Our Temporary Apartment in Tarija

Just wanted to post some photos of our temporary apartment here in Tarija. We'll be living here for the first few weeks while we look for a permanent place. It's really nice—two bedrooms, high ceilings, nice views, and we're the first ones to live here! Check it out... (click photos to see larger versions)

The living room

Bedroom

Dining room

The bathroom—that's right, the toilet is IN THE SHOWER! :-O

Main bedroom

The Rubbish Tree

Some things just work better in Bolivia. Granted, the list might be that long, but there are things that they just have down. Tops of the list has to be trash collection. In the states, our trash collection came once a week. But when it’s the middle of summer and there’s some stanky trash lying around, once a week just ain’t enough. In Bolivia the trash collection comes three times a week. You don’t even have enough time to accumulate that much garbage before they come again. And if that isn’t enough, they even have something our New Zealand friends at Altiplano Bolivia have dubbed “The Rubbish Tree.” It’s a tree down the street from them where people in the neighborhood hang their garbage on non-pickup days. Every day, some guys in a truck come and pick it up. No one seems to know who those guys are, why they come by, or who pays them... but they come, and the system just works.

Try that in the states!

Next Stop: Residencial Altiplano

So our journey finally brought us to Tarija, Bolivia, where we've decided to spend the next year or so of our lives. 


Before leaving the states we corresponded with Martin Rattray from Altiplano Bolivia, who helped us find a temporary apartment to spend the first month in Tarija. When we arrived the apartment wasn't quite ready, so we ended up staying with Martin and his wife Louise's at their excellent bed and breakfast Residencial Altiplano. Anyplace that gets five stars on Tripadvisor has to be good, right? Actually I would give Altiplano six stars if I could. It's that good. Martin and Louise are excellent hosts—they provide excellent accommodations, valuable time-saving advice, and a killer breakfast. 


They were also understanding about us bringing Miles along. By then he had been on enough noisy planes, cargo holds, and taxis for a cat lifetime. He slept most of the time at Altiplano. We also spent most of the time at Altiplano decompressing. Samantha caught a head cold while we were there, so she was pretty well out of commission for a few days recuperating.

The dining room at Residencial Altiplano

Samantha and Michael along with the Rattrays

Cheapest Overnight Shipping EVER!

In Bolivia, they don't have UPS, Fedex, or a postal service. The way you get packages and letters from one place to another is via the bus service, which goes absolutely everywhere, overnight. In order to get our bags from Santa Cruz to Tarija, we had to send them via bus.


We arrived at the bus station and found the shipping area. It turned out to be a long line of dilapidated stalls, one for each bus company. So there we were about to hand over all the possessions we have in the world to a (seemingly) ramshackle business run by a guy chewing coca leaves and just hope they actually arrive. Was I nervous? Most definitely.


It turns out that even though this system might seem disorganized to people from the western world, it's actually quite reliable. We dropped off the bags, wrapped them in blue tarps, paid for the shipping, and got tickets to pick them up the next day.

All together: Four bags, 275 pounds in total, shipped overnight all for $35. 


Try that in the states!

The Caravan Leaves Santa Cruz

Spending a few days in Santa Cruz was good. It allowed us to shop for a few bulky things that we hadn't been able to bring on the plane (i.e. guitar stands and a mic stand). We also found out that there's a lot available in Santa Cruz—they even have a Geox shoe store! So next time we're there, we'll be able to stock up on whatever we need.


Time came for us to move on to Tarija, where we will be living for the next year or so. Remember all the bags we brought with us? Well, we couldn't take them on the plane to Tarija, so we decided to take everyone's advice and send them by bus. It sounded pretty simple—just drop off the bags at the bus station, pay the agent, and then pick them up when the bus arrives in Tarija the next day. We figured, what could go wrong? Answer: A lot.


So Sunday morning we woke up and got ready to leave. Our flight was that afternoon, so we had all morning to drop off our bags at the bus station. As we were getting ready we thought "It's strange how quiet it is outside. There aren't any cars going by... Oh well, that must be how it is on Sunday mornings." It turned out, there was a reason for the peace and quiet: That Sunday was the annual "Dia de pietones" (day of the pedestrian). No cars allowed in the city center. Military blockades were keeping vehicles from entering the city and disturbing the pedestrians. Which meant we had no way of getting our caravan of bags to the bus station—short of walking, which definitely wasn't going to happen. 


Thankfully in Bolivia there is always someone willing to risk arrest to make a few bucks. The doorman called up a taxi who somehow snuck through the blockades and entered the city center to pick us up. We loaded up the car and made it to the bus station in time to drop off the bags.

Visa Adventures, Part I

So before we left the states, we put lots of time into gathering the necessary paperwork for our visas. We needed our marriage certificate translated, notarized, authorized by the US State Department, and stamped by the Bolivian consulate in LA. We needed forms filled out, vaccinations taken, fees paid, the list goes on. We thought we had everything. But you know how it goes, there's always something...


On Friday, the day after we arrived, we went straight to the cancilleria office in Santa Cruz, which officiates over the officiating of official paperwork. We waited in line, presented our documents, and were told the terrible news—something was missing. The translated marriage certificate wasn't stamped or authenticated. Doh! The clerk told us the only option was to visit the US consulate in town and have them stamp it (total misinformation, more on that later). So we headed off in a taxi, hoping things would work out. Our plane to Tarija was leaving Sunday, so we only had Friday to get things in order before leaving the capital.


The US embassy in Santa Cruz is in a nice neighborhood, surrounded by high walls, and guarded by the Bolivian military police. In other words, completely inaccessible. We were told we couldn't go in unless we had an appointment, which could only be made online—and for Monday, the day after we were supposed to leave. We pleaded our case to the guards, but to no avail. They wouldn't budge. What's the point of having an embassy if they aren't going to help American citizens? 


We decided to cut our losses and call off the visa work for the day. We'd figure that out later. It was only 11am so we decided to head across town and visit the Bolivia branch of Jehovah's Witnesses to meet with our friend Robert Golden. Unfortunately we didn't make it in time to have lunch there, but in the early afternoon they met with us and gave us some great information. We had picked a good place, they said. Tarija was a great town and several of the local congregations were in need of assistance. They gave us some helpful pointers and suggestions, and we left with a promise of visiting again next time we're in Santa Cruz.

Bolivia branch of Jehovah's Witnesses, reception building

First things first...

After arriving at our rental apartment in Santa Cruz, we headed out for some dinner. Tripadvisor recommended a place called Kiwi's Cafe, which was walking distance from our building. So we went out and had our first meal in Bolivia.

It may seem strange, but at this point it hadn't really hit us we were there. Maybe it was the effects of such a long journey, but we didn't have that "ah ha" moment until these arrived:

Bolivian. Fruit. Smoothies. The best! We had these back in April but forgot how good they were. We ordered passion fruit (maracuya) and papaya, and upon first sip it hit us—"Uhm... we're like, in Bolivia!" There's just nothing like them in the states. The fruit is picked here when it's ripe, and since Bolivia has tropical regions the fruit doesn't have to travel thousands of miles. Incredible taste. Going to have lots more in the months to come.