玻利維亞在旅人口中一向譭譽參半，有讚嘆她的天然美景的，亦有對當地的旅遊業者頗有微言的。我亦頗有同感。

Though travelers are always amazed by the stunning landscape of Bolivia, Bolivia does not always have a good reputation amongst travelers.

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做遊客便早預了要付各式各樣的費用，不過所謂巧立名目也好，出師有名也好，收錢方都總會給個理由吧。印象中好像從來沒有遇過當地人可以毫無理由向遊客收錢的，但玻利維亞人卻做到了。

話說在玻國 Lake Titicaca 的太陽島上有ABC三條村，分佔島的北中南部分。北部的A村有最重要的古蹟遺址，而南部的C村有稍次的古蹟但卻最近內陸，亦是最多遊客的必經之地，惟獨是中部的B村什麼都沒有。如是者A村及C村順理成章地分別向遊客收取10元及5元的入場費，而照理B村是沒理由沒機會向遊客收費的，但B村本著「大家同為世世代代居於此島, 為什麼唯獨我們卻什麼油水都沒有呢? 這太不公平了! 」的宗旨，便隨便放個人在島的南北通道上向遊客收錢。若然這條南北通道是穿過B村的話還說得過去，但這條通道在山頂，而B村卻是在山腳呢。他們還要一不做，二不休，收得比其他村還要狠，一收便是15大元。理由呢? 唔⋯⋯有需要嗎？你什麼時候聽過黑社會收陀地需要理由的？

本應是溫柔寧靜的小島，卻因島上的古蹟令原本與世無爭的島民為著金錢的利益而變得市儈。

Being a tourist, I am well prepared to pay all kinds of entrance or any additional charges applied to foreigners. May it be reasonable or not, they will always give you a “reason” to pay. But the people in Lake Titicaca of Bolivia has changed this rule.

All the 3 communities on the Isla del Sol of Lake Titicaca charge tourists separately for visiting different parts of the island. While 2 of them have a clear reason to charge people for visiting the archeological sites in their villages, one community just charge people even though there’s nothing around. The villagers simply set a pay point in the middle of the trail, which also doesn’t pass through their village, and abruptly ask people who pass by to pay. To make it more absurd, the fee is even the highest amongst the 3 communities. Though it was only a small amount of money, I couldn’t convince myself to pay for absolutely no reason.

I met a lot of friendly and nice Bolivianos but this case may help to explain why Bolivia does not always has a good reputation as its people are sometimes reputed for overly money-minded.