Altitude:
416 mt
Population: 1.135.526 (city); 2.029.471
(department).
The city of Santa Cruz, in
the hot region of the eastern lowlands, is a big and modern
city with a high activity in industry, agriculture and trade,
besides a lively night life. Some places of interest are:
Catedral, Museo de Historia Natural, Zoológico, Parque
El Arenal. Río Piray.
Fiestas
Carnaval (February to
March).
Surroundings
Lomas
del Palmar lies at about 30 min from the city. It's a popular
site for recreation with sand dunes and lagoons.
106 Km away from Santa
Cruz, it's the village of Buena Vista, which is an entrance
way to the Parque Nacional Amboró. This park protects
several ecosystems, where there are butterflies, exotic
birds, monkeys, capybaras, tapirs, jaguars, etc. Espejillos
is a popular spot frequented on weekends, near the former
road to Cochabamba. There are waterfalls and Swimming holes.
Bermejo is at 2 hrs by
bus from Santa Cruz. Some nice places that you can visit
walking in the surroundings of Bermejo are Laguna Volcán
and Los Volcanes. The town of Samaipata is 121 Km away from
Santa Cruz. There's a small archaeological museum and handicrafts,
but the nearby ruins of El Fuerte are the main attraction.
Samaipata is also another access point to the Parque Nacional
Amboró.
Vallegrande lies at 243 Km
from Santa Cruz (via Mataral), in a valley of mild climate
with pretty places to walk. Here was buried the Guerrillero
Che Guevara, after his execution in La Higuera. The remote
Parque Nacional Noel Kempf Mercado keeps fantastic sceneries
with beautiful waterfalls, rain forests and a fascinating
Amazonian fauna and flora. The usual access points are:
Florida, Campamento Los Fierros, Flor de oro.
The settlements of Puerto
Suarez and Quijarro, near the border with Brazil, will give
you the opportunity to see the rich flora and fauna of the
Pantanal Boliviano. The Parque Nacional Kaa-Iya is the largest
park in Bolivia, but is scarcely visited yet. It lies in
the Gran Chaco region. Contains the wetlands of Bañados
del Izozog, besides indigenous territories.
Jesuit
Missions. Several settlements around the chain of hills
of Chiquitos keep a rich cultural legacy from the colonial
times, beautiful churches built with materials from the
place (this is wood mainly). The circuit begins visiting
the missionary church, the school and workshop for musical
instruments of San Javier, at 480 Km from Santa Cruz.
Concepción is
68 Km beyond, It has a pretty church and workshops doing
restoration works.
San Ignacio de Velasco
is the major trade and transport centre in the region. The
original colonial church was demolished and replaced by
other of similar structure. The church of San Miguel, at
38 Km from San Ignacio de Velasco, is considered such as
the most beautiful between all the missionary churches.
The church of San Rafael lies 35 Km beyond and it must be
visited to see its beautiful interior.
San José de Chiquitos
is the last settlement of this mission circuit (or the first
one on the inverse way). The church in here is a magnificent
colonial monument built with stones.
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