We were definitely happy for a few different pieces of gear while we stayed in Bolivia. Here’s what noticeably helped us while we were there:
- Spare duffel for stuff. Bolivia was definitely the poorest country we traveled through, and since our flight to Colombia departed from La Paz, we decided to leave some of the gear (what we thought we wouldn’t need) in La Paz. So, we packed it into our extra duffel (which we had been carrying at the bottom of stef’s pack) and left the duffel at our hotel in La Paz. It turned out to be about a full bag of stuff, which was nice. We picked it up again when we returned for our last night in La Paz.
- Sleeping bags. Bolivia is at a high altitude – which makes it cold at night. And it’s poor, which means that most hotels/hostels don’t have very good blankets. There were a few times where we needed our sleeping bags to keep us warm enough to sleep comfortably. Our bags were just right – warm enough to be helpful, light and small enough to be completely packable.
- Spare camera. Normally I just enjoy the fact that I have a camera, but Bolivia was different. Since it’s so poor and conditions are so rough, there were a few times (like in the silver mines) when I just used my backup camera instead – it’s smaller, lighter, and if it had broken, I wouldn’t have felt too bad. Bolivia is a beautiful country – difficult to travel through, but absolutely amazing to see. A camera (at least one) is a must-have for visiting Bolivia).
So that’s what helped us out in Bolivia.
