Safety in Bolivia

Dear Christine

Although I am presently in the UK, I have previously lived in La Paz for 6 months, Cochabamba 1 year and Santa Cruz for 2 years, I have never been robbed or threatened whilst in Bolivia and moved about freely and traveled long distances on Bolivian buses. I feel very secure in Bolivia and I hope to retire in Bolivia in two years

I was robbed twice on different bus rides. I've had things stolen many times during my travels as well as have many family members who are Bolivian born natives. The sad truth is you must carefully watch all of your possessions everywhere and guard yourself at all times there. I can elaborate further but why bother? Anyone asking this question perhaps knows very very little about Bolivia and should simply be advised to avoid it like you would avoid the plague. Or go and find out for yourself. You have been warned.

I am so sorry you had such negative experience here in Bolivia. I am from the States and live here with an invalid daughter. I have even left my backpack that had her medicine and my computer in it, in the taxi and the driver returned it to me about an hour later with all intact. I got up to leave a cafe with my purse on the chair  to pay my bill and 2 woman from different tables alerted me to the fact that my purse was still on the chair. Both of these times I could have been robbed but was shown that these people are not like some would want to picture them.
When I travel have used the radio taxis and have always felt safe.

I have traveled extensively in Bolivia.  Bolivia is a large enough nation to have different areas, some more safe than others.  I and my family have never had any problems however we try to blend in as much as possible.  I do research before we go anywhere and in doing so, I minimize potential problems.  This research can be found at a number of web sites and it can help you. I would recommend sticking to the radio taxi's only!  Be aware of your surroundings always but don't let it interfere with your ability to have fun and enjoy the cultural differences.

Poor ellwooa!

She might be already here to enjoy her retirement. She used her experience to judge the country and this might be an anomaly. She was either extremely lucky or got paid for a post like that!

What kind of comment is that? Say something that makes sense please.

@Blanc0 > Just to inform you that this is an old inactive thread.

Hi all!
I have been in La Paz for over 3 years now and I have had a mixture of experiences. Generally, I have not been robbed but someone (atually,two people working together) tried to rob me in a mini bus and on another occassion, some gentlemen came and sat next to us suspiciously at a park so we had to walk away and they left as soon as we stood up and walked away.
My husband once forgot his back pack at a restaurant for an entire weekend and when he called the restaurant, the bag had been kept safe for him and he found everything in it, including a phone.
All I can say is that the safety depends on which part of La Paz you are at, what time of the day and at times, just shear misfortune.

i recently spent 3 weeks traveling alone in Bolivia and never had any feeling of being unsafe other than that due to what I read about the park near the bus station in Cochabamba. Never was threatened or intimidated despite my poor spanish and my obviously being a tourist and easy target.