But actually, the ideas is not as far off as it may seem, as this report shows.

Apparently the U.S. sees Bolivia as a possible country to be split up into it’s regional areas – just as Serbia and Kosovo were split last week.  And why?  Allegedly because the U.S. does not agree with the current politics of the Bolivian Government.

I think that this is a pretty scary thought.  Whatever you feelings may be towards or against the Bolivian Government and its President, should a foreign power really be pursuing such a policy?

Have they considered the damage, that this could do to the people of Bolivia?

A lady from Berlin is raising money to send a dustcart to Samaipata (original story here).

The story got me thinking – rubbish being collected by a lorry rather than a dustcart I could imagine, but did I see this happening during my visit anywhere? Was rubbish such a problem?

So I went back through all my photographs – and it took me a while to find any pictures with rubbish on them. On almost all of them there was none to be seen, not in Sucre, Potosi, La Paz, Cochabamba or Villa Tunari.

On closer inspection I did find two examples – the (closed) railway station in Sucre, and the hill up to the shines in Copacabana.

Above: the station in Sucre
Below: the hill climbing up to the shrines in Copacabana
(July 2000)

Even in the poorest areas such as El Alto I cannot find any.

That said, there was often a problem with sewage. I remember the filthy colour of the river flowing through La Paz, or the blocked toilets in Cochabamba.

Perhaps after the dustcart, someone should start collecting for a sewage treatment programme?

“Amigos de Sucre” would like to wish a very
Merry Christmas
to all of our readers

This episode of the advanced podcast is an interview with a Bolivian lady called Silvia who now lives in Madrid.

If you can understand Spanish, take a listen and hear the Bolivian accent as well as a comparison between the Bolivian and Spanish cultures.

If you take a taxi in Europe, then the price is shown on the meter. It depends on the distance travelled and maybe the time of day.

In Bolivia, things work a bit differently. For a start, taxi fares are agreed in advance, and are normally a fixed price for anywhere within the local town, but per person. It is, however, possible to arrange a discount when travelling in a group and you fill the taxi up.

Then there are the shops and the markets – you can bargain with the vendors and arrange a lower price if, for example, you want to buy more than one item.

This obviously takes some getting used to, and is made easier if you can speak Spanish well enough. If you don’t, then your efforts will be less successful.

It is a fact of life in Bolivia, that tourists who speak Spanish (or at least attempt to) get a better deal when buying products and services.

But there is another factor in the buying equation that should not be ignored – being accompanied by a Bolivian. This can often knock the price down a little more.

And if know exactly what you want and can get a Bolivian friend to go into the shop on their own and buy it for you, you may even save an extra Boliviano on top.

I remember that a taxi ride in Sucre used to cost 3 Bolivianos per person, regardless of distance. For 3 people I could knock the price down to 7Bs, if one person was a Bolivian, they might even get it down to 6Bs.

In Cochabamba our Bolivian friends even stopped the taxis to ask them to take us for 1Bs/person. There were so many taxis in the queue (and we were 24 people in the group) that if a driver wouldn’t agree to the price, then they would just ask the next one. It worked!

So it really does pay to speak Spanish!