally in Bolivia at last!!

Ending our amazing nature tour of southern Bolivia we were taken to the city, at least it seemed like a city after the lack of civilization we had been. It was pretty run down with buildings half built. Pulling off to the side of the road Ruth took us to an ATM. Please, please work! I could tell my mom was nervous as we entered the cards.

 

Money! Our first withdrawal worked. Ok can we get another one? Yes! Three withdrawals later we were halfway to a visa. 

A little further down the road Ruth led us into a beat up door way with a dirty sign reading migracion. Entering the doorway I was greeted with the feeling of being back in Nepal. Big open lobbies, with massive floor tiling, some falling apart, and nothing really in it. We took the spiral stairs upstairs to the office.

The office gave me the same feeling. If you've ever visiting a place such as Nepal, India, and now I guess parts of South America you will understand what I mean. The room was massive! But massive for no point. Two small desks sat at opposite sides of the room.

The officer called us over and Ruth began to explain our situation. He stared at us blankly. Basically the look of "what do you mean you've been traveling in the country without a visa?!?" 

We got a little background on the history of united stats visas in the Bolovia. Basically every other country gets to visit stunning Bolivia for a mere three or four dollars. The United States on the other hand has to pay a whopping fee of 160 U.S. Dollars. The reason behind this is thought to be because of the previous Bolivian president. After being a down right terrible leader, stealing money, and basically just sucking at life according to Bolivians, he fled the country and arrest and is hiding in the states! To make matters worse he supposedly is originally born in the United States to begin with.

I never encountered any negativity from any Bolivians for being a citizen of the United States. I found every Bolivian to be extremely kind, helpful, and friendly. Only their visa control seems to hate us.

Anyways, we go into the other side of the office which is once again a massive room. In one corner a small glass booth stands where we pay another man. In the other 80 Percent of the room stands empty except for awkwardly placed couches. Once I take more note on these weird similarities that exist halfway across the world I will write another post.

Finally we are handed our passports with visas!!!! Wooooo hooooo we are legal at last.

Ruth and Wilson drop us at the airport. I got a little emotional saying goodbye to them. I'm unsure whether they felt the same way but they seemed to be more than tour guides. We were really got to know them over the past few days in the wilderness. Hands down they have been the best guides I have ever met. They went so far out of their way to make everything nice. From lunches outside, to standing on cars to take pictures, to helping us with visas! 

In the airport we started as the only ones. Only two flights fly out so the airport is tiny. With no heat the one worker brought over an outdoor heater to keep us warm. Finally at boarding time we went through a small security, walked through to boarding, and straight out of the door into the cold night and our small airplane! Next stop: La Paz!!!