Strikes, Roadblocks and Such

I was in Bolivia visiting friends for three weeks in November. I'm going to restrict this msg only to the bad stuff and get to the boring positive aspects of the trip later. After reading various threads on Thorn Tree, I assumed that social unrest in BO would not really affect me. That's not exactly true.
While laying in bed watching DVD's in our friend's condo in Cochabamba, I periodically would hear firecrackers nearby. A celebration of some sort? No. Protesters in the street. Driving in town that day was a circuitous affair trying to avoid piles of rocks and trucks parked at various crossroads and bridges. Police all over the place. Not a real problem though. Just drive around them.
An acquaintance of a Bolivian friend gets hacked to death with machetes. Maybe there is a problem here in town. . . . .
On the road between Cochabamba and Santa Cruz, the road is blocked by an "unannounced" strike. Hundreds of trucks lining the roads on either side of the blockage with their loads rotting. We are stuck in a miserable town called home to far more flies than people. We are hours away from anything else. We find out the road is blocked behind us as well. I wasn't smart enough to feel any threat, but our friends thought it best to avoid potential violence. To make a very long story short, we negotiated passage across a farmers land. This involved pushing the car thru a mile of mud, across a ditch, then thru a river. It took 4 hours to get back on the road. Heat, humidity and biting ants made it quite an experience. Without the help of a pack of Bolivian farm kids we never/ever would have made it. Got to Santa Cruz covered in mud.
Next day another strike shuts down Santa Cruz. We had no choice but to stay at the hotel all day. Luckily our flight out to Peru wasn't that day.
A strike that was to run indefinitely was scheduled for Monday. We flew out Saturday. Our friends were wondering how they would get back to Cochabamba with their car. Luckily that same Saturday that they dropped us at the airport, the road blockage was finally lifted and they were able to drive back. The Monday strike was diffused and didnt happen (I dont think).
Anyway, BO can be quite volatile. I lot of folks there really hate each other. Various politicians on TV were ranting about setting up their own autonomous country seperate from La Paz. We heard no mention made that a roadblock had cut much of the country in two for several days. Business as usual I guess.
They take their politics very seriously in BO. Maybe it won't effect you as a tourist, but don't count on it.

" After reading various threads on Thorn Tree, I assumed that social unrest in BO would not really affect me. "
I see that you assumed wrong!

I frequently mention that people should allow extra time in case of strikes or roadblocks(sorry if you missed those posts), but still it seems that you had some disruption to your travel plans. How many days were you stuck? One? Ten? Hopefully you weren't on a tight schedule. I know there were at least three major protests, three strikes and several roadblocks when I was in Bolivia. The most impact that they had on me was that I had one unplanned overnight, could not go to two places I hoped to see and had fresh traffic free air to breathe in La Paz one day - all of which I consider extremely minor as far as disruptions go - especially that fresh air day. If I was personally harmed, kidnapped, robbed or unable to leave for an extended period of time due to protests or strikes I'd bump that classification from minor to major. Roadblocks can also occur in Northern Argentina

Sorry to hear you had a bad trip. Will be interested to read your post on the “boring positive” bits. But now bear with me in a long-ish comment.
Along with others. I post on travel conditions in Bolivia, sometimes in reply to others, sometimes to flag new information (e.g., my last two posts). The challenge is to steer between over-dramatization and being blasé just because of familiarity with local conditions; so much depends on the eye of the beholder and on the luck of the draw.
However, perhaps it is reasonable to assume that people who chose to travel to a “developing” country such as Bolivia, and who look for information on the Thorn Tree, will most likely be independent travellers, at least mildly adventurous, will do some basic reading, will not expect North American or European standards of political stability, efficiency, punctuality and road safety, and will be prepared for some inconveniences as well as the many attractions. Otherwise, they would chose escorted group tours to Switzerland or perhaps Chile. My posts, at least, usually make that assumption.
As # 2 points out, the frequency of roadblocks, strikes, demonstrations, etc. is a constant theme in threads on Bolivia. Another frequent warning is of landslides during the rainy season on some routes. As well as the road to Yungas, one sector of the road you took from Cochabamba to Santa Cruz is cut two or three times a year most years, sometimes for several days. There is often advice not to cut the internal travel schedule too fine because of the possibility of delays.
The travel advisories of the State Department and the UK Foreign Office mention these problems, and State specifically advises Americans travelling through the Chapare to exercise caution.
Perhaps your second installment will clear up some parts of your post which puzzle me.

Was this your first visit to Bolivia,? You only mention Cochabamba and Santa Cruz, not usually considered the top tourist attractions in Bolivia (but see below). Did you not visit Uyuni, Potosí, or the Madidi Park? To the best of my knowledge, there were no major difficulties in access to any of those fascinating destinations (or in La Paz where I live) during the three weeks you were in Bolivia, although there were serious problems in Sucre, another important destination. And, with three weeks in Bolivia, had no one suggested that you take a day or two before flying out from Santa Cruz to visit the old Jesuit missions three hours northeast of the city, one of the most attractive destinations in Bolivia?
You were visiting friends, apparently residents of Cochabamba. Did the fire crackers outside in the street actually cause you any inconvenience other than difficulty in following the soundtrack of the DVD? This is the first time I have seen this threat to tourists´well-being mentioned on the Thorn Tree – please excuse the irony.
“An acquaintance of a Bolivian friend gets hacked to death with machetes. Maybe there is a problem here in town. . . . .” Unless I am mistaken, this third-hand reference is to the young “cochabambino” killed while participating in a political confrontation in January 2007. Nasty as it was, the case appears more relevant to the state of mind of your contacts in Cochabamba than to the safety of a visitor to Cochabamba in November. Perhaps a little misleading to a casual reader of your post?

Let me remind you of the little English girl who disappeared without trace earlier this year in an established family resort in Portugal. More recently two English girls were hacked to death in Italy and Japan. Maybe there´s a problem in the Algarve, Italy and Japan …
This does not imply that there are no crimes affecting foreign visitors to Bolivia – on the contrary, there was quite a discussion of this on the Thorn Tree earlier this year, and it is covered in some detail in the US and UK travel advisories – merely that you have not made your case with this incident. I am easily identifiable as a foreigner but I have never been attacked or even threatened, neither have any of my foreign acquaintances.
As for the difficulties on the road between Cochabamba and Santa Cruz, I am frankly baffled to hear that your friends seem to have had no inkling that road blocks were likely, and that there was going to be a “civic stoppage” in Santa Cruz. Everyone else knew these were likely, and media coverage before, during and after was extensive; the Santa Cruz stoppage was heavily trailed in advance. The standard, sensible advice in the case of road blocks is not to try to run the road block or drive round it. Fortunately, although you did get muddy, the bunch of kindly Bolivian farm kids helped you through the mud without kidnapping you, holding you to ransom, or scalping you,.

And yes, you are right, that Monday strike was called off.
Feel free to get back at me.

major road blockades (and one on the main road in Bolivia is defintiely a major one) are normally announced in the news and newspapers days ahead - you could have even read it online on www.la-razon.com - it is surprsiing that your friends did not know about it

Hi again. Quick response mostly to #'s 3 and 4.
The roadblock we ran into was not announced in advance. Our BO friends were up on currant conditions, for all that turned out to be worth. We had spent the night in Chapare and they hadn't heard about the road being cut either. Traffic was flowing both ways when we departed. Seemed to have been a surprise to all those, other than the perpetrators. Felt sorry for the truckers loaded with parishable items.
Sorry to be "misleading". The kid was killed while we were there in November. And yes, I imagine he was probably in a place that prudence would dictate he not be. And no, I didn't feel personally threatened as a tourist. And thank God, the firecrackers really didn't interfere with our enjoyment of the DVD.
We had actually planned to do the Jesuit missions and hang around Santa Cruz a few days with our friends. However, they ran into difficulties that terminated their drive to Santa Cruz. We took a TAM flight (cheap by the way) to Cochabamba. We did get to Amboro. You are correct. Cochabamba and Santa Cruz are not top tourist attractions.
As for the farm kids who refrained from "kidnapping" and "scalping" us, they were paid well for their help. Christmas came early.
Hmmm. Think after all the time I've spent clarifying my first impromptu post, I shall forego the "boring positive aspects of the trip" as originally intended. Suffice it to say, that we had an enjoyable visit with friends and saw and did some new things.