The post offi ce is the most dependable and quickest place to receive post. If you are intending to stay for a lengthy period, apply for a PO Box, called casilla.
You don’t need a PO Box to receive post. There is a general delivery service called poste restante or lista de
correos, located on the second fl oor of La Paz’s main post
offi ce. Letters addressed to you should state Poste Restante, Correo Central, with the name of the city and country on the bottom line.
In order to pick up your post at the lista de correos counter, have your passport with you to verify your identity. Some consulates also receive post for citizens of their country.
TELECOMMUNICATIONS
Until the turn of the century, the only way to own a telephone was to purchase stock in the phone company, which was a public cooperative. The whole process took about two weeks, and the cost was about US$ 1,500, paid in full or in monthly instalments. Phones were also available for rent for about US$ 30–50 a month.
Since privatisation and with the profusion of mobile phones and phone cards, the telecommunications terrain has offered many more options, and the scene is changing too rapidly to etch in a text. Once ENTEL lost its temporary monopoly on 28 November 2001, the fi eld was wide open. Prices dropped but confusion rose. At this time of writing,
fi ve other companies entered the market, each with a different strategy. For example, AES, now changed to AXS, invested heavily in infrastructure such as its own fi bre optic network. Boliviatel adopted the opposite strategy, initially saving millions by using (and paying for the use of) existing infrastructure. Boliviatel got the jump on AXS, but the bigger investor may regain the edge in the future, unless the fi bre optic system is replaced by a more state- of-the- art technology. Dialling methods have changed along the way, and may still change, in an anarchic situation, so there’s no use giving advance instructions for making a phone call.
For the visitor, the simplest way to secure an operating telephone is by renting an apartment that already has one. The second simplest way is to purchase a mobile phone. Using the Internet, either from a hotel or Internet café, may turn out the least expensive and most practical, especially for long distance, with voice-over-Internet-protocol looming in the near future.
Standard long distance rates abroad tend to be more expensive from Bolivia than they are from most Western countries to Bolivia, but phone cards have eased the stress, and the Internet has been and is the most popular international communication device for visitors from abroad. Internet cafés abound and they are remarkably cheap compared to their Western counterparts.
Public telephones may still be found in larger cities at sweet stands and in small grocery shops, but the most practical method is to fi nd a child with a mobile phone whose business is to charge you Bs 1 to make a call. Long distance calls and faxes may be made from the offi ces of various Bolivian phone companies, including ENTEL, the original one.
HOUSING
Older attractive hotels, with colonial-style architecture, are quite inexpensive by Western standards.
There is the pensión (boarding house) alternative, where one fair price gets you room and home cooking.
The larger the city, the easier it is to fi nd an apartment with a telephone, furnished or unfurnished. Most apartment ads are run by agencies that may charge you a full month’s rent and/or a fi nder’s fee. Look for ads not run by an agency that say sin intermediario. Even better, in La Paz, place your own ad in the newspaper El Diario, stating that you wish to rent an apartment or house sin intermediarios.
In La Paz, where rents are highest, you should be able to secure an attractive and comfortable two bedroom apartment for US$ 200 or less (furnished for US$ 300 or less) in the best neighbourhoods, and around 25 per cent less than that amount in the livelier Mirafl ores or San Pedro neighbourhoods. Rooms where foreigners stay may be found for approximately US$ 100 per month or less.
If you plan to purchase a house, expect to pay in full. Interest rates are too high and the loan process too Byzantine to do it any other way. The good news is that prices are low, especially for more stylish older houses. With fewer of the add-on costs associated with house buying in more complicated countries, you should invest a portion of the savings in a contract lawyer. Transfer fees are 3 per cent of purchase price.
Tips for Renting
In Bolivia there is a way to live rent free. It is called ‘contrato anticrético.’ The renter lends money to the owner for one year, or two, with a contract stating that all the money you put out will be returned to you when you vacate the property at the end of the contract period. If you have US$ 20,000 laying around, you might consider an apartment in anticrético. Should you be bold enough to try this strategy, there is a minor risk involved, and it is advised that you hire a lawyer, through your embassy, to maximise your probabilities.
CHILDREN
Parents planning an extended stay may choose from a large menu of private bilingual schools, in English, French, German and even Hebrew. The tuition at most of these fi ne schools
will be considerably less than comparable tuitions in Europe or North America. The higher the child’s grade level, the more Spanish will be fi ltered in.
Private schools run by foreigners must follow core requirements of both Bolivia’s Ministry of Education and the education system of the country of origin. Pre-teens will pick up Spanish through playground communication with other children and via television.
However, the two-tiered education system fosters an enclave mentality, a type of ‘gated community’, and some children more sensitive to elitism and prejudice have been turned off by a type of caste-system mentality. Even in such schools where the teachers are remarkably in tune with concepts of social justice, the daily image of segregation is more powerful than so much verbiage of equality.
A ranking of the major variables of potential culture shock for children includes (1) adjusting to the altitude; (2) the radical change in eating habits, for even something basic such as milk tastes quite different, and having soup to start a meal seems to be a universal problem for children of many cultures; (3) and language adaptation. Among the private school options, parents may choose either total immersion in an all Spanish-language programme (the kids will easily maintain their English at home) or bilingual education, where English is one of the two languages of primary instruction.
Endless Language Possibilities
Our son was subjected to double total immersion, having had to rediscover his forgotten French and put together the dispersed pieces of his limited Spanish-language background at the Colegio Franco- Boliviano. He had no problem remembering his English. With the help of TV (fi nally a practical use for this apparatus!), the Spanish came relatively fast. Whichever the language option, adults should not impose their language learning phobias on their children.
If language is a long-term project, food can be a nagging daily tribulation. Certain transition foods may help with adjustment, such as marraqueta, the crusty Bolivian bread, pasankalla (sweet popcorn), cold cuts and choclo
(white corn). Certain spices, some tropical fruits such as papaya and chuño (dried potato) seem to be the greatest culinary encumbrances.
Other potential adjustment diffi culties might be social, getting used to the kissing, embracing and handshake routines (“It’s horrible having my face painted by the ladies’ lipstick,” said one American child) and folk dancing (more of a problem for boys than girls).
Each year our son had to perform a different Bolivian folk dance, for example La Morenada, for a school festival. He emerged unscathed from the experience.
In the end, culture shock Bolivia is much less shocking for children than it is for adults, though the teenage years can be diffi cult anywhere in the world. One of the best mechanisms for a young person’s integration is the sport of football.
There are few if any travel bargains for children who occupy a seat when travelling, but for lodging you can negotiate a reduced cost for kids at most family-run hotels.
Let’s not forget the great advantage from travelling with children. As foreigners, you are seen to be more like the locals when you are a family, and our own experience validates the observation of Bolivian expert Alan Murphy that ‘even thieves and pickpockets seem to have the traditional respect for families’.