I am a contrarian by nature. In fact, though it may not seem so, I spend a lot of mental energy trying to control this part of my personality. I let it breathe when talking about Tarantino’s terrible movies or how overrated Mezcal is, and make it take a back seat on things that matter. I also try to channel it into positives. So rather than disliking popular things, I instead channel my opposition into enjoying things that I feel are disliked or underrated. I don’t hate IPAs, but I appreciate European beer styles more. The Tim Burton Batman’s have their place, but honestly ‘Batman Forever’ and ‘Batman and Robin’ are more fun. Harry Potter was a fun read, but have you checked out the Wizard of Earthsea?

In travel this personality trait results in me having weird destination desires. It ends with me enjoying Nicaragua more than Costa Rica, Malaysia more than Thailand, basically every city in Europe more than Prague.¹ So there was little doubt that I was going to love Bolivia. A landlocked country a little more off the beaten path, with little tourist infrastructure, low levels of English, multiple environment types, and cheap prices! That is basically my travel checklist. Yes, I loved Bolivia, but Bolivia also surprised me.

We spent too much time in Bolivia. We did not spend enough time in Bolivia. On a trip that is likely going to end somewhere between four and five months, we spent almost seven weeks in Bolivia. Compared with three and a half weeks in Guatemala and likely around five weeks in Peru, the two countries that were the focus of this trip, it sometimes feels like we wasted so much time. At the same time, I can name three major areas of the country with sights I wanted to see that we never even made it to. The vastness, the diversity, and the difficulty turned Bolivia into a black hole, swallowing days faster than we could plan our escape.

There were unavoidable casualties. We lost three days to altitude adjustment on arrival, two more to a canceled flight out of the rainforest, another to a second attack from the altitude. The distance swallowed a half dozen, night buses through landscapes that make sleeping impossible cost a day on either side of the journey. There were a few unforced errors, trying to travel through La Paz during the Gran Poder, booking too much time in Uyuni, extending in La Paz before realizing we’d be back through the city twice. But what really ate up time in Bolivia was just how much there was to do, and the fact that it was the cheapest place to do it.

We spent two weeks learning Spanish in Sucre because of cost, and because it was a beautiful and warm city.² Likewise we visited the Amazon in Rurrenabaque because it was the cheapest country for visiting. In fact our South America journey began in Bolivia because it was cheaper than flying into Colombia.³ Bolivia’s cheapness is one of its great assets.

But Bolivia is much more than just cost effectiveness. It is a land of striking natural beauty, of extremes, of environment and climate. It is a place where tradition walks down the street next to modernity, sometimes literally holding hands. From the sweltering heat and abundant life of the rain forest to the piercing cold wind and barren expanse of the salt flats, Bolivia is a thousand shades of awe inspiring. It holds its own in comparison as well. Sucre I found more beautiful than more famous Antigua. La Paz is leagues more enjoyable than Guatemala City, and more striking than Cusco. And the Salar de Uyuni is one of the most amazing natural landscapes I have ever laid eyes on. Bolivia is a place worth visiting.

Bolivia is not however, easy to visit. Your two choices for entry by flight are La Paz, the highest capital city in the world, or Santa Cruz, a blisteringly hot and humid monument to capitalism far from anything else of interest. From there you will face a never ending parade of sleepless nights in sleeper buses to travel from place to place. And if you don’t have a good base in Spanish, then you’d better make sure you’ve purchased the roaming plan on your phone because you’re going to use google translate as a crutch. But this lack of tourism infrastructure is one of Bolivia’s charms, and often a minor blessing. In Bolivia we never had to haggle with a cab driver over the outrageous gringo price he asked. We never had to dodge and weave around restaurant promoters trying to shove menus in our hands or costumed merchants trying to sell us a bracelet or sweater. There are not enough tourists in Bolivia for tourist traps.

I was predisposed to enjoy Bolivia. So it is no surprise that enjoyed Bolivia. But what surprised me about Bolivia was just how much it held it’s own. It was a not a country of lesser attractions boosted by fewer tourists and cheaper prices. Bolivia is a powerhouse of natural, human, ancient, and modern wonder. It deserves to be on the tourist trail. So go to Bolivia, and ruin it for contrarians like me. Bolivia deserves it.

1Listen all travel is amazing. I just didn’t “get” Prague. Thailand I thought was overrated but I understood why people liked it. But Prague just seemed fine, but nothing special.

2Warmth is such a luxury in Bolivia.

3This is also why we started in El Salvador rather than Guatemala.