Travelling to Bolivia - Part 1: from Santa Cruz to the 'Ruta del Che' in Valle Grande

One of the beautiful things of travelling is that you learn a lot about the coutry you visit. When I decided to go to Boliva I barely knew that its capital was La paz. I had also already heard that it was one of the poorest countries in South America and that there was a big salt lake somewhere in Bolivia (check it out here!).

THE IDEA OF THE TRIP

One day in May during my exchange semester in Buenos Aires, my friend and I, almost joking, said "Let's leave for one month, let's go Bolivia and Peru!".
That same day, we took our block of hidden pesos, went to Aerolineas Argentinas, and got two tickets: Buenos Aires - Santa Cruz de la Sierra and Lima- Buenos Aires.
Departure: the day after.

May was the last month of lessons before final exams in buenos aires' Universidad de Belgrano, but since I have always believed in the teaching power of travelling, I could not renounce to this life experience for university!!! I wrote a mail to the professors apologising for my upcoming absence, explaining them that I would have learnt more by really Experiencing South America rather than by attending their classes, and that I would have sent the assignments by mail.

I guess only youth gives you this kind of freedom and carefree craziness.

[Anyways the teachers replied saying that they totally agreed with me - I love Latin Americans!!!!]

THE ITINERARY
 
The owner of the hostel in Santa Cruz de la Sierra, whose cutest little black dog i will never forget, gave us a map and helped us tracing an itinerary which would allow us to see the "musts" but also more unvisited, authentic towns.

I will tell you in other different posts the amazing things I have seen and done during this trip because there is just too much to talk about.

Here I wanted to show you a little bit of what I first discovered and learnt when I got to Bolivia:
 
1. SANTA CRUZ DE LA SIERRA

Located in the eastern side of the country, Santa Cruz is the most populated city in Bolivia and the most different one as well. While most of the towns are located in the Andes mountains, in fact, Santa Cruz is only 400 meters above the sea level, which means that it has a mild/tropical climate.

I actually expected to see a poor city when i first arrived there, and I was quite impressed when I realised it was actually one of the main economic centers of the country, much more modern and big than I expected.

Structured in concentric "rings", Santa Cruz hosts the centre in the middle, which conserved its ancient colonial beautiful architecture. The Cathedral of San Lorenzo (now a reconstruction) is the city's most important monument.

 

La Catedral de San Lorenzo, Santa Cruz

Sunset in Santa Cruz de la Sierra

 Another nice thing i discovered is the zoologic garden exclusively with national fauna.

2. SAMAIPATA

Samaipata, 120 km west from Santa Cruz de la Sierra and in the foothills of the Andes, was our second stop of the trip. We got there for some few dollars in a car whose driver was really nice making us listen to good local music and explaining us many things.

In just one day and one night we managed to:

- appreciate the architecture of the houses, all in colonial style and with one floor only

- have a taste of local food. There we probably got the best "empanadas" of the whole trip, from a girl who was selling them on the street

- play football with a random group of kids and their relatives. I cannot describe how sweet they were and how many hugs I received!

- visit el Fuerte de Samaipata, which is a pre-colombian ceremonial site now Unesco world heritage site, probably the highlight of the city. The part that impressed me the most was the 250-meters long and 60-meters large rock, the biggest monolite in the world, which is carved with zoomorphic and astronomis signs.

Samaipata

Families playing football, Samaipata

Kids in Samaipata

El Fuerte de Samaipata

Food market in Samaipata

 3. VALLE GRANDE and LA RUTA DEL CHE GUEVARA

The small town of Valle Grande was only some 100 km from Samaipata, nevertheless it took us many hours and a considerable risk of death to get there. In fact, the only road that connects the two cities passes often on the edge of the mountains in terrible roads and the bus is not in the best conditions.

Here also, I got to know a new thing: Valle Grande was part fo the so-called "Ruta del Che". In 1967, the legendary revolutionary Ernesto 'Che' Guevara was captured by Bolivian security in the forest of the eastern Andes mountains and actually killed in the nearby tiny village of La Higuera. His body was first buried in Valle Grande, and even if it was then moved to Cuba the original graves remain.

The route the Che followed, the assassination site and the graves are all part, now, of the "Ruta del Che" which is now a pilgrimage trail in Bolivia.

The "lavadero" of Che, where his body was washed before burial, Valle Grande

Wall next to the original burial site, Valle Grande

The city is adorable in its colourful colonial style and here we stayed probably at the best hostel of the trip (especially if compared to the price paid!!): we had found this adorable hostel right in the central square with a lovely flowered patio, we got private room and breakfast that the owner just prepared for us, the only guests of the b&b.

Valle Grande

Valle Grande

The hostel's patio in Valle Grande

Having breakfast in our hostel in Valle Grande

That's all for the moment about the initial part of my trip to Bolivia and Peru! To be continued...for my Italian followers, here you can already find the beautiful stopover at Salar de Uyuni, the biggest salt lake in the world! and here the adventure in the Potosì mines !!

[By the way...for those who were wondering what happened at the final exams, we got very good marks ;) ]