Comments on: Bribery at the Bolivan Border

By: Steve

Steve — Thu, 17 Jan 2019 20:40:26 +0000

My advice would have been to cave a little earlier and thank them (for the privelege:). Better relations with the individuals probably would have saved the exit stamp problem. When they would not give you an exit stamp I think it would easily be worth 50b to pay for those as well. I know when people aren’t used to this but it sometimes the easiest way to move on. Once a gave a Dominican cop a few books to pay a fine for me (so I wouldn’t have to go downtown to police station). He rejected it acting offending. I didn’t know what to do so sat there looking a little confused. He explained they WEREN’T ALLOWED TO TOUCH MONEY. He said it twice. I saw him look at a daily paper in the seat next to me and got the hint. Gave him the same bill after wrapping it up in a torn piece of newspaper so he would not have to “touch” it. He accepted it with dignity intact and waved me on!

By: Paddy

Paddy — Mon, 23 May 2016 15:02:49 +0000

Well done for sticking to your guns, Ben!

By: Ben

Ben — Mon, 15 Feb 2016 03:04:13 +0000

In Villazon they never stamped my passport which I never realised until the peru border as the wait was for 6 hours so I was just happy to get through and they made it look like they were stamping passports. In Yunguyo you have to go the Bolivian immigration first, get them to stamp the passport then you go to the peruvian migration to get them to stamp it too. The Bolivians told me I needed to pay 210 bolivans and i just argued until he said fine go to peru, and the peruvians also wanted money but only 20$, I went back to the bolivians and tried to reason with them and they told me I needed to go to La paz and speak to the immigration department. I told them they were criminals which they didn’t like too much and got the police man present to escort me out. So I just paid the peruvians instead which the man ensured me goes in the bank, because it costs 20$ to put a stamp on a passport.

By: Paddy

Paddy — Sat, 28 Feb 2015 16:45:20 +0000

Hi Lin, we are SO delighted that we could help. Well done you for sticking to your guns! Hope you enjoy Bolivia, it’s a beautiful country.

By: Lin

Lin — Mon, 23 Feb 2015 18:37:08 +0000

Hi, we just wanted to say a massive thank you for the heads-up. We came into Bolivia today from calama, Chile and exactly the same happened to us, but having read this a while ago we refused to go anywhere until they gave us our ‘tarjetas’ – it actually wasn’t until I started to cry that they finally caved ha! You really helped us out, muchos Gracias!

By: Sarah

Sarah — Sun, 09 Nov 2014 22:43:06 +0000

Very lucky indeed! It’s so frustrating when you know what they are doing but can’t do anything about it. Thanks for reading

By: Kate

Kate — Mon, 03 Nov 2014 17:23:07 +0000

Wow! Well done on thinking to ask for a receipt. I had heard of things like this happening but fortunately it hasn’t happened to me yet. Seems like you had a lucky escape!