CROSSED OFF THE MAP

Travels in Bolivia By Shafik Meghji Latin American Bureau

Salt flats and soaring cities might be all many of us know of Bolivia. ‘Crossed off the map’ – a reference to the apocryphal story in which Queen Victoria literally crossed out the country’s name following a perceived slight, also refers to this lack of knowledge. But as prolific travel-guide writer Shafik Meghji explores in this in-depth account of the country, Bolivia is a land with a dramatic past – one that saw it at the forefront of the global economy – and a shifting, complex present.

Told via a series of extended trips Meghji made to the country while writing a guide book, Crossed off the Map covers every corner of the country – one that with a landmass more than four times larger than the UK contains a dizzying array of landscapes and climates. In Llanos de Moxos – Bolivia’s great plains – he explores the remnants of ancient and often forgotten civilisations; in Potosí, he finds a run-down, depressing place, once the richest city on Earth when its silver mines dictated global events. Looking forward, he explores the country’s relationship with the lithium contained within the salt flats, a relationship that still hangs in the balance; in the Amazon he recounts the disturbing rise of deforestation; and in La Paz and El Alto he finds cities rapidly expanding as climate change forces people to migrate. Peppered with the entertaining anecdotes of a weary traveller’s encounters with dodgy transport, biting insects, unpredictable weather and even more unpredictable guides, it makes for a fascinating combination of good travel writing, history lecture and an exploration of the country’s modern-day challenges. Bolivia does not come across as comfortable in this telling (unless you are very wealthy). For the traveller and local alike, many of its landscapes and cities are difficult places to live and navigate. But as ever, challenges spark great stories, and Bolivia is full of them.