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Bolivian Andes Bookshelf

If you are reading this blog, you probably realize that my focus is the Bolivian Andes.  We might, later, take a trip down to the the Bolivian east, or perhaps down into the Atacama desert, but the main focus will remain the altiplano and mountains of Bolivia.  Another important aspect of this blog is that the directions in it assume you have your own vehicle for transport.  Of course, it could also be a rented vehicle, or you could certainly hire a guide to take you to these places, but this blog does not assume the hiring of guides or use of public transport.

Most guidebooks assume either guides, or public transport.  As a result, they tend to be of limited usefulness for someone using his own vehicle.  They may tell you where to catch the bus that goes to a particular place, but they then assume that the bus driver will get you there.

One of the challenging and fun aspects of exploring the Bolivian highlands is that there has been relatively little published about the many wonders of this region.  That said, the best starting point is finding what has been written and taking advantage of it.  Here is what I have found so far.  Please contribute anything you discover in the comments below.

Maps

If you are exploring on your own, you probably should have maps along.  See Maps in Bolivia to review your options.

Standard Guidebooks

These are basically divided between the standard guides for typical tourists, and the backpacker guides.  I haven’t spent much time with the standard guides.  They tend to focus on the cities and on guided tours, and they provide little in-depth information on a place as inaccessible as the Bolivian highlands.  That’s perfectly understandable, since their clientele are not going to get far off the beaten path.  Most of their clientelle travel to Machu Picchu, across the Titicaca, and down to the Salar de Uyuni.  Few of them go much deeper, so it is understandable that the guidebooks don’t, either.

Backpacker Guides

Lonely Planet certainly qualifies, but the book I discovered 25 years ago, the South America Handbook, has grown up and now there is a version specific to Bolivia, Footprint’s Bolivia Handbook.

Bolivia Handbook

BoliviaHB_5e_productIt’s probably the best guide for backpacking Bolivia and, as such, is a good starting point for exploring the country.  At 422 pages, it’s probably about as detailed as you want a guide book to be.  That said, there is a lot of the Bolivian highlands which does not manage to make it into the book.  Still, it is, perhaps, your best starting point.

 

 

 

Other Guides

Guia turistica de / Tour guide of Iglesias Rurales: La Paz y Oruro, Philipp Schauer, with the collaboration of Teresa Gisbert

003Indispensable.  See my review.

 

 

 

 

Bolivia: Cuadernos de Viaje: El Altiplano Boliviano, Viviana Carril and Pedro Prado

002Carril and Prado have made a number of driving trips on the Bolivian altiplano, and have written them up in this book.  Unfortunately, their book tends to focus on the mundane and transitory, with a lot of space given over to road conditions (which change with every rain storm in Bolivia, and are changing even faster with the heavy investment the government is making in road construction), the state of the fields during the season when they passed through, and even noting, over and over, that each town has a school and a church.  Still, as the only book (I am aware of) to provide any description of many of the routes on the Bolivian altiplano, Cuadernos de Viaje is worth your while, IF you read Spanish fluently.  Besides detailed descriptions of the routes, Carril and Prado include the GPS coordinates for some locations and altitude information for the routes they describe.

 Birding Guides

I’m not a birder, but I find that the more you know about a place, the more enjoyable it is.  Since birds are an interesting aspect of travel in Bolivia, one of the countries in the world with the greatest diversity of birds, I’ve picked up a couple of bird books.

Birds of the High Andes, N. Krabbe (Author), J. Fjeldsaa (Author, Illustrator)

510SKJP6YRL._SL500_AA300_-3This is not cheap, likely costing you more than $100, but it is the bible, and it is beautiful.  It’s also large and heavy, so not the guide book to jam into your backpack.  Still, like I said, this is the bible.  If you want to identify and learn about the birds of the high Andes, well, this is the book you want.

 

 

 

Guia Fotographica: Aves de Bolivia, Omar Rocha, Sol Aguilar, Carmen Quiroga & Omar Martinez, photography by Daniel Alarcon, Carmen Mateu & Omar Rocha

511-2And this is the guide you take with you.  Great photos and good information.  You can find this in the bookstores of La Paz.  I got mine for Bs140 (about $20).

 

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