am planning to go and live for a few weeks in a city in bolivia this summer, working in a hospital there on my "elective" as a medical student - wondered if anyone has any advice...is it an okay place to be as a lone woman with not-very-good spanish? does anyone know any english-speaking doctors working in bolivia? what's the journey by train from chile to la paz like? reading the horror stories on the lonely planet website is making it all sound a bit more daunting than id imagined... any advice appreciated, thanx

I just returned from Bolivia, where I spent five weeks travelling all around on my own and never felt uncomfortable or scared. It did help that I speak the language, but I also met a lot of other women travelling safely on their own without any Spanish. Obviously, things happen and you should be careful, especially in bigger cities such as La Paz and Santa Cruz.

Where in Bolivia are you travelling to?

As for the train journey from Chile, I haven't heard anything about it. Most people who come to Bolivia overland from Chile do it through Salar de Uyuni via Pedro de Atacama. You might want to look into that option.

Let me know if you have any questions.