One week before departure, I saw that someone on a TripAdvisor forum had been informed by the Bolivian embassy in the US that this was no longer an option. In fact, by this point, Bolivia was listing the good ol' US of A in the same category as North Korea and Afghanistan for visa requirements. In fairness to them, I am sure our authorities require a lot of paperwork from Bolivians looking to enter the US, but this categorization (potentially a result of presidential politics) seemed a bit much. Unfortunately, by this point, if the information on the internet was even true, I could no longer send in our passports to the Bolivian embassy in D.C. and get them back in time. Fortunately, we had a free day coming up in Cusco, Peru, which happens to host a Bolivian consulate of its own. So we decided to play it safe and try to get the visas before we arrived in Bolivia.
A few days before departure, I submitted all the necessary paperwork online at the Bolivian embassy's website (itinerary information, photos, financial information to prove we are solvent). On our free day in Cusco, we contracted for a driver to take us from our hotel to the Bolivian consulate, wait for us, and take us back. And then, hilarity ensued.
We arrived to find about 12-15 people, mostly tourists from China and Korea, in front of us. It would take about 1 hour for us to get to the front of the line as the lone consular official worked his way through everyone's paperwork. Meanwhile, I told our driver to feel free to pick up another fare and come back for us, which he did.
When we made it to the front of the line, the official immediately said that Kathleen's passport photo was not sufficiently front-facing (for the record, we disagree) and she would need a new photo. Turning to the paperwork, I helpfully handed him a paper copy of everything I had submitted online, which he examined and noted approvingly. Then he asked me, "Where is her copy?" I said, her information is the same as mine, and it was all submitted online, so my copy was her copy. Looking directly past the photocopier he had in front of him, he instructed us to go to a copy shop and get another paper copy that could be submitted with Kathleen's application. As I processed this instruction, he also said something about paying the $320 for the two of us. As I had the cash with me, I did not pay that much attention.
There are not exactly Kinko's on every corner in Cusco, but our driver took us to a little rundown tienda that charged 10 Peruvian cents (3 American cents) per copy and we returned to the consulate to see another 10-15 people in front of us. The official motioned to move us ahead of most of the people and we waited for a group of Chinese tourists immediately in front of us. There was something wrong with their application and he was telling them to re-do it and return in an hour. At this point, one of the tourists was not taking "no" for an answer and peppered the official with questions. After about 20 seconds of this, the official banged his hand on the table and started shouting at him "Ciao, bye-bye," and variants in several languages. Great - we were up next!
I handed him the extra copies and then the $320 in cash, only for him to say, "No! You were supposed to take that money to the bank." I guess I had been so bothered by the whole extra-copy situation that I did not catch him tell me that earlier that morning. So our driver took us to a branch of a bank where the Bolivian consulate had an account. After about 45 minutes of line-waiting, we paid the teller our $320 and gave them the Bolivians' bank account number. Then, back to the consulate again.
As we arrived for attempt # 3, the consular official was telling everyone that he had to go eat lunch and everyone should wait in line for an hour. As he was walking out, I showed him our bank receipt and he said, "Oh, the Americans." He ushered us back in, completely forgot about Kathleen's "inadequate" photo, and issued us visas.
A few days later, we got to the Cusco airport and I asked our airline gate agent if he thought Americans could still get visas on arrival at the La Paz airport. He said we could. You could then surmise that our 3 hours in bureaucratic limbo were a waste of time. No - we would say we got a good story out of it. (And I didn't see the visa-on-arrival desk at the La Paz airport anyway, though I wasn't really looking for it.)
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| Although this story was about our entry into Bolivia, this picture is of the desolate border crossing with Chile in the Avaroa Natural Reserve, from where we left Bolivia. |
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