The South American nation that has a navy but no coastline

MOST people join the navy with the expectation that they will be spending a lot of time on the high seas, but that can be tricky when you don’t have any coastline.

Despite being landlocked, Bolivia in South America still has an operating navy — but for almost 140 years its 5000 sailors have been barred from entering the ocean.

During the War of the Pacific which ran from 1879 to 1884, Bolivia lost 240km of coastline to Chile, and since then their navy has been restricted to sailing the country’s rivers and lakes.

The government established the Armada Boliviana in 1963, which consisted of four boats supplied by the US and about 1800 troops, and was later renamed the Bolivian Naval Force in 1966.

These days the Bolivian Navy is made up of a mixture of speed boats, tankers and other vessels cast off by China.

They trawl the country’s Amazonian rivers and the 8370sq km of Lake Titicaca, delivering medical supplies to remote communities, fighting drug traffickers and responding to natural disasters.

“The fleet they keep is bruised and battered, and they’d be the first to admit they could probably do with some newer craft,” Nick Ballon, a British photographer of Bolivian descent, told Wired.

Though they may not have the biggest naval force, Bolivia has never stopped trying to reclaim its coastline, with many of those serving remaining hopeful that they will one day get to sail on a Bolivian ocean.

Chile’s win was seen as unjust due to the staging of one of the key battles that led to Bolivia’s downfall.

In 1880, 11,000 men attacked the Bolivian and Peruvian garrisons at Ilo during Carnival, a very important tradition to the people of Bolivia.

There are claims that the country is still suffering from what was perceived as underhanded tactics by Chile.

The country is so focused on reclaiming what they lost, they remember it on March 23 each year on the Day of the Sea.

On this day, thousands of troops parade in their blue naval uniforms to songs such as We Will Recover Our Sea.

The country is so focused on reclaiming the ocean that it is even mentioned in the Bolivian Navy’s motto.

Printed on the side of the naval base on Lake Titicaca is the phrase “El mar nos pertenece por derecho, recuperarlo es un deber”, which translates to: “The sea belongs to us by right, recovering it is our duty.”

“The ocean and its reclamation is still very much at the front of Bolivia’s national psyche,” Mr Ballon said.

Bolivia is the poorest country in South America, a position which the government blames on its landlocked position.

In 2010, Peru granted Bolivia some dock facilities — a tiny 3.6sq km patch on a 99-year lease where the country now sends through two-thirds of its trade.

The tiny sliver of coastline is a far cry from what they once had, but the Bolivian Navy won’t be giving up their dream of sailing on the ocean once more.