But stranded they remained, 11 days after they were refused permission to board their flight back to Australia.

The first two chartered flights for Australians out of South America were announced on Friday, departing from Peru and Uruguay.

But Miss Stobaus, who is Bendigo-born, said assurances of support from Australian embassy and government officials had yet to translate into anything practical for many in Latin America, including herself and her boyfriend.

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The couple's best chance of getting home seemed to be a commercial flight in May, so they bought tickets.

"We really hope to get home earlier than that because that will be six weeks of paying for accommodation in Bolivia with no income," Miss Stobaus said.

She and her boyfriend have been travelling since January. They had not planned to be without work this long.

Tough COVID-19 restrictions and a lack of transport mean the couple is unable to buy more food and water than one person can carry. What they buy has to last them the week until their next allocated outing.

"It's quite difficult to ration our food, especially fresh fruit and veggies," Miss Stobaus said.

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They have resorted to boiling water to drink.

"This takes quite a long time and is still a bit risky - apparently water boils at a lower temperature at this altitude, so even boiling water might not kill all the bugs in it - but it hasn't made us sick yet. Hopefully that continues," Miss Stobaus said.

Despite the stress and uncertainty, she took heart at a small act of kindness.

"La Paz has a lot of stray dogs and we have seen food and water bowls being left out for them," Miss Stobaus said.

"It's nice to know people are still looking after the dogs so they don't starve".

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