Santa Cruz de la Sierra - Santa Cruz de la Sierra

Santa Cruz de la Sierra is a city of Bolivia, capital of the homonymous department.

To know

Santa Cruz, once a refuge for characters linked to Nazism and anyone who wanted to lose their tracks, is today a center in full development, thanks to the proceeds of agriculture based on tropical plantations that arise where, in years not even so far away were dense and impenetrable forests. Santa Cruz attracted from the rest of the country and its neighbors a lot of laborers in search of employment and also wealthy foreigners looking for more or less clear deals, Brazilians above all but also Italians, Germans, Lebanese, Serbs. To these have been added Chinese and Japanese, as evidenced by the numerous Asian restaurants scattered around the city. Until the beginning of the 21st century the city had a reputation for being an international center of cocaine smuggling but also of other drugs derived from the opium poppy that does not grow in South America but in some Asian countries such asAfghanistan, the Burma, the Laos.

In 2009 Santa Cruz overtook the same capital by number of inhabitants and at the same time increased its tourist fortunes thanks to its airport, which has now become an international stopover with flights also from Madrid.

Unlike the major Bolivian cities, Santa Cruz lies on a completely flat land at the foot of the Sierra.

While in July and August, the cities of the plateau are chattering their teeth from the cold, the inhabitants of Santa Cruz go in short sleeves to defend themselves from the heat. The city, located at 416 m. above sea level, it enjoys a tropical climate. In winter (21 June-20 September) the thermometer is pleasantly attested between 8 ° and 29 ° while in summer (21 December - 20 March) the average temperatures rise by about ten degrees or more and with them also the rate humidity. Rainfall is frequent especially in the months of January-February. The austral winter therefore represents the most favorable period for a visit to the city and for a tour of the amazing natural parks in the vicinity, easily combined with a tour of the Jesuit missions.

How to orient yourself

Santa Cruz has a compact center enclosed within eight highways and concentric rings. Each ring is about 1 km from the other.

The focal point of the center is the square "24 de Septiembre" where the cathedral stands.

On the "Avenida Monseñor Rivero", north of the center, just beyond the 1st ring and the Arenales park, a large number of restaurants, bars and nightclubs are lined up.

Equipetrol is the name of the elite neighborhood of Santa Cruz.

How to get

The "Terminal Bimodal de Santa Cruz de La Sierra", ie the train and bus stations, are housed in a single space east of the center and within the third ring. Frequent bus rides to Cochabamba

By plane

There Goal Transportes Aéreos flies from Campo Grande, São Paulo-Guarulhos, Salvador de Bahia.

By car

Santa Cruz is 473 km from Cochabamba, located in the northwest. Continuing on this road which is the main road axis (nº 4) you will find the capital. (858 km from Santa Cruz).

Sucre is 612 km passing through Cochabamba.

How to get around

By car

Among the car (and jeeps) rental agencies, in addition to Avis and Hertz, it should be mentioned Barron (Av. Alemana N °. 50 2 °. Anillo, tel: 591 3 342 0160. Fax: 591 3 342 3439)

What see

• Basilica Menor de San Lorenzo, Plaza Metropolitana 24 de septiembre. The works for the construction of the cathedral of Santa Cruz were started at the time of Francisco de Toledo, viceroy of Peru and completed in 1605. In 1770 the bishop Ramón de Herbosos decreed the reconstruction of the temple entrusting the direction of the works to Antonio Lombardo. In 1838 this building too was replaced by another built by the architect Felipe Bertrés. The new temple, in an eclectic style, was opened for worship in 1915. Inside the main altar stands out which partly preserves the original gilding and four sculptures from the Jesuit mission of San Pedro de Moxos. 
• Cathedral Museum (Museo Catedralicio de Arte Sacro), Plaza Metropolitana 24 de septiembre. Gold and silver objects from Jesuit mission churches, sacred vestments and portraits on canvas testify to the artistic richness of the colonial period. 
• Casa Municipal de la Cultura Raúl Otero Reiche. Mon-Fri 08: 00-12: 00, 15: 00-21: 00; Sat-Sun 16: 00-20: 30. A collection of paintings by contemporary Bolivian artists. Among these, the works of the painter Herminio Pedraza stand out 
• Etnofolclórico Museum (Parque El Arenal,). Small collection of handicrafts from indigenous cultures of the Amazonian lowlands. The building hosting the exhibition is located on the islet of the small lake in the center of the public park "El Arenal". 
• Museo de Historia Natural Noel Kempff Mercado, Avenida Irala 655 & Av. Del Ejercito, ☎ 591 3 336 6574. 08: 00-12: 00 and 15: 00-18: 00.. Housed in the former headquarters of the immigration office, the Natural History Museum displays the tropical flora and fauna of eastern Bolivia. Like the zoo, it is dedicated to the memory of Noel Kempff Mercado, a university professor of natural sciences who was murdered by drug traffickers on September 5, 1986. The small plane on which he was traveling for scientific research purposes together with his collaborators, landed in fact by mistake on a track reserved for smugglers whose guards did not hesitate to riddle the intruders with machine gun shots. The place of the massacre was in an area of ​​the serranía de Huanchaca, today within the borders of National Park which bears the name of the professor. 
• Jardín Zoológico Noel Kempf Mercado. Very well-kept, the Santa Cruz Zoo is considered one of the best in the entire South American continent. More than 500,000 visitors pass through its gates every year. The zoo houses about 2300 specimens of 200 different species living in a state of semi-freedom in an area of ​​66,000 m². The fauna consists of mammals, reptiles and birds from tropical areas such as tapirs, pumas, jaguars, crocodiles and jucumari (Andean bear or spectacled bear). 
• Botanical Garden (Jardín Botánico de Santa Cruz de la Sierra) (12 km east of the center in Cotoca.). Mon-Sun 7: 00-16: 00. Created in 1984, with the aim of preserving the plants of the Bolivian aquatic ecosystem, the garden extends on the banks of the Piraí River. The paths inside the park wind for a total of 6 km. The plants are typical of the tropical climate. 

Events and parties

What to do

Shopping

How to have fun

Where to eat

Where stay

Moderate prices

• Hotel Copacabana **, Calle Junin No. 217. Recommended by a guide note. 
• La Siesta ***, Calle Vallegrande n ° 17 (Downtown area), ☎ 591 3 333 0146, @[email protected]. Basic services and spotless rooms. Hotel recommended by super tourism experts. 

Average prices

• Yotaú Suites, Av. San Martín N ° 7, (Barrio Equipetrol), ☎ 591 3 336 3952. 
• Hotel Arenal ****, Calle Beni n ° 340 (A few blocks after the central square of Santa Cruz), ☎ 591 3 334 6910. 
• ^{[link not working]}Viru-Viru hotels, Calle Junín 338, ☎ 591 3 333 5298, 591 3 336 2922. Poscina, free access to the network via wi-fi. 

High prices

• Los Tajibos, Av. San Martín N ° 455, ☎ 591 3 342 1000. 
• Buganvillas condominium hotel, Av. Roca y Coronado 901, fax: 591 3 355 1212. 
• Gran Hotel Santa Cruz, Calle Rene Moreno 269 (In the center), ☎ 591 3 334 8811. 

Safety

How to keep in touch

Around

Don't hesitate to rent a four-wheel drive off-road vehicle if you have the opportunity. The department of which Santa Cruz is the capital offers many wonders many of which are remote or hidden and in any case accessible only via dirt roads or tracks. Obviously it makes no sense to rent a jeep in the rainy season which, let's remember, runs from December to March.

• Noel Kempff Mercado National Park[1] - Declared heritage ofUNESCO in the year 2000, the "Noel Kempff Mercado" national park is one of the wonders of Bolivia but it is in a remote location accessible by land (only in the dry season) from San Ignacio de Velasco.
• Amboró National Park - You can access the park by passing from the road to the Viru-Viru airport and then turning left when you reach the village of Montero.

• El Fuerte de Samaipata - Site UNESCO
• Vallegrande - Leaving Santa Cruz in the direction of Cochabamba (state road nº 4) and passed Samaipata, turn left for Vallegrande, in the vicinity of which it is La Higuera, the place where he was killed on 9 October 1967 Che Guevara.
• San José de Chiquitos taking the 4 towards Puerto Suarez (border with Brazil), we first find Cotoca and then Puerto Pailas.

Itineraries

• Tour of the Jesuit missions - Starting from San José de Chiquitos. The places of the missions scattered around the savannah area of ​​Chiquitanía ("Los Chiquitos" or "Gran Chiquitanía"). They have been declared a World Heritage Site by theUNESCO in 1990.

Other projects

• Wikipedia contains an entry concerning Santa Cruz de la Sierra
• Commons contains images or other files on Santa Cruz de la Sierra

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