“Hola, Bueno Dia Señores ? Señores bien venido en avion de mi bonito pais, Bolivia, America del Sur”- these Spanish words came from the mouth of chief cabin crew of VARIG, the Brazilian airlines, bound for La Paz from S?o- Paulo, a famous Brazilian international airport. We, a traveler group, started our journey from Mumbai. We came to Johannesburg by South African airlines and from Johannesburg to S?o- Paulo by the same airlines. In that airlines cabin crews spoke in English. But when the Brazilian airlines took off from S?o- Paulo, we noticed one strange thing. That was the change of language everywhere in the aircraft. The words of caution, name of various objects- all were in the Spanish language. We could understand nothing; we could only make the cabin crew understand our needs by moving our heads or hands like dumb. It was two hours flight from S?o- Paulo to Santa Cruz, a Bolivian city. In the flight we were served some strange foods we tasted never before. We were thrilled when we saw Amazon Rainforest bellow our aircraft. We touched the land of Bolivia, the run way of Santa Cruz international Airport. Actually the airport’s name is Viru Viru International Airport VVI. We were transit passengers in VVI. After some times, we flew away to La Paz. On way to La Paz, we saw red hills, Rocky Mountains and some lakes. Just before landing in La Paz, we were so pleased at the sight of Titicaca, The biggest lake of Latin America. While landing we saw the mountain peaks covered with while ice. Cabin crew was trying to describe the beauty but we could not understand him. We landed in La Paz, a very beautiful International Airport.
It was at 12:30 P.M. Bolivian local time we completed the immigration formalities. Upon arrival, we became complete illiterate as we could not read or understand Spanish language. We were roaming to and fro in the airport building which was noticed by a police officer in civil dress. At first, he suspected us but upon interrogation he found that the problem with us was only the language problem. Luckily he could speak English. He checked our visa & tickets and being satisfied, he became busy to help us. He helped us to change our money to Bolivian currency. We were thrilled to see Bolivian Peso (currency). Another problem we faced was that the temperature was 70c and was completely intolerable to us. We called to one of our friends in Bolivia who told us to go to Santa Cruz and advised us not to stay in La Paz as it was so cold at that time. We decided to go to Santa Cruz. Upon hiring a taxi with the help of that policeman, we started for La Paz bus terminal. Actually the sight left and right was so nice that it was difficult for me to describe in words. We only looked around from the taxi. In the bus station the weather was no chilly that we could not tolerate. Even if we wore all the cloths we took with us we could not tolerate the chill. Another problem we began to face was the problem of finding any toilet. A hundred times we tried to make them understand we needed to go to any urinal by uttering the words: toilet, urinal, bathroom, restroom, refresh room etc. But all our efforts proved futile. Then one of my fellow traveler sat down and by some acting, he showed his need. All people around us laughed at us and one of them led us to toilet, located very near to us. We became strange to see the words written ‘B?no’ instead of ‘Toilet’.
Besides chill, it was very enjoyable for us to be in La Paz, the highest capital city in the world. We got information from a local English magazine that the whole country was not cold at that time. Sometimes, people feel breathing problems in the high altitude. Actually most of Bolivia land is hilly. Being in the heart of South America, it is easier for other South Americans Nationals to travel to Bolivia by land. Anyway, we proceeded to the ticket counter. White skinned sales girls crowded us to buy tickets for their respective buses. They ware explaining their specialties in Spanish. We understood nothing. We bought the bus tickets for Cosmos, a reputed Bolivian Transport agency. But the bus would leave La Paz at 8 PM. So we had approximately 6 hours in hand to spend in La Paz.
We went out in the chilly atmosphere for lunch & sight seeing. We entered a hotel for lunch. We bought tickets for lunch. Everything was totally new to us. The manager asked what we liked “Economico o Cuarto o Soda?” we only looked at him. Food came but fried chicken with some fried rice and noodles. Hotel boy gave us knife and a spoon and a bottle of soft drink but no water. I wanted some water but the boy replied “No Agua”, that meant no water available in the hotel for drink. We finished our lunch with some part of the belly vacant.
Walking by the roadside we saw hilly city, vehicles of various types plying along the street in righten side, the icy mountain etc. we could not walk more for the heavy chill. Exactly at 8 PM we left La Paz city by a big air conditioned bus for Santa Cruz. The road was mostly hilly. From the hill, the city of La Paz looked so beautiful with her marvelous panorama.