We Hate Bolivian Internet!


We Hate Bolivian Internet!

The internet in this country is really horrible.  Yes, it has gotten worse along the way.  In Colombia it was comparable to the United States.  In Ecuador it was perfectly satisfactory.  In Peru we started to have problems, but we could generally find a connection where we could upload pictures.  In all those countries the average hostel even had WiFi.  Now in Bolivia, lots of places we stay advertise WiFi but it doesn´t usually work.  And paying at an internet cafe, you would expect to be able to load your GMAIL right?  Not a guarantee!  It’s very frustrating!

NOTE FROM 2024: has Bolivian internet gotten any better in the last decade? When we were there it was slower than my AOL from 1999. This was before WIFI was everywhere. We had like an Iphone 3 that got stolen in Colombia, but usually we were on the computers in the internet cafes. That was something we would do every so often, all towns pretty much had one. Even there it was a real challenge. Looking back now, I’m like “why didn’t you post more pictures!” but I remember that it was hard. The effort to create this thing really meant something back then. Now it is so easy, with everyone so connected, even in the backwoods places.