Review of Boliviana de Aviacion flight from Cochabamba to La Paz in Economy

I like it when I keep screenshots of an airline's website, and then the airline revamps it. It gives my reports a sort of "historical" appeal. 😂

This was Boliviana de Aviación's homepage when I purchased my ticket, back in June. There was a loop with promotions and announcements. The city selector was a bit difficult to use. Sometimes it just "vanished" while you were using it 😂

The pages related to the purchasing process remained untouched, so the next screenshots are still current.

BoA offers several flights between Bolivia's main cities every day, especially for the La Paz - Cochabamba - Santa Cruz corridor. 208 BOB ≈ 24 USD, which I think is adequate for this flight. The price includes all taxes, and you can choose your seat during check in. Somewhere I read that baggage allowance can change depending on the aircraft, but in this Boeing 737-800 I am carrying my 45x35x25 backpack plus a tote bag full of bread, yogurt, cheese, and even three lettuces that I bought in Cochabamba and was not willing to waste. 😅 Waste not, want not 🤷

When you click on Mostrar detalles del vuelo (Show details of the flight) you see details of the flight. Ta - daaaa… 😂 Impressive.

The second step is providing your personal information and an emergency contact in case you return home in a little box.

All the time, you can see additional information about your purchase, but it's not meant for the untrained John Doe.

And finally, you enter your card information. Be careful. When you check the Términos y condiciones box and click on Continuar, you don't just continue to the next page…

…but you also pay!! At this point you're all set for your flight.

48 hours before the scheduled time of departure you can check in and pick your seat. You can download your boarding pass and/or send it to your mail. You don't need to print it.

Jorge Wilstermann - CBB

I'm leaving Cochabamba in disbelief. I waited 30 years for this trip (the last time I was here was in 1994) and the whole experience was ruined by an inexplicable cough that started all of a sudden just hours after I landed here a week ago, with fits that almost made me throw up, and hasn't stopped since then.

At least I don't have a fever now, but I'm really pissed off. The cough is threatening to spoil my week in La Paz, too. I feel so weak, as if I were 120 years old and carrying a huge rock on my shoulders. Something tells me that the altitude at La Paz is not going to make things any better. 😕

I took an Uber to the airport. Another option is a taxi seguro (safe taxi). Both will charge you about 70 BOB (about 9 USD)

I forgot to ask, but I suppose taxis seguros are registered taxis. I'm just guessing. These below are airport taxis.

The ride to the airport takes about 15 minutes.

And this is the third option. I'll leave it for the next time. 😅

CBB is relegated to a third place in importance among Bolivian airports, with La Paz and Santa Cruz serving most of the national and international flights. But Boliviana de Aviación is based here and so is BoA Cargo.

That looks like a good place to start our tour of the premises.

Things have really changed in 30 years, but I'm still wary of taking photos in the presence of Bolivian police officers or the military like those two over there. Back in 1994…

…I took a photo of one controlling the traffic in La Paz, and some minutes later he was pestering me to eliminate the photo from my camera! A roll camera! Thank goodness we were just outside a photo lab…

…and they did that for me, rescuing the rest the photos of my very first international trip!! Later the same day, some friends told me that he most probably wanted a bribe.

Some international flights depart from here, but always with a stop at VVI.

Middle section of the hall.

Next to the escalators you can get a chola sandwich. No, I wouldn't eat a sliced chola, or human flesh in any other form. It's just the name 😂

But - cholas of the world - please don't hate me. I have to be honest and acknowledge the undisputed superiority of a Uruguayan chivito. Sorry.

Treading deep in my thoughts about cholas and chivitos, I suddenly realize that I have made it to the end of the hall.

I should turn back and head for security check, which is on the second floor. Don't wanna be late.

I wonder what made this No jugar (No playing) warning at the top of the escalator necessary 😮 Are Bolivians this mischievous? 😆

The screen on the left is almost completely blank because it displays information for one flight only - the one about to begin boarding. So if you were planning to arrive very early in order to go through security check as early as possible, don't.

So I'll have to wait. This shop on the right sells aircraft models - among a lot of other cachureos - but the prices are astronomical!

The time for security check came very quickly. I remember I was feeling terrible at this point. I just wanted to sit and cough.

So I took this only photo of the boarding room and sat over there, in the first line, unable to keep walking, or even breathing.

A lady in a white apron approached me and offered me a massage. Trying to hold my cough, all I could say was Graah haah haah ciahh haah haah haahhh… She must have thought I was laughing at her 😆

I tried to relax and control my breathing. The screens informed that my flight was leaving from gate N7. I didn't pay much attention until boarding time came and I couldn't find gate N7! Oh, there you are! there's a hallway leading to more doors!

Hah! This is the second boarding room. A bit hidden from view. A large charging station!

Luckily, boarding has not started.

The same as VVI, the view on the apron is hindered by a hallway for arriving passengers.

15-year-old CP-3204 is waiting for us out there. A mere baby, but it has seen the world.

About to be swallowed by a boa.

So my previous experience with BoA was not a dream! And it was not an exception! All this legroom and comfortable seats are real, and seem to be the norm at BoA. Magnificent!

You can check the contents of the seat back…

…and some articles of the inflight magazine in my previous report.

The flight

This is how flightradar24.com saw our flight. Intriguing "hook" at the start. For gaining altitude, perhaps?

The last passengers board…

…and we're soon ready to leave.

Taxiing around CBB is a sort of "forensic" experience.

You see "dead bodies" scattered everywhere! You wonder how some of them ended up here! Allegro airlines, for example. It was a US/Mexican airline that operated from 1993 to 2004. Cochabamba wasn't even among their destinations!

Look at that silver propeller beauty rotting over there!! Gosh! If I could take it home!

Yet another (deceased?) Bolivian airline. TAM. Actually, according to Wikipedia, it's back in business again since last May. Well, now that I think about it, I think I saw something on the FIDS moments ago.

I was right!! TAM's name is there, at the bottom of both screens! I didn't notice that before. Must have been my fever 😅

They even have a working website. If I had known before… 🙄 Anyway, they seem to be scheduling flights month by month. But their prices are terrific, even cheaper than BoA's.

Another beauty dying slowly.

Champion Air was based in… Minnesota 🤷‍♂️

This one is not a corpse.

And as we make it to the runway…

…more corpses 😂 The C in CBB must stand for cemetery 😂

Finally, here we go.

The name Cochabamba is made up of two Quechua words…

… "cocha" (water, pond) and "pampa" (plains)

So Cochabamba would mean something like Plains Covered With Water, or Plains Covered With Ponds.

It's a pity that the fertile plains…

…are being covered by the city now.

Bad idea, especially here, where farming land is so scarce.

Anyway, since Cochabamba spreads in a valley surrounded by hills, we make some turns to gain altitude…

…and then continue climbing west…

…above incredibly colorful terrain.

The photos with my poor Xiaomi phone…

…don't make justice to the beauty of the landscape.

Agriculture thrives in the little valleys scattered down there.

In the cabin, the most relaxed atmosphere.

As we approach the Altiplano…

…from Spanish alto (high) and plano (flat)…

…we find some interesting peaks, like the Nevado Santa Vera Cruz. It took me so long to find its name! 😅

And then, a little chain of peaks and lagoons…

…that include the Chamak Qullu peak and its glaciers.

Minutes before reaching La Paz, the glaciers and lagoons give way…

…to more colorful hills…

…and the valley of river Irpavi.

The valley is located south east of La Paz…

…and its lower altitude (about 2800mt) allows for warmer weather, which is quite valued by the more affluent population. Areas like Irpavi and Mecapaca are where the city is growing into.

Irpavi prides itself in having the largest cinema complex in Bolivia, and also a military school. You will see the school in the tourism bonus below. Irpavi station - of the famous La Paz cable car - is right outside.

This short video with aerial views of Mecapaca is worth seeing.

You might notice that the land is flat in the upper half of this photo, while the lower half seems to have sunken into a giant pot hole. Well, La Paz was built in that pothole…

…while the flat part of the city is called El Alto. El Alto started as a shanty town, until it became a city in its own right. I think it covers a larger area than La Paz now…

…and given the lack of regulations and the flat terrain…

…I don't think it'll ever stop growing.

Turning around above the Altiplano.

These moments when you look out of the window and see roofs instead of sky give me the jitters 😅

That's how…

…under the oversight of the Andean giants in the distance…

…like the Illimani…

…we glide past the UGLY BUILDINGS of El Alto…

…and more FREAKINGLY UGLY BUILDINGS of El Alto… (sorry, but I won't refrain from saying it, especially in coming reports)…

…until we land in such a long run…

…that it feels like we're going to fall over the edge of the cliff into the pothole of La Paz.

Aww, that must be poor Peruvian Airlines OB2041P that had an accident here in November 2018. Then I flew with Peruvian in 2019… and they went out of business. Of course 🙄

My first sight of LPB in 30 years.

TAM

Inevitably, I have flashbacks of how bad I felt…

…when I got the altitude disease (a.k.a. puna) when I was here the last time. It's going to be a difficult week with my bronchitis.

LPB - El Alto Airport

Mixed feelings. It's great that they modernized the airport with those jetbridges…

…but the mural that used to welcome passengers…

…is now almost out of sight.

Besides, quotation marks should not be used for highlighting text. They're used to quote or to express irony. So I have a series of questions for the airport management now. Is El Alto airport really alto? Or are you fooling your customers with an airport that's not as high as publicized? Huh? HUUUH? 🧐

Yep. My English might be lousy, but I'm still an honorary member of the grammar police 😅

While Chileans seem to be in a race to become the rudest, the most aggressive and the most ignorant, Bolivians set an example of civility heeding the instructions of the FA, disembarking in groups of five rows, and staying in their seats while they wait for their turn.

Someone is watching me there 😄

And this is when I realize that I'm going to have a hard time in La Paz. I can hardly breathe…

…and my heartbeat goes into overdrive every three or four steps.

I go very slowly and breathing in deeply…

…praying it won't be a long way to the taxi.

I don't remember a single control around here. Of course! This was a domestic flight.

So I quickly emerge at the main hall. I wonder if there's a pharmacy…

…here!! Just next to domestic arrivals! Great! I was told they have something for the altitude disease.

And they were right. These are the capsules, though don't seem to be very different from a standard medicine for a headache.

And I should warn you that medicines in Bolivia are sold by unit. You buy 1, 2, 3 or more tablets, according to your need. I bought four of these, and they hit me with 40 BOB! I was robbed!

The hall is quite large. This is the view to my left…

…but there's much more behind me. Just don't ask me to go for a tour of the premises now because I can't 😩 But I can still tell you that I dropped in at the local Subway and got two 15cm sandwiches for 40 BOB. A - ma - zing.

I head for the exit, and on my way I find this "fellow countrybird" of mine displayed next to the works of Gabriel García Márquez. The way it HAS to be! 😄

With every step taking my battery level closer and closer to zero, I urgently head for the exit in search for transportation.

Outside, I'm met by several taxi drivers offering a ride to La Paz for 80 BOB (9.5 USD)

I check the Uber app to compare. "84 BOB," it says.

Fair enough. 80 BOB will be OK. So I follow this short, slouching, polite gentleman to his taxi.

He looks like a nice person. We slowly move along the streets of El Alto. I relax and take my pills for the altitude disease before it's too late, and then we turn left to the…

…HO - LY - SHHHH********************************************** 😱😱😱😱😱😱😱😱……

SOMEONE STOP THIS CAAAAR…. 😭😭😭😭😭

Our friendly driver turns out to be the Dr Jekyll/Mr Hyde of Bolivian highways!! I swear you can see the evil look on his face and long claws grasping that wheel as we descend about 500mt along the 10km-long El Alto - La Paz highway.

I desperately look for the lock of my seatbelt. Why is it always hidden so deep between the cushions?!!! 😭

Eventually, we're forced to stop at this red light. Thank God for red lights! And some blocks ahead I get out of the taxi, completely out of breath, unsure of how many G's I've just experienced in those curves.

"Thaahhh…. Thaahhhh… Thaaahhhnk you hoo hooo…" I say, unable to control my cough as I close the door.

And this is where I start my search for a place to stay, because the airbnb I hired was FAR from what I expected, so I cancelled the reservation right then and there.

Tourism Bonus - La Paz Teleférico

Luckily, I end up in the nice neighborhood of Sopocachi, an area of restaurants, pubs, supermarkets, hotels, fancy people walking their chihuahuas… even the Argentinian embassy is located here. Quite nice and picturesque.

This is Avaroa park.

The guy who came up with La Paz teleférico (cable car) deserves a Nobel prize in something. The teleférico is not just a couple of cabins going up and down a hill, but a complex network of lines - identified by colors - and stations that allow you to make connections and move easily around most of the city. All stations are connected. Visit their website for a map and more information! I think they hit the nail on the head, given the very special topography of the city. Below is Sopocachi station, which is part of the yellow line.

To travel in the teleférico you get a card in any of the stations for 30 BOB (about 3.5 USD) It's pre-charged with 15 BOB, which is good for about five trips, and then you recharge as many times as you want.

Some "designer's" cards like the one below are a bit more expensive (36 BOB), and that's the only difference with the standard ones. I chose this one because it features a painting by Bolivian artist Roberto Mamani Mamani, called Amazonas. Google his paintings, for God's sake! They're breathtaking. So you get a transportation card and a little work of art at the same time! I think I'm going to frame it 😁

First I visit the south of the city with the green line. It's like a "secret" part of the city, hidden from the rest of it by a towering hill. It's an affluent part of the city.

You can see the military school here on the left. I think those are new recruits waiting outside.

Back over the towering hill…

…you have the most amazing views of the city…

…and the surrounding landscape. Simply breathtaking.

The celeste (light blue) line runs along the Parque Urbano Central.

This is one of my favorite shots of my trip. It shows how the teleférico lets you see the city from above, but at the same time be part of the action. You can hear everything people are saying, even inside their houses if the windows are open!!

The celeste line has the best views of downtown La Paz.

The white line takes you to the Plaza Triangular. Three important avenues converge here: Avenida Saavedra on the left, Avenida Busch in the mifddle, and Avenida Argentina on the right. The teleférico goes along Avenida Busch.

The red line takes you up to El Alto, also with a fantastic general view of La Paz…

…and of the (hideous) mostly unfinished red brick houses of the suburbs.

Some people are more concerned for their neighborhood than others.

Our friend Mr Hyde's race track 😂

The silver line takes you along the edge of the cliff between El Alto and La Paz.

Inevitably, you find yourself invading the privacy of the families living under or around the teleférico. It might be uncomfortable, but there's not much that they can do.

Others just could not take it and left their houses.

And others just don't care at all 😂😂😂

But this superpower of being able to see everything in and out from above is worth experiencing.

Finally, it's time to take the yellow line back to Sopocachi.

I hope you enjoyed reading this report as much as I enjoyed writing it. Bolivia should be in your bucket list!

Thanks for reading! 🤗