From Tilcara to La Quiaca

Took an early bus from Tilcara to La Quiaca. Used Panamericano bus company for the first time, despite bad reviews in Lonely Planet and online. But it was cheap and early. Was one of very few tourists on the bus, mostly local people travelling from one small village to the next, sometimes to a small house in the middle of nowhere. Also some schoolchildren travelling to a remote school. No USB port & rather small seats, but overall very fine for a 3 hr ride.

After walking to the border in La Quiaca I found out it is closed until, hopefully, saturday, when it should open again. There's a teacher's strike in Bolivia which includes border road blocks. This is something else than protesting in Germany. From what I've read, it seems the demands of the teachers are very reasonable, demanding better education budget among other things. If all goes well I can cross the border on Saturday.

I quickly found a cheap hotel to stay until Saturday and explored the city afterwards.

I found an excellent asado place 200 meters from the border, called El Pipon (full man, as being very full with food). Really excellent meat with a spicy salsa on the side. Cute dogs waiting next to the table for some leftovers. The whole meal cost 1700 pesos, so a bit less than 5€. Incredible cheap.

Asked some other tourists if the border is still closed - it was. Even some other tourists who were in contact with the consulate were not able to cross. It's easily possible to cross the border illagally but then the passport stamp from both Argentina and Bolivia would be missing.Read more