Back from Bolivia

We arrived back in Chicago from Bolivia yesterday. We had no problems leaving the country. Javi and I had overstayed our 30 day period by a few days, but we were not asked to pay a multa. We explained we were visiting family and the official nodded and stamped us out. I have heard stories that some people are getting 90-day entries right off the bat when they arrive as well. It seems that the 30 days at a time for no more than 90 days in a year is being loosely enforced, with 90 days remaining more of the standard. Of course, much of this depends on the official you get, their mood, etc etc. In addition, we met with a colleague in La Paz who told us this trip (his second on his visa) he had no hassles from officials in Miami, in Bolivia, etc, so the visa is a one-time (well one-time per five year) pain and after that you aren’t asked for additional documentation or anything upon check in/arrival.

American Airlines treated us fine on the way back. They do have a fairly permanent embargo on overweight or extra checked bags to/from Bolivia, though. Luckily ours squeaked in just at or underweight, but we would *not* have been able to pay extra to check an overweight bag (now 22 kilos/50 lbs, I believe). This is difficult if, like many of us, you have lots of heavy research-related material (books, newspaper clippings, etc).

More updates later – including an interesting visit to a coffee plantation – but for now we’ve got some unpacking, laundry, etc to do!

Oh, and happy belated July 16th!