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Bolivia is hardly the number one choice of ex-patriot Americans. Nonetheless, it is a beautiful country with 20,000 foot high snow capped peaks, a 12,000 foot high plateau ( the altiplano) and  beautiful and productive mountain valleys which fall away into the Amazon basin. It is a country with a proud  indigenous  background mixed with rich colonial traditions. A country  which  is economically poor yet inhabited by a  very hardworking people.  It is a country of more than  one million square miles and yet with a population of less than six million. While it has no access to  the sea it does share Lake Titicaca with Peru. Lake Titicaca is the world´s highest navigable lake. There are also many stunning mountain lakes and reservoirs.  It is a country full of physical and social contrast, a country  which is considered poor, and yet,  like many third world countries,  a great place to live.

La Paz Bolivia, a town of over 2,000,000 located  11,400 feet above sea level

There are really only six urban areas in the country.  La Paz, the capital, has a population of 2 million and sits at 11,300 feet  above sea level on the altiplano.  Cochabamba with a population of  about 800,.000 is situated in an 9,000 foot high valley .  Of course, in Bolivia, this is considered low country. Santa Cruz is the industrial center  of  the country. With a  population of  800, 000 it is located near sea level along a river which feeds into the Amazon. Sucre is the capital of the country.  Potosi is a center of colonial history and culture. Originally a Spanish center. Tarija, a town of some 200,000 is the gateway to Argentina.
 

.The tourist section of the market

My wife and I lived in Cochabamba.  Cochabamba is located at 8,600 feet above sea level in a mountain valley. The climate is basically dry about nine  months a year and then it rains quite steadily the other three monhts. The temperature in the summer, December to March, is usually  in the 80°s farenheit (25-30 centigrade) and it is very dry. In the winter ( June to September) it can go down to freezing in the early morning but is usually in the upper sixties (18°-20° C)  during the day. On rare occasions the  mist over the mountains  change to snow and the hills around the city  turns a sparkling white, for six or seven hours. Cochabamba  itself doesn´t attract a lot of tourists. It is surrounded by mountains on every side including the 18,000 foot snowcapped  Mt Tunari. It has a beautiful colonial section with 400 year old buildings. Of course today the buildings house things like banks, hardware stores and insurance offices. For you older guys, the bank robbery scene in Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid was filmed in “El Banco de Cochabamba.”  It really does have magnificant balconies, but only mediocre service. The central Cathedral is an impressive piece of Spanish church construction.  In general the center of Cochabamba is attractive but also very crowded. The traffic is happily Latin. That means nobody follows any particular set of rules or perhaps I should say that everyone follows his own set of rules. I found when coming to Mexico I was disappointed that the traffic for me was 100% overcivilized.

There is only one supermarket in Cochabamba. It is modern, clean and about one fourth the size of  a  US supermarket or of  its European counterpart.  It has a reasonable supply of canned goods, and international items, although one can never be sure what will be there next time. On the other hand, the central outdoor market is a 2 square mile labyrinth of stalls with about everything imaginable. Anything is available:  from tourist type handicrafts to door frames; from hairpieces made of actual hair ( you can sell your hair if it is a foot long) to a whole plethora of hardware items ( thank god not usually in plastic);  from almost any vegatable you can think of to cow intestines;  from the section of stalls having witchcraft items ( do you want that man or woman back? ) to radios and tv´s and cameras,  from clothing to dogs, cats chickens, turkeys or even guinea pigs ( often served in local restaurants),  and naturally there is the section which sells coca leaves and its  by-products. In Bolivia the coca leaf  is used to produce remedies for stomach ailments, teas for altitude sickness and even tooth paste.   You can speak Spanish in the market, although Quechua,  the language of the Incas,b is much more common. Of course the people in the tourist stalls have a smattering of English.
 

There are also many many  stalls,  vendors, knife shapeners,  money changers and a whole variety of other people that do business on the street not to mention the local tiendas which abound.   Our house was located in a nice neighborhood some 2 miles from the actual center of the town. There were two excellent stores within a half block of our residence. The Supermercado La Glorieta was actually a large ma, pa and family run store. Pa was an ex- general  in the Bolivia Army,  and the family included a daughter with a masters degree in mechanical engineering from Maryland, and another daughter who was a physical therapist   (massage, ultrasound and electric stimulation of the muscles cost $3) not to mention a variety of sons in the army. The store because of its professional type heritage always had a supply of foreign goods. The other “tienda” was much simpler, although it did have all of the basic daily needs. It was run by  “don Rafo “ a rather surly type guy , but with a good heart.

Local women getting the best fruit

We rented a rather strange, haphazardly built 3 bedrooom house for $250 per month ( compared to Mazatlan, Mexico where we pay $ 290 for a three bedroom house).  There was a nice 3,600 sq foot yard giving room to park the car, have a garden and even put up a basketball court.  There were certainly more exclusive neighborhoods where rents could run as high as $1OOO per month.  You can find what I consider nice houses to buy starting at around $30,000. Are these in neighborhoods where other Americans live?  Since there is a very small foreign community in Cocabamba it is statistically  unlikely.
 

Don Rafo the proud owner showing his wares

There are a lot of excellent restaurants in Cochabamba. The “Estancia” does a great grill over an open fire and has a good salad bar for a cost with drinks of about $10. The “ Bufalo Rodizo” located in the Torres Sofer; a combination mall apartment complex, boasts an all you can eat buffet including 5 or six meats and a huge salad bar for $14. The waiters are dressed as Argentinaian gouchos and wield a mean knife. There are also several good Chinese and Italian restaurants in town. The “Casa de Campesino” does an excellent “Pique Macho” a one plate combo including chicken, beef, sausage, pork and fries mixed with Tomatoes  on one large plate to be shared between two or three people for $6. Cochabamba also boasts an excellent country club. There are  an 18 hole golf course, fifteen clay tennis courts, a fabulous pool, skeet shooting, and even horses. Our Dutch friends bought a show jumping horse for $1500.  A temporary membership is available.

What about weekends? There are many nice day trips or overnighters from Cochabamba. Three hours northeast is the town of Villa Tunari. It is located at 1500 feet above sea level at the intersection of two rivers. Temperature is directly related to altitude in Bolivia since it is in the tropics. So Villa Tunari has temperatures in the nineties and high humidity. There is excellent swimming in the streams and multicolored birds to watch in the jungle. Three hours to the Southwest is the town of Oruro. It is a rather drab mining town fifty one weeks of the year, but comes alive during carnaval. It is considered to be the capital of traditional Bolivian folklore. For one week the streets are filled with monsters, heroes and villans. For you archeology  buffs Incallajta is located six hours east of Cochabamba. There is a large fortress and over 50 other buildings. It is much less developed than other sites and if you plan to spend the night, take a tent.
 

My wife and I made ends meet by teaching in Bolivia. The natural assumption is ESL. I ,however am a university math professor and my Spanish is good enough to give classes in Spanish. My wife who is actually a nurse by profession, also gave elementary school classes in a small English speaking school. Together we could bring in about $ 1100 per month. It is very easy to live on this amount in Bolivia. As a comparison, my wife was offered a 48 hour a week nursing job at $ 120 a month. It is also possible to survive on this wage. Visas are often a big stumbling block to living abroad. Visas in Bolivia are actually rather easy to get if you have any sort of a job or are willing to start up something. They are, however, a little bit expensive. A two year residents visa can cost about $600 including a pile of photographs, an application written by a lawyer, a medical certificate and  a stack of other paper work. In general  Latin American countries love paperwork, and Bolivia is certainly no exception. At least I am reasonably sure I don´t have AIDS after six tests in five years.

Streets and street vendors

Bolivia is a marvelous country. Don’t, however, go hoping to make radical changes. It is a country that in spite of its poverty happily clings to its third world traditions. A country proud of its heritage and in many ways satisfied with its present, a beautiful country and a great place to live if you indeed are willing to accept local culture and enjoy third world living.