Lowlands

Santa Cruz

I flew into to Santa Cruz and found myself sweating profusely in the bus into town... from pleasant mid twenties weather in Sucre to 38 and humid. Thats lowlands for you.

Santa Cruz is Bolivias biggest city, and also probably the most affluent one, and hasnt much in the way of tourist attractions other than a pleasant town square. So I passed straight thru on my first day, and came back for half a day later to explore before catching a bus on. Nice and tropical to wander around, too much traffic would be my summary!


Samaipata

Straight from the airport I went to a shared taxi service to visit Samiapata, a nice town with some impressive hilltop rock inca ruins about 3 hours out of Santa Cruz. While I was waiting for enough people for a shared taxi, my big backpack dissappeared from where I left it. Stress. I found out from a taxi driver that it had been loaded into a taxi along with the bags from a large family group... better than being stolen, but with no way to contact them, I was left hoping to 1) catch up with the taxi onway to Samaipata or 2) hope that they´d realise and leave my bag at the taxi centre. Luckily I shared the next taxi with a lovely Bolivian couple who chatted to me and kept my mind off my bag. Amazingly we did catch up with the taxi and bag just at the town entrance... So how freaky is that- chasing your bag across the country.

Samaipata is a lovely laid back colonial town, with friendly locals, good food and of course those mysterious ruins. I met these 3 girls, and shared dinner, a taxi and tour which was nice. The site is definitely atmospheric, but odd with all the carved grooves, seats and recesses presumeably for mummies or offerings. Also ran into Miles after last seeing him in Peru!

There was also a small zoo which I walked out to, and found myself becoming the climbing frame for friendly monkeys and other animals... stop licking my knee wild pig!

When it came to getting back to Santa Cruz, I was planning on catching a passing microbus, but got invited by two merry Bolivian truck drivers to share the ride along with three Swiss girls. Service with a smile, roadside peaches and unfortunately for me too many bends which made me a bit carsick.

Villa Tunari

Theres this wildlife refuge run staffed mainly by volunteers that has rescued large cats, monkeys, a bear and more, that I saw on the internet. To be a volunteer you need to stay a minimum of 2 weeks so with that out I decided to drop in and have a look for an afternoon instead. What I found was a small town on the side of the highway and a lovely refuge overrun by friendly volunteers. Two looking after a Bolivian bear (endangered), and many more looking after cats, monkeys and birds. I spent a few hours watching and playing with their monkeys, and chatting to volunteers.

Cochabamba

On to another major Bolivian city on my way back to La Paz, and this one known for its large sprawling market, and its palace built for a tin barron. I checked out the markets succumbing to another woven blanket-rug, lots of fruit juices, and nibbles too. The palace was stunning with a gorgeous interior and lovely gardens, and rather out of place in Bolivia as it wasnt colonial style... supposedly based on Versaille. But it really showed just how much money was made from mining here... all imported marble, furniture and statues, silk wallpaper etc.

A few more photos when I get a chance