I’m heading from Tarija, Bolivia to Villa Imperial de Potosi, the capital of the Potosi department.
It’s long, so I’ll write it as “Potosi.”
It’s about 350km from red to yellow on the map.
I bought fog lights in Tarija because I need to go through the same dark tunnel again.
It’s Bs.80 for two, about 22.6 USD
I went around the hardware store and bought terminals and cords for wiring
I installed a relay switch and branched off the power from the ACC power supply, so I’m relieved
I’m leaving
The first challenge is the dark tunnel.
It’s a lot brighter than last time.
I don’t drive at night, so this is enough.
I drive on mountain roads.
As I get closer to Potosi, there are more big trucks there.
Google Maps has been mean to me a few times this time
A narrow and steep slope
It guides me down paths I’m not sure I should take.
I arrived at the Plaza de 10 de November in Centro de Potosi in about 5 and a half hours.
The most difficult thing about traveling in Bolivia is refueling.
I stopped at three gas stations on the way, but I was only able to refuel at one of them.
The other two stations said they had no gas.
YPFB stores often have gas, but other gas stations sometimes don’t have gas, or I need a copy of my passport to refuel.
Also, there are two types of gas prices in Bolivia: domestic and international.
This is determined by whether the vehicle’s license plate is Bolivian or foreign.
They are limited in the amount of gas they can refuel each month.
The international price is Bs.8,7/L, about 1.2 USD, in October 2024.
The domestic price is about 1/3 of that.
From a foreigner’s perspective, the international price of gasoline is about the same as in other countries.
It seems that many travelers think that the domestic price should be reduced, but in Bolivia, the international price is not set high, but the domestic price is lowered by investing national taxes, so I think that “travelers should just pay the international price.”
Date of travel: September 10, 2024
Harvest this time
When I travel in Bolivia, I always carry a spare tank.
