in chile and argentina the gasoline is something like 1,7$. in bolivia 1,3$ (tourist price, not subsidized from a poor country).
if you can´t afford the fuel, why not take a bike, tacano?

Oh, I don't mind paying the tourist price but I do need petrol.

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Ruta 1 just south of Camargo. Local prices and a smile from the nice lady on the pump.
S20 39'01.4" W65 12'46.2"

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Uyuni: No problem buying fuel at local prices at any of the three places in town.
Going from Uyuni to Calama (Chile), no petrol along the way. However, the nice lady at the Atahualpha Hostal sold me a few litres from a jerry can.
S21 13'26.7"
W68 15'13.1"

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In SAN CRISTOBAL, south from Uyuni via Villa Alota and Lagunas, usually they have with no problems.

Cory's recommendations are practical. Always carry your bin or extra-bottles, just in case, and fill them up always that you may

Good luck, Santiago

I entered Bolivia on the 26th March 2012 from La Quiaca, Argentina to Villazon, Bolivia. I exited Bolivia on the 6th April 2012 at Desaguadero Bolivia into Peru. Fuel is no problem. During the whole duration in Bolivia I only paid twice international rate for fuel on my KLR 650, the rest of fuelling I paid same as local rate. I usually looked for some lonely and outskirt fuel stations as they likely do not bothered with your internationalisation character. My advise is; be humble and look out for small station rather than the more popular or branded fuel station.
Good luck.

I filled up in Bolivia with no problems although i did pay the international rate. It doesn't bother me and i tip the guys, hopefully so the next biker through gets looked after.

Delb

Great thread this, one of the few petrol stations you *can't* miss (one road in and one road out :-) ) and we have a GPS reference.

The poster who said getting fuel was easy in Potosi never mentioned an address or GPS ref. And it is actually possible to enter and leave Potosi without seeing any of the gas stations :-)

So, guys, can we have road names as well as GPS refs ? Some of us do not use GPS.

(Nor do we all have large gas tanks :-) I am a glutton for punishmentt. 17l is enough for anyone...... heck last time I did it with a 15l tank :-) )

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http://www.ytc1.co.uk

Any chance that someone who has been in Bolivia, or lives there can update this thread please
Thank you.....

ioverlander.com ha a specific category for Bolivian fuel stations and it can be updated by users. Not going to be perfect but more up to date than 2012.

Hard to keep a static reference current and even ioverlander struggles because your experience today with one staff member will be different to mine tomorrow with a difference member of staff

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Click here for Travel Photos & Travel Map

Have just spent the past 7-8 weeks in Bolivia, only once was I actually refused petrol. 50/50 as to weather you pay the local price or the gringo price (Which for reference is 3.80 Bolivianos to 8.60 Bolivianos).

I had a 7 litre australian jerry can (bidon) that in the cities i just walked up and asked for petrol, when they asked for the carnet number I said i don't have one, usually they either used their own, filled up my petrol at the end of someone elses or just made it work.

A few times when I did not have my bidon i bargained with varying degrees of success with the attendant over the price. If the fill up would have costed a local 25 Bolivianos, they want to charge you 60-70. Offer 30-40, it's easy money in their pocket if you dont need a factura. They usually grumble about the cameras etc etc.

Also you will find better luck at the older style petrol stations, the newer ones tend to have this same computer system which requires a carnet number and name and some of them are very much "Computer says no". On some occasions I have just blatantly asked the person behind me to buy an exact amount of petrol on top of their purchase, and all the attendants did was ask me to fill the bike off the forecourt. Other times they have gone and gotten a larger bidon for me to use.

I think the worse case is you pay the gringo rate if you need petrol. The only station I found difficult was the only one in Copacabana just before the border as they have the navy police (lol bolivian navy) hanging around, which keeps the attendants honest I guess.

Also If you have a choice of pumps go to the one that does not have a hundred locals standing around, easier for the attendant to let you off if they do not have an audience.

Two stations for sure would be the one at the entrance to the North Yungas Road, he is really friendly and there is no problems. Also where the road from Ohuro joins the paved road between Cochabamba and La Paz they don't give a ****.

The petrol situation in Bolivia is certainly annoying but not a big problem.