The True Story of Getting Escorted out of Bolivia and Hitch Hiking Home

This is honestly one of my favorite stories to tell. It’s also probably the coolest thing I have to share.

My adventure started when I was in Peru traveling (click here for that post) for a few weeks and wanted to explore Chile for a night or two. There ended up being a dispute at the border between the two countries and it wouldn't be easily passable. I still had a few days open in my tentative itinerary so I decided on booking a short trip to Copacabana, Bolivia.

I was in Peru traveling and was in between staying in hostels solo and spending time at some of my aunt's family's homes. At this point I was at the back end of my trip and was based in Arequipa, Peru where my aunt's sister lives. She was able to drop me off at the bus terminal in her hometown in Arequipa.

Once at the terminal I purchased a bus ticket to Puno, Peru. This would be about a 6 hour bus ride (Side note: Busses in Peru are REALLY nice! Don't be afraid of them!). I was dropped off at the terminal around 10:30 pm for a midnight departure and I arrived in Puno around 6:30 am to transfer to a new bus. The new bus wasn't scheduled to leave until around 9:00 am so I had a lot of downtime at the station.

Finally boarding, we were scheduled to ride on this new bus for 3-4 hours as we drove around Lake Titicaca (yes, that's the name!), the highest elevated lake in the entire world. On this lake lies one of the borders between Peru and Bolivia. We drove around the lake for what felt like hours. Little did I know that later in the day this lake had the potential to save my life.

Once we arrived to the border we were asked to get off the bus to exchange our money from Peruvian Soles to Bolivianos, and to pretty much "stamp out of Peru". From there we walked up a hill together as a group and formed a line to enter into Bolivia. We were inspected, stamped, and escorted into the country, but still had to form another line to get our visa documents checked (which felt a little backwards to me, but to each their own). By this point I had become great friends with an Australian couple who had been traveling for months. We made wonderful conversation as we talked about our experiences and shared stories with one another. Soon enough we were at the front of the line and ready to move along.

I forgot to mention that we were in the back of the bus, which put us in the back of this line. By the time we got up the front, the bus was moved through the gates and the others in our group had already loaded. They were basically waiting for us to join them so we could get moving.

I want to remind you that I had not originally planned on visiting Bolivia until the day before my trip. I researched as always and saw that a VISA was needed. However, it could be granted at the border as long as the correct documents were accounted for. I had all that I needed and was ready to go (including $160 in American cash when everyone else in the world only has to pay $55! Thanks USA!)!!

FALSE. I was not ready to go. Even though I had all the correct documents printed out, including the information from the American Embassy in Bolivia stating Yellow Fever Vaccination was only needed if visiting certain territories in the country, they insisted I wouldn't be allowed entry. I have Malaria, Typhoid, but NO yellow fever because I read that I would not need it for this trip! I was not visiting the Amazon! Did they care!? Of course not. Did they care that I had the required paperwork stating it was unneeded? Of course they didn't. Did they care when my Australian friends didn't have their vaccinations either? Of course they let them go, but not me. My bus driver ran over to ask me what the hurry was, I told him my situation. He decided to let me know what I was the only American on our tour and that Americans always seem to have a problem gaining entry. I'm so glad I was made aware of that hours back. At least he decided to help me a bit.

Now, after spending a few weeks in South America traveling pretty much solo for half the trip and spending the other half with Peruvian family, no one spoke English around me. My Spanish was the best it's ever been. I spoke to the man at the border in the best Spanish that I could. He responded in the best English that he could. But he could have been speaking Creole and I still would have understood that there was absolutely no way in hell I was continuing on in this country under his watch. He was not having it.

I hugged my Australian friends goodbye and thanked them for their kindness and their help. The bus driver told me that we needed to quickly move our bus and I needed to get back to Peru. He walked me over to the place they stamp and I watched them literally write "VOID" over my Bolivian stamp. He then paid some change to a tricycle motor taxi driver. If you don't know what that is, it looks like this:

Tricycle motor taxi man drove (rode?) me back down the hill to get me checked back into Peru. I never knew you could be in "no man's land" but it's possible, you can, I did it. I was in no country at all. The women glared at me as I told her I needed to come back to Peru. 'Just kidding, I changed my mind, I want back in'. The driver then took me over to a currency exchange so I could transfer my money back into soles again. This felt like a joke.

After the currency exchange he let me know that this was where I would get dropped off. I was in the town of Desaguadero right off the Peruvian/Bolivian border. I was still 4 hours from Puno, and 10 hours from Arequipa. I had no cell service, I was alone, broken Spanish, ready to figure this thing out.

When telling this story I have been asked plenty of times if I was afraid. The answer is yes but that never kicked in until much later on, and for that I am proud of myself. I think when things like this happen I am capable of staying calm and rolling with the punches. I do not have this talent in my every day life at home, but when I travel I thank God for this gift.

I was in solution mode at the time, so I did not take many pictures of the town I wandered. However, thanks to Google, I typed in the town's name and picked these two pictures that matched my memories the best:

(images: https://rpp.pe/peru/puno/desaguadero-detienen-a-tres-personas-por-presunto-lavado-de-activos-noticia-985303)

I continued to wander the streets as I literally found myself holding my thumb up saying the word "Puno" over and over again. This probably took about 20 minutes until a nice stranger pointed and directed me to a van. The driver of the van told me "eight soles". I couldn't believe how cheap it was to drive so far away (around $2.50 USD). I honestly almost didn't get in the van due to the price being so low. But at this point what other choice did I really have? I was not in a developed town by any means.

I hopped in the van and sat and waited for probably about 45 more minutes until the van filled up with others. I was ready to embark on my first real hitchhiking experience and I wanted to get a move on.

Finally we were off. I was squished in the van with locals from the surrounding villages. I was the only person in modern dress. I went back and forth between trying to sleep to pass the time, to waking up every 30 minutes or so to make sure we were going in the right direction. Lake Titicaca was my saving grace that day. When we had left Puno, we drove around the lake for 4 hours to get to the border. I knew that in order to go back to Puno we would have to ride along the lake the whole way. Every 30 minutes I would wake up to view this beautiful landmark, and I made sure of it. The entire experience felt surreal.

Four hours later I had made it back to Puno. The van dropped me off in the middle (actually it was like, in the middle of the road LOL) of the big town. I walked around aimlessly asking for directions on how to walk to the bus terminal. I followed a man who said he would show me the terminal. I must say I was pretty trusting with this adventure but again, what else was I supposed to do?

Once I got there, I plopped myself on a chair and thanked God for keeping me safe and for getting me back to civilization. I only rested for a minute before getting up to speak with the employees at the bus company counters. I still needed to get a bus trip back to Arequipa, 6 hours away. The earliest bus didn't leave for several hours. At this point I didn't care, I would take what I could get. I just knew I wanted a final solution before attempting to communicate with anyone back in Arequipa. I wanted them to know I was OK and had a plan.

Once booking my bus trip, I approached a little vender and asked if they had WiFi. They told me I had to pay for it (free WiFi barely exists) and I obviously didn't care. I connected to WhatsApp and communicated with my aunt's sister on what was happening and how I was right back where I started. I communicated with my mama and started the iMessage with "Don't freak out OK!? You're never going to believe the last 24 hours."

After my bus trip back to Arequipa, needless to say I slept for hours. I was never meant to leave Peru but that's OK. I fell in love with Peru and I was alright with spending my last few days in the country.

I wish I had some grand advice for how to handle these situations. But the truth is, when something travel related goes unplanned, the only thing you can really do is stop, breathe, and plan your next move accordingly.

This story is one for the books. I think the coolest part is that I get to tell it. These stories don't happen often and I am lucky God provided me with some pretty great experiences while keeping me safe! Don't forget to get your Yellow Fever before attempting Bolivia.

Until the next adventure,

xo,

Jenn

ps. I am no way encouraging hitchhiking