Hi Vegan World Trekker readers! Maria has been kind enough to offer me the chance to write a guest post and share some information about my recent trip to Bolivia. I started a year long vegan backpacking adventure in January 2010. You can read about my travels on www.veganbackpacker.com.

When you imagine Bolivia, you probably don’t see it as a very vegan-friendly travel destination. Before visiting, I had no idea what to expect. I was very happy to find mountains of fruits and vegetables, vegan-friendly street food delicacies, an internationally inspired restaurant scene, and even a few vegetarian restaurants offering up vegan options.

I traveled from the south to north of Bolivia, entering via northern Argentina and arriving in the border town of Tupiza. This is where I first spotted the Bolivian women, in their traditional dress wearing pollera skirts, colorful blankets, and bowler hats. Everyday the streets were lined with women surrounded by large piles of fruit and vegetables. There was a lot of variety but an abundance of corn, pumpkin, onion, lettuce, melon and fresh herbs. I continued to come across large food markets in Sucre, La Paz and Uyuni. With the fresh foods I bought at markets, I was able to make healthy meals at hostels, including some really nice soups and salads.

The majority of locals buy their food from vendors on the street or at comedors, community dining halls were women cook in mini kitchens and serve set lunch menus. This is by far the cheapest way to eat. Keep an eye out for ladies making tortas fritas, deep fried dough, with vegetable oil. Huminta, corn patties, are another traditional Bolivian street food find. They’re often made with cheese but sometimes you’ll get lucky and find someone selling the plain variety. You’ll see lots of ladies peeking out from behind towers of fruit, ready to blend you up a drink. Enjoy as many smoothies as you can handle, just be sure to ask them to use bottled water.

If you want to sit down and enjoy a meal inside, there are lots of restaurants that cater to tourists. The typical menu I saw in Bolivia was at least 10 pages long and had a vegetarian section. Most tourist restaurants had a selection of pizza, pasta and salad that could be made vegan with a few minor tweaks. In larger cities, especially La Paz, you can find almost any type of cuisine. I saw Indian, Japanese, Italian and Mexican restaurants. There are vegan options to be found at all of these places but I’d recommend seeking out some traditional Bolovian food.

Bolivia is one of the major exporters of quinoa and there’s lots of it in the country. You can find quinoa drinks, puffed quinoa cereal, quinoa bars and, of course, cooked quinoa. It’s expensive in comparison to other foods and most locals can’t afford it. You won’t find it in a lot of supermarkets but it’s sold at specialty shops and on some restaurant menus. At the Drogueria Natural in Sucre, Bolivia, I found a lot of quinoa products.

In Sucre, I also had the chance to try a vegan version of papa a la huancaína at El Germen, a vegetarian restaurant. This dish typically involves boiled yellow or white potatoes, as well as hard boiled eggs. The potatoes and eggs are covered in a spicy cheese or peanut sauce. In this case, my dish was made with a spicy peanut sauce and the hard boiled eggs were left out. It was served with more veggies than the traditional version, which is usually limited to olives and lettuce.

There weren’t a lot of vegetarian restaurants in Bolivia but the best one was Namaste in La Paz. They had a four course vegetarian lunch menu that changed each day. It was usually vegan or could be made vegan with just a few adjustments. At Namaste, I enjoyed empanadas, vegetable and barley soup, and a black bean and sweet potato burrito. They have a nice mix of traditional food but the owner is from the United States and always added a bit of international inspiration into the mix.

If you have the chance to travel to Bolivia, you won’t be disappointed with the dining scene. You’ll be well fed, and treated to a lot of beautiful landscapes and local culture.