Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
DIRECTORY
Banks and exchange Cooperativa Jesús Nazareno, on the northeast corner of the main
plaza, has an ATM that should accept foreign cards, and you can also obtain a cash advance
on a credit card (five percent) and change both dollars and reis.
Internet A nameless café on 25 de Mayo, opposite Hotel Rio Mar , offers a snail-paced con-
nection for Bs6/hr.
Post office The post office (Mon-Fri 8am-noon & 2.30-6pm) is on Oruro, two blocks south
of the plaza.
Telephones The ENTEL office (daily 7.30am-11pm) is on Federico Román, three blocks
north of the plaza.
Cachuela Esperanza
From Guayaramerín a rough dirt road runs 42km northwest to the small town of
CACHUELA ESPERANZA . Founded in the heart of the wilderness in 1882, this was once
the headquarters of Nicolás Suárez and the most advanced town in the Bolivian Amazon,
with modern offices and homes, state-of-the-art medical facilities, a theatre that attracted in-
ternational stars and its own narrow-gauge railway. Though the long-decimated population
has grown over the last decade, and a controversial $2.5 billion hydroelectric project has put
it back in the media spotlight, Cachuela Esperanza remains a sleepy little backwater, for now
at least. Its run-down yet sturdy Canadian pine and brick houses are nevertheless in remark-
ably good condition given their age and the ravages of heat and humidity. Some are now
deserted, but others still serve as homes to the few people who continue to live here, im-
parting at least a flavour of the town's former grandeur, the faded shadow of which makes
Cachuela such a fascinating place.
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