Introduction
Ever seen those heavenly full mirror shots on Instagram? Or those strange perspective shots where toys appear larger than us humans? So did I, and I was absolutely thrilled to have the chance to go to Uyuni, Bolivia, to be able to see such beautiful environments in person. However, before I jump gung-ho into my experiences in Uyuni, I would like to share about entering Bolivia in general, a bit on La Paz, and the journey to Uyuni.
A Trip to Altitude - La Paz.
La Paz
La Paz is the highest ‘capital’ in the world, standing at 3,640m, yes high enough for travelers coming from sea level to suffer from altitude sickness. I caught a 5am flight out of Lima, transited through Cuzco, and finally arrived in La Paz at 10am. With a bus to catch at 8pm (to Uyuni), I had a single afternoon to explore around downtown La Paz. With the lack of time, and the fatigue of early morning travel (yeah I woke up at 1am), I actually covered really little. Much regret here, as La Paz actually holds so much more, including day trips to Lake Titicaca and Valle de Luna.
These streets know no chill.
Mirador Killi Killi
I spent most of my day at Mirador Killi Killi, a playground and mini-park that overlooks the city of La Paz. To get there, you can either take a taxi or a shared van/bus, or you can be a little naive like me and follow Google Maps on foot. Yes, I climbed multiple highly elevated streets with my haversack, stopping every 20 steps or so to catch my breadth. Coming from flat Singapore, and Lima, the concept of a city totally built on slopes was really interesting to me. After about an hour of climbing the streets, I was truly rewarded with the magnificent views from Killi Killi. I will stop here and let the pictures do the rest of the talking:
There are houses at Mirador Killi Killi, which I infer to have amazing views at sunrise and sunset. AirBnB anyone?
Journey to Uyuni
After pretty much chilling the day away, I caught a bus from the Terminal de Buses at 8pm to Uyuni. The journey stretched through the night, allowing me to arrive in Uyuni at 4.30am in the morning. Unfortunately, the journey was less than pleasant as I had next to no legroom, and yeah I am pretty short. Additionally, a ‘first world problem’ problem I had was the lack of charging utilities (probably be labeled as a millennial or a spoilt brat for this, but whatever, bite me). Still, for the relatively high price I paid, I expected much more.
Terminal de Buses La Paz
Rest stop at 2am in a little town.
Other Stuff
Getting a Bolivian Visa:
I decided to include this in my blog due to the lack of clear information on the internet. Bolivian tourists are categorized into three groups, each having different or no visa requirements. Singaporeans are categorized as group 2, and require a tourist visa (mine was 30 days). There are 2 ways to get the visa, either from a Bolivian embassy or from the boarder immigration. I got mine from the Bolivian embassy in Lima, which required me to submit a few documents:
- Affidavit of visa application obtained from the website of the General Directorate of Migration
- Passport (6 months validity)
- Passport copy
- Proof of financial resources
- Travel itinerary
- Accommodation receipt
- Transportation receipt
- Passport photo
- *Yellow fever vaccination proof (only needed for certain areas of Bolivia)
I was not required to pay any fee, and was able to collect my passport the next day. As far as getting a visa from the boarder, I have heard a mixture of stories, some claim that they got it easily with no problems, some claimed they needed to pay, and others have being turned away from Bolivia at the boarder. Personally, at the airport, I did not see anyone having problems entering Bolivia, however I did not see boarder control for those taking the bus into Bolivia.
Getting to Uyuni:
While the bus remains the traditional transport from La Paz to Uyuni, there are currently flights to Uyuni as well. However, they are limited in availability and timing.
Up Next
In the next blog post, I will start to share about my experiences in Uyuni on my 3-day tour. Stay tuned!
If time permits, I will definitely be returning to Bolivia to explore the many attractions that I missed.
