Visa cost and CRISP DOLLARS
USA: $135
RSA: $55
As Lindsay and I were doing our
research on visa costs for Bolivia we came across many horror stories of buses
leaving people at the border or the one we heard from almost everybody that had
to pay a visa cost. They ONLY except crisp, pristine, brand spanking new, hot
off the press American Dollars in exact change. Not even a wrinkle in a note
will be accepted. This made us more than a bit worried. For Lindsay being
American had to pay 135 dollars to enter and me being South African from what I
could gather from the internet needed to pay 50-53 dollars (It turned out to be
55 dollars). So Lindsay went into town and went to money exchange after money
exchange but none of them would take our wrinkled dollars that we have been
carrying around since we left the states. A very kind Peruvian man in line at
one of the shops overheard Lindsay trying to exchange and offered a crisp one hundred
dollar bill and took our wrinkled twenties then turned around and exchanged
them (for Peruvian money) at the same place that refused Lindsay. So what to do
now, we at least had a hundred. Withdraw money from an ATM. So we went to an
ATM and one, two, three and there we had….. SOME crisp notes. It seems they
just recycle the money into the ATM’s. Okay that is understandable but we
needed crisp ones. So we went into the bank and begged the guy. He was able to
help us with a few more bills but not all. So there we had it. Hopefully crisp
enough notes to enter Bolivia. So we finally arrived at the border the next
day. Lindsay made friends with a very friendly American woman on the bus from
Puno to Bolivia who was able to take some of our not so crisp notes we had left
for some of her better ones.
We were instructed to go to two offices on the Peruvian side
and stamp, stamp we were checked out of Peru. Next stop Bolivia. We walked
across the border into Bolivia where we approached a small building with a huge
sign…. IMMIGRATION!! We all lined up and after some confusion we got the
correct forms from a police officer. Our
friend John just got in line stamp, stamp and he was in no hustle no costs (he
is from the UK). Damn British ;)…. Mine was also not too hard. No extra forms.
Just the visa cost. I approached the counter and asked how much he told me 55 I
handed over a few bills. He looked at them intensely looking for any sign.
None. Phew. I got my visa stamp, stamp and I was in! John and I were cleared
and Lindsay was still busy filling out a lot more paperwork. She finally approached
the counter and he told her that she needed to go and make a copy of her
passport. So we ran across the street paid a few cents and ran back. The
American woman that helped us out was in front of her and it seemed that she
softened him up a bit because he seemed to be smiling and looking relaxed.
Lindsay’s turn I think her nervousness also helped her. For he smiled took the
money and stamp, stamp she was in. 
