A 300km hop
From the point of view of Geography, Bolivia can be compared to this three-step. La Paz is located on the higher step, bordering with
Peru and Chile to the west. You'd need a long stride to climb this step, as it's no less than 4600mt high. Then comes the middle step, the Andean foothills, where Cochabamba is nestled in a valley among soft, velvety hills, at about 2500mt of altitude. Finally, to the east, bordering with Brazil and Paraguay, we find the oppressive heat of the Amazon, where Santa Cruz is the undisputed jewel of the country, Bolivia's economic engine.
So now this map makes more sense - red is the higher step, yellow is the middle step, and green is the lower, Amazon step. Today we'll be flying barely 300km from east to west, but we'll climb more than 2 kilometers! That's more than 11200 bananas! 😂 Hence the importance of aviation within Bolivia. The same trip takes about 10 hours by bus.
Those wild differences in altitude turn Bolivia into an amazing tourist destination. Imagine the variety of landscapes! The variety of food, fruit, local dishes! Hot, cool or cold weather for everyone's taste! My personal favorite? Precisely where we're going now - the mild, flowery Cochabamba… and its salteñas! Omg, omg, omg… I can't wait!
Boliviana de Aviación, aka BoA
Doing some research for this report, I have come to believe that I really am the Grim Reaper of airlines. It has happened more than once that an airline goes belly up shortly after I fly with them! 😅 I flew with Bolivia's previous flag carrier - Lloyd Aéreo Boliviano - in 1994. According to Wikipedia, that year was the beginning of the end for them, when the Bolivian government privatized the airline. 🤷♂️
Then, in 2007, Boliviana de Aviación was created during the government of Evo Morales. As you see above, air travel is essential for Bolivian connectivity.
BoA's international offer is quite limited. They do serve Caracas and Havana, however, since Cuba and Venezuela are much in the same team as Bolivia. They don't fly to trendy Managua or Teheran as of yet, though, unlike their Venezuelan counterpart, Conviasa. 😅
Unfortunately, for some reason beyond me, I didn't save screenshots of the purchase process for this trip. 🤷♂️
What I can show you now is the confirmation you get on your email as soon as your purchase is complete…
267 BOB ≈ 30 USD. Not bad. Consider that this includes all taxes, AND you can pick your seat during check in for free!
Along with the confirmation, you receive your eTicket. You don't need to print it.
Once you complete your check-in, a new confirmation is sent to your email…
…along with your boarding pass. I picked seat 7F.
Viru Viru (VVI)
As I said in my previous report, Santa Cruz rivals La Paz as the economic engine of the country, powered by the oil, gas and coca industry. There are those who even think that the region should secede from the rest of Bolivia. They consider that they're giving the country a lot, but receive little in exchange.
That's why most international flights arrive here, at Viru Viru (VVI). La Paz is mainly reserved for domestic flights.
To the right, international arrivals, seen in my previous report.
All the action is on the left.
These are pretty much all the airlines flying to/within Bolivia. BoA and Ecojet seem to be the only airlines serving domestic destinations. There used to be Amaszonas, too, but it isn't anymore. (RIP) Don't blame me! I didn't fly with them! 😅
First day of work, perhaps?
LATAM and BoA shoulder to shoulder at VVI. I hope BoA's kiosks are not maintained by the Chilean PDI tech person!! 😅
A bit further ahead, restaurants and cafeterias. And these two…
…funny characters. Mennonites! Oh, they make great cheese!
Further ahead…
…domestic arrivals.
Yes, you can take a bus to the city, but I think it's not advisable, unless you want to lose some kilos on the way. I doubt they have AC. The best option to get to VVI is Uber or a taxi. They'll charge you about 70 BOB (9 USD) But if the driver sees that your a rich foreigner, he might get greedy and charge you 80 BOB!! (9.5 USD) 😂 Be warned.
ATM's and restrooms.
I swear I'm not following them! But aren't they cute? 😁 I think I could be a Mennonite for a day just to wear that cute brown Super Mario costume. 😂
Time to follow that lady and her pink polleras up to security check.
Upstairs, you go all the way to the right…
…to the entrance to security check. This lady is there to help you, but…
…access will eventually be granted by a barcode reader over there, at the bottom. The QR code here on the left is the declaration that international travelers must fill in.
Airside…
…the waiting room is spacious and surrounded by lots of shops and cafeterias.
I drop into one of them when I see…
…cuñapé (cheese bread) and salteñas (Bolivian empanadas) Salteñas could be described as "carbonada empanadas" 😂 If you don't know what carbonada is…
…here's a picture taken from here. It's just a soup in which the ingredients are chopped into little cubes. So imagine filling an empanada with this soup, broth and all. That's a salteña. In fact, they say that, if you can eat a salteña without spilling the liquid, it means that you are a great kisser. 😂
Things of beauty.
However, before I could order a sañteña, these "asaditos" caught my attention. They're patties made of yucca and minced beef. Had to try them!
Gosh! Best thing I have tasted in ages! Bolivian food is so varied and tasty! Just like Peruvian food.
Still with some minutes before departure, let's have a look around the waiting room.
There's a lounge over there.
The view on the apron is spoiled by a hallway for arriving passengers.
The seats are not equipped with chargers, but I'm pretty sure I saw a charging station somewhere.
Onboard CP-2921
Time to leave.
Our Boeing 737 for today is over there. Unfortunately, flightradar24 was blind to it, so there's no record of the flight details. 😭
However, from this picture it looks like our bird was CP-2921…
…and this is what airfleet knows about it. A 27.5 year-old 737-300! This must account for its "invisibility" 😅
We board in a quiet and orderly fashion. In fact, you will seldom find a noisy Bolivian. It's as if silence were ingrained in their DNA.
Which is wonderful for someone like me, who hates loud noises. Once I come back to Chile after weeks in Bolivia…
…I want everyone to shut up!! 😂
And here's my very first view of the cabin of a BoA aircraft. What do you think? Old?
But look at this! So much space! 😮 And the seats… so soft.
This belt sure has seen things in 27.5 years.
Reclining seats. Is that an ashtray? 😂
Just look…
…at…
….all this legroom!!
And remember that you don't pay a single extra BOB for picking your seat, whatever the fare!
Backseat pocket contents.
Safety card.
Sanitary card. This is new to me. Little did I know that I was about to have ALL the symptoms, except three! 😱 No kidding. I thought I wouldn't make it back home.
This card is also new to me, but it's spine chilling.
It's shocking what people can do to other people. Not only trafficking, but kidnapping. There's a TV show called Caso Cerrado, in which a lady once described how her 11-year-old son had been kidnapped in a park in Mexico. She later found him in a car. Dead. All his organs had been removed in order to make room to use his body as a container to smuggle drugs into the US.
Their inflight magazine. The recent wildfires in the Amazonia are the cover story. In fact, I was told that the air in the Santa Cruz area was unbreathable only one week before my trip.
The La Paz Teleférico (cable car). A remarkable solution to the lack of an underground train, which is also an amazing tourist attraction. Highly recommendable. Will be part of a tourism bonus soon.
The most dangerous roads in the world, of which the best known seems to be the Camino de la Muerte, here in Bolivia! Holy cr*p! 😱
And a bit of showbiz, too. 😂 All in all, a very entertaining souven… magazine. 😇
You can download other issues of the magazine by scanning this QR code. It takes you to a simple Google Drive folder with PDF files. Too bad that they haven't taken care to keep all the older issues in the folder, which seems such an easy task. Only some issues are available.
Or you can visit the magazine's website - http://www.boliviana.com.bo
The tray table… immaculate. Because BoA doesn't have a BOB menu, nor do they serve at least a cup of water onboard!
I can understand this, given the short length of the flight, but I remember that LATAM gave away candy from a basket in a 17-minute flight. Where there's a will…
Our neighbor is our reflection, and only three months younger.
So cute and tiny compared to more modern engines.
Pushback.
Ecojet is still in business. From what I've read, Amaszonas is not dead, but in a sort of stand by. Last year the Bolivian government cancelled its air operator certificate because of the airline's debt, and the airline was eventually sold to a Brazilian businessman.
Taxiing to the runway…
…we have a view of one…
…of BoA's A330-200…
…and TAB cargo's only aircraft…
…a McDonell Douglas MD-10-30F. Lots of details of the company and the aircraft here.
CP-2881 is even older than CP-2921! 😮
AeroSur was the second largest Bolivian airline, after Lloyd Aéreo Boliviano. From what I read, it was quite successful. But it also went bankrupt, and the Bolivian government is blamed for that. You see lots of dismantled AeroSur aircrafts in all Bolivian airports. It breaks your heart.
Just look at this! 😍 (Source)
Very soon we're ready for takeoff, and…
…climb above the Bolivian tropical savanna.
Only a little glimpse of the suburbs of Santa Cruz…
…before we get swallowed by the clouds.
Some passengers are already sleeping! Well, the seats are comfortable. 😂
Not much to see…
…until we reach the Andes foothills…
…that get higher and higher as we fly west.
Agriculture only flourishes here in the valleys among the hills.
The rest looks dry but, can you guess how many different kinds of plants can be found down there?
Download this field guide of Tunari National Park and see for yourself!
The suburbs of Cochabamba are finally in sight.
Like most Bolivian and Peruvian towns…
…houses are normally built with red bricks left unpainted…
…but in Cochabamba it's only in the suburbs.
Most of the city is actually well kept and attractive.
More AeroSur carcasses.
Actually, the most abundant thing I saw in Bolivian airports was old planes left to rot.
Thrust reversers. We used the whole runway to break!
Turning around.
Welcome to Jorge Wilstermann International Airport (CBB)
I'm aware that we just climbed over 2km from Santa Cruz…
…so I'm walking slowly and breathing in deeply…
…so my lungs can take all the oxygen they can.
This was a very nice experience with CP-2921.
Downstairs…
…we find baggage claim, and…
…since I have no baggage to claim…
…I head straight for the exit.
CBB loks quite spacious. But you'll see more of it…
…in the next report. Meanwhile, I'm taking a taxi…
…and heading for my airbnb…
…which in the next days…
…will turn out to be MY HOSPITAL!! 😱😱😱
Cochabamba
As I said, my long-awaited stay in Cochabamba was completely ruined by some bug that kept me in bed for three days, coughing my lungs out of my mouth, with a fever, lack of air, to the point that I had to go to a medical center. Thank God for Assist Card, that refunded me all that! Anyway, it was half what I would have paid in Chile for the same attention. 😅
So the thee pictures of this lame tourism bonus are the views I had from my 4th-floor bedroom.
Cochabamba is a modern, clean, and flowery city.
I think I'll have to schedule a new visit to make up for this failed one. 😅
Oh, and as for my disease, I have no idea what it was. But they administered me saline solution with something for the fever and something else, and gave me antibiotics. I just hope it was not yellow fever, because I KNEW I had to get a shot for that, but I didn't because I was too lazy to go and get it. 🤦♂️
Thanks for reading! 😁
Hi Pilpintu, thanks for the FR on BoA.
Agreed about the spacious seats on the older aircraft’s. However, they also have some newer cabins which are bit tighter from what I could tell. Nonetheless, nice to get all that legroom on this flight!
Yeah, they don’t seem to serve anything on these shorter flights around Bolivia which isn’t a good look, then again none of the airlines in Bolivia do 😂. Curious to see if they serve meals on flights to Brazil and Argentina.
As you mention BoA is a nice airline, especially in terms of free seat selection. However, when s*** hits the fan, oh gosh they are shocking.
Sorry to hear that you got sick 😞 but liked the photos from the 4th floor 😂!
Anyways, thoroughly enjoyed this FR and looking forward to more!
Happy to hear that! Yes, two more BoA reports coming soon. 😀
Oh my! That sounds scary! Did you have a bad experience with them? 😱
So after the collapse of Lloyd Aéreo, you surely must have been the reason for AeroSur's collapse as well!? 😉 The three step is somewhat a funny way of defining the challenging terrain, though given that aviation is quite an important factor in Bolivia, I'm shocked about the limited level of competition. It probably has to do with the valuation of the currency and some regulations set by government, but thanks again for this splendid report as usual!
Baahahhaha... Yep, that's my inner teacher trying to simplify for understanding 😂 And I promised I'd never step into a classroom again after I quit last year 🙄
Correct. I'm no economist, but I think that the low average Bolivian income has much to do with this lack of competition. Even though the need is great, the demand is not as high as it would be if Bolivia were a richer country.
Oh, thank you! I never thought of my reports as being "splendid." Just average 😂 But I'm delighted that someone appreciates them.
Thanks for dropping by, Thomas! 😀
So cool to see a report on BoA! This old bird looks really comfortable. All that padding and legroom! They just don’t make cabins that spacious anymore 😞
Not surprised they don’t serve anything in such a short flight but you’re right that it’s not unheard of to hand out a snack or bottle of water on such a short flight. Luckily it seems the pricing is quite reasonable.
Nice that you at least had a nice view when you were sick. I love Jacaranda trees!
Thanks for sharing!
I love them. Plenty of them in Cochabamba. I only knew the ones with blue flowers, but I saw white jacarandas there, too! And I was told there are yellow, too. Here between us, I brought some seeds in my pockets. Mwaaahahahah Shhhhh... Don't tell anyone.
Hello dear Nelson! Good to read another pilipintu airlines flight ahah.
Loved the map/ladder thing really made me lough.
Boa is not often reported here and even less with a 737 classic!
Salteñas yum!
Beautiful views at landing
Yes, my teaching style usually makes people laugh. My school students seldom took me seriously! 😂😂😭😭
Bolivia seems to be the ideal place if you want to fly old birds! I saw a variety of them!
Thanks for dropping by, Chris! 😀