Bolivia – World Travel

The-Amazon-Basin Riberalta Bolivia

WorldTravelDB.com — Tue, 17 Mar 2009 09:59:57 +0000

Despite being a major town in Bolivia’s northern frontier region, Riberalta has very little going for it, unless you count the exciting fact that this is one of the world’s top Brazil nut production sites. The only reason to stop here is if you’re going to Brazil via Cobija and need to take a break. The rather smelly open sewers don’t do much for your appetite, especially in the stifling heat, but the plaza can look pretty during orange sunsets. The town sits on the banks of the Río Beni near its confluence with the Río Madre de Dios.

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The-Amazon-Basin Rurrenabaque Bolivia

WorldTravelDB.com — Tue, 17 Mar 2009 09:59:57 +0000

The relaxing ‘Rurre, ’ as the town is endearingly known, has a fabulous setting, sliced by the deep Río Beni that gives the region its name. Surrounded by mossy green hills, the town’s mesmerizing sunsets turn the sky a burnt orange, and a dense fog sneaks down the river among the lush, moist trees. Once darkness falls, the surrounding rainforest comes alive, and croaks, barks, buzzes and roars can be heard from a distance.

Rurre is a major traveler base. Backpackers fill the streets, and restaurants, cafés and hotels cater mainly to Western tastes. Some travelers spend their days relaxing in the ubiquitous hammocks, but the majority go off on riverboat adventures into the rainforest.

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Cordillera-Real-And-The-Yungas Chulumani Bolivia

WorldTravelDB.com — Tue, 17 Mar 2009 09:59:57 +0000

Perched scenically on the side of a hill, this is the capital of the Sud Yungas and an important centre for the farming communities of the region. The fertile soils hereabouts provide a bumper crop of coca (the country’s best for chewing), citrus, bananas, coffee and cacao. The area is also a paradise of birds and butterflies, with clouds of the latter, and several rare species of the former, including types of quetzal. The town used to be the end of the road and it retains that feel. At a subtropically warm and often wet altitude, it’s a great trekking base camp and a relaxing weekend retreat with a great view. The only time Chulumani breaks its pervasive tranquility is during the week following August 24, when it stages the riotous Fiesta de San Bartolomé. Lots of winter-weary highlanders turn up to join in the festivities.

Rebels during the 1781 La Paz revolt escaped to the Yungas and hid out in the valleys around Chulumani. Today the area is home to a large population of African-Bolivians. Locals claim the town’s name is derived from cholumanya (tiger’s dew), to commemorate a jaguar’s visit to the town; well, it’s a good story anyway.

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The-Southeast Samaipata Bolivia

WorldTravelDB.com — Tue, 17 Mar 2009 09:59:57 +0000

Samaipata has developed into one of the top gringo-trail spots over the last few years. This sleepy village in the foothills of the Cordillera Oriental is brimming with foreign-run, stylish hostels and restaurants. Visitors flock to see the pre-Inca site of El Fuerte, which – some might say – is solely responsible for the influx of foreigners who come in search of the ancient site’s mystical energy. But it’s not just foreigners who come up here; Samaipata is a popular weekend destination for cruceños too. The Quechua name, meaning ‘Rest in the Highlands, ’ could hardly be more appropriate. If you’re coming from the lowlands, it’s also a good place to begin altitude acclimatization by degrees.

Samaipata is also the jumping-off point for forays to Parque Nacional Amboró and to the site of Ché Guevara’s last stand outside Vallegrande.

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The-Southwest Cochabamba Bolivia

WorldTravelDB.com — Tue, 17 Mar 2009 09:59:57 +0000

Busy, buzzy Cochabamba is one of Bolivia’s boom cities, and has a distinct, almost Mediterranean vitality that perhaps owes something to its clement climate. While much of the city’s population is typically poor, parts of town have a notably prosperous feel. The spacious new-town avenues have a wide choice of restaurants, eagerly grazed by the food-crazy cochabambinos, and the bar life is lively, driven by students and young professionals. Despite this, Cochabamba remains a very affordable city, with prices far below those in Sucre or La Paz.

The city’s name is derived from the Quechua khocha pampa, meaning ‘swampy plain.’ Cochabamba lies in a fertile green bowl, 25km long by 10km wide, set in a landscape of fields and low hills. To the northwest rises Cerro Tunari (5035m), the highest peak in central Bolivia. The area’s rich soil yields abundant crops of maize, barley, wheat, alfalfa, and orchard and citrus fruits. Cochabamba is famous for its chicha, a refreshing fermented drink made from maize. It gets drunk in liberal quantities by campesinos (subsistence farmers) at village fiestas.

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The-Southeast Santa-Cruz Bolivia

WorldTravelDB.com — Tue, 17 Mar 2009 09:59:57 +0000

Bolivia’s largest city may surprise you with its small-town feeling, lack of high-rise blocks and a lightly buzzing, relaxed tropical atmosphere. Many arrive here expecting to find a city of businesspeople and throbbing traffic, but in truth, though Santa Cruz is the country’s business center and most affluent city, it has kept its tameness. The locals still lounge on the main square, restaurants close for siesta and little stores line the porch-fronted houses and sell cheap local products.

Santa Cruz is certainly not where you’ll find the Bolivia you see in pictures, and you won’t brush shoulders with a llama (apart from in a zoo or on your plate), but this is the place with the largest population diversity in the country – from the overall-wearing Mennonites strolling the streets past local Goth kids, to a Japanese community, Altiplano immigrants, Cuban doctors, descendants of ex-Nazi runaways, Brazilian immigrants, bearded Russians, and fashionable cruceños (Santa Cruz locals) turning sharp corners in their SUVs.

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Lake-Titicaca Copacabana Bolivia

WorldTravelDB.com — Tue, 17 Mar 2009 09:59:57 +0000

Nestled between two hills and perched on the southern shore of Lake Titicaca, Copacabana (Copa), is a small, bright and enchanting town. It was for centuries the site of religious pilgrimages, and today local and visiting Peruvian pilgrims flock to its fiestas.

Although it can appear a little tourist-ready, the town is a pleasant place to wander around. It has scenic walks along the lake and beyond, and is the launching pad for visiting Isla del Sol. With its many excellent cafés it makes a pleasant stopover between La Paz and Puno or Cuzco (Peru).

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Cordillera-Real-And-The-Yungas Sorata Bolivia

WorldTravelDB.com — Tue, 17 Mar 2009 09:59:57 +0000

Sorata wins many travelers’ votes as the most relaxing spot in Bolivia. This laid-back place preserves a crumbling colonial atmosphere in a spectacular natural setting, perched on a hillside in a valley beneath the towering snowcapped peaks of Illampu and Ancohuma. It’s a great spot to chill for a few days, and also a popular base camp for hikers and mountaineers.

In colonial days Sorata provided a link to the Alto Beni’s goldfields and rubber plantations, and a gateway to the Amazon Basin. In 1791 it was the site of a distinctly unorthodox siege by indigenous leader Andrés Tupac Amaru and his 16, 000 soldiers. They constructed dikes above the town, and when these had filled with runoff from the slopes of Illampu, they opened the floodgates and the town was washed away.

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Cordillera-Real-And-The-Yungas Bolivia

WorldTravelDB.com — Tue, 17 Mar 2009 09:59:57 +0000

Northeast of La Paz, the dramatic Cordillera Real rises before giving way to the Yungas, beautiful subtropical valleys where steep forested mountainsides fall away into humid, cloud-filled gorges. The Yungas, which contain several Afrobolivian settlements, form a natural barrier between the altiplano and the Amazonian rainforests. Heading northeast from La Paz, the road winds up to La Cumbre (4600m), then descends 4340m to the Beni lowlands. Tropical fruits, coffee and coca all grow here. The climate is moderate with misty rain possible at any time of year.

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The-Southwest Southwest-Circuit Bolivia

WorldTravelDB.com — Tue, 17 Mar 2009 09:59:57 +0000

Bolivia’s southwestern corner is an awe-inspiring collection of harsh, diverse landscapes ranging from the blinding white Salar de Uyuni salt flat to the geothermal hotbed of Los Lípez, one of the world’s harshest wilderness regions and an important refuge for many Andean wildlife species. The ground here literally boils with minerals, and the spectrum of colors produced is extraordinary. A circuit from Uyuni takes you through absolutely unforgettable, literally breathtaking landscapes and is the highlight of many people’s visit to Bolivia.

Much of the region is nominally protected in the Reserva Nacional de Fauna Andina Eduardo Avaroa (REA; www.bolivia-rea.com; admission US$3.75), which was created in 1973 and receives in excess of 50, 000 visitors annually. Its emphasis is on preserving the vicuña and the llareta plant, both of which are threatened in Bolivia, as well as other unique ecosystems and endemic species. It covers an area of 7150 sq km.

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