Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
PUERTO SUAREZ
Hotel Beby
A few blocks northwest of the plaza along Av Bolívar 03 9762700.
For t
hose
on a tighter budget, the basic
Hotel Beby
has acceptable box-like rooms with fans or a/c.
Bs50
Hotel Sucre
On the main plaza 03 9762069.
The best place to stay is the
Hotel Sucre
,
which offers small
but co
mfortable a/c rooms around a pleasant courtyard garden. It also has
a decent restaurant.
Bs150
QUIJARRO
Hotel El Pantanal
Around 2km outside town 03 9782020.
The most luxurious option in
the region has swanky a/c rooms, a pool, lush grounds, a sauna, a couple of r
estaurants a
nd a
bar-nightclub. Pricey Pantanal tours can be arranged too. Breakfast included.
Bs623 ($89)
Tamengo
Costa Rica 57, five blocks from the bus station 03 9783356.
Hostelling
International-affiliated,
Tamengo
has a real resort feel, with a pool, restaurant, bar and
TV lounge. There are dorms and decent private rooms, and staff can organize good-
value
Pantanal
trips
, Spanish or Portuguese lessons, and volunteering placements. Dorms
Bs60
;
doubles
Bs240
EATING
PUERTO SUAREZ
El Mirador
Onthebluffoverlookingthelaketwoblockssoutheastoftheplaza.
Thisoutdoor
restaurant offers fresh river fish and even - if your conscience allows -
jacaré
(small cay-
mans).
QUIJARRO
There's a series of insalubrious-looking eateries opposite the station but the
Tamengo
hotel
has a much better restaurant. Most restaurants open daily for lunch and dinner, though many
close early on Sundays.
The Chaco
South of the Santa Cruz-Quijarro railway line, the tropical dry forest gradually gives way to
the Chaco
, a vast and arid landscape of dense scrub and virtually impenetrable thornbrush
stretching south to the Paraguayan border and far beyond. Inhabited only by isolated cattle
ranchers and occasional communities of Guaraní and semi-nomadic Ayoreo, the Chaco is
one of South America's last great wildernesses and supports plenty of wildlife - much of it
now protected by the
Parque Nacional Kaa-Iya del Gran Chaco
, which covers over 34,000
square kilometres southeast of Santa Cruz adjacent to the Paraguayan border. However, there
are few organized tourist facilities in the Chaco, and unless you hire your own 4WD, your
view of the region will be limited to what you can see from the window of a bus or train. The
region's main towns are
Villamontes
, the Bolivian Chaco's biggest settlement, and
Yacuiba
,
