Bolivia - The Rough Guide to South America on a Budget - page 204

ARRIVAL AND DEPARTURE
By bus Buses to Torotoro leave Cochabamba from the
corner of Av 6 de Agosto, at Av Republica (daily 6am &
6pm, returning every day except Thurs at 6am; 6-7hr). In
the rainy season the journey takes much longer and is
sometimes impossible.

Money The ATM in Villa Tunari is sporadically operational,
so bring su cient cash.

ACCOMMODAT I ON AND EATING
Hostal Los Cocos Near the church T 04 4136578,
T 71771796. A good choice for acco mmoda tion, with
decent rooms and hot showers. Doubles B$100
Hotel Las Palmas On the main plaza. The best restaurant
in town, serving fish from the nearby Chapare River. Mains
from B$27.

INFORMATION
Accommodation There are a couple of simple places to
stay in the village, and locals will prepare basic meals for
around B$15.
Tourist o ce On arrival you must head to the tourist
o ce (daily 8am-noon & 2-5pm), on the main street
of the village, where you'll need to pay the B$30 park
admission fee. The o ce has basic information about the
park and can find you a guide (a liated with SERNAP)
for about B$100 a day for groups of up to five people
(slightly more for larger groups).
Tours It's also possible to visit Torotoro on a tour - which is
significantly easier but obviously more expensive. Try Fremen
Tours (see p.206), or Korysuyo ( W korysuyo.com), who offer
three-day, all-inclusive packages for about B$2400.

2

The eastern
lowlands
Stretching from the last foothills of the
Andes east to Brazil and south to Paraguay
and Argentina, Bolivia's eastern lowlands
were until recently among the least-known
and least-developed regions in the country;
however, the area has undergone
astonishingly rapid development, while its
economy has grown to become the most
important in the country, fuelled by oil
and gas, cattle-ranching and massive
agricultural development. At the centre
of this economic boom is the regional
capital of Santa Cruz , a young, lively city
and the ideal base for exploring the many
attractions of the surrounding area. A
90-minute drive west of the city are the
pristine rainforests protected by the Parque
Nacional Amboró ; the beautiful cloudforest
that covers the upper regions of the park
can be visited from the idyllic resort town
of Samaipata . From Samaipata, you can
also head further southwest to the town
of Vallegrande and the nearby hamlet of
La Higuera , where the iconic Argentine
revolutionary, Ernesto “Che” Guevara,
was killed in 1967. East of Santa Cruz,
the railway to Brazil passes through the
broad forested plains of Chiquitos , whose
beautiful Jesuit mission churches bear
witness to one of the most extraordinary
episodes in Spanish colonial history, when
a handful of priests established a semi-
autonomous theocratic state in the midst
of the wilderness. Finally, south of Santa
Cruz, the vast and inhospitable Chaco , an
arid wilderness of dense thorn and scrub,
stretches south to Argentina and Paraguay.

THE CHAPARE
Northeast of Cochabamba, the main
road to Santa Cruz drops down into the
CHAPARE , a broad, rainforest-covered
plain in the Upper Amazon Basin and
an area of natural beauty. However, it's
also Bolivia's largest provider of coca
grown to make cocaine, so this is not the
place for expeditions far off the beaten
track. The peaceful towns along the main
Cochabamba to Santa Cruz road are
perfectly safe to visit, unless you go
during one of the sporadic road blockades
by protesting cocaleros ; these are usually
announced in advance, so make sure to
look through the local newspapers before
your trip.

Villa Tunari
The small, laidback town of Villa Tunari
is a good place to break a journey
between Cochabamba and Santa Cruz
and also to get a brief introduction to
the Amazon lowlands.
ARRIVAL AND INFORMAT I ON
By bus In Cochabamba, regular minibuses leave from the
Av Oquendo, at Av 9 de Abril (4hr); alternatively, you can
take a bus heading to Santa Cruz and inform the driver you
want to get off just after the Espíritu Santo Bridge.