Sights in The Southwest
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Cristo de la Concordia
This immense statue stands atop Cerro de San Pedro behind Cochabamba. It's a few centimeters higher than the famous Cristo Redentor in Rio de Janeiro, which stands 33m high, or one meter for each year of Christ's life. Cochabambinos justify the one-upmanship by claiming that Christ actually lived 33 años y un poquito (33 years and a bit).
There's a footpath from the base of the mountain (1250 steps) but several robberies have been reported, particularly around sunset. Safer and sweatless is the teleférico (cable car). On Sunday, you can climb right to the top of the statue and get an even better overview of the city.
The closest public transportation access is on micro L…
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Mercado Cancha Calatayud
Cochabamba is Bolivia's biggest market town. The main market is the enormous La Cancha, which is one of the most crowded, chaotic, claustrophobic and exhilarating spots in the country. Around the markets you'll find just about everything imaginable, but keep an eye out for pickpockets.
The largest and most accessible area is Mercado Cancha Calatayud, which sprawls across a wide area along Av Aroma and south toward the former railway station. Here is your best opportunity to see local dress, which differs strikingly from that of the Altiplano.
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Cretaceous Park
This slick theme park has a number of life-size models of dinosaurs, as well as an audio-visual display, optional guided tours and a restaurant. From the terrace, you can examine the tracks on the rock face opposite with binoculars, though the exposed prints are increasingly eroded with every passing winter.
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Cooperative Mines
A visit to the Cooperative Mines will almost surely be one of the most memorable experiences you'll have in Bolivia, providing an opportunity to witness working conditions that are among the most grueling imaginable. You may be left stunned and/or ill.In the cooperative mines on Cerro Rico, all work is done with primitive tools, and underground temperatures vary from below freezing - the altitude is over 4200m - to a stifling 45°C on the fourth and fifth levels.
Miners, exposed to all sorts of noxious chemicals and gases, normally die of silicosis pneumonia within 10 to 15 years of entering the mines.
Contrary to popular rumor, women are admitted to many cooperative mines…
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Museo & Convento de Santa Teresa
The fascinating Santa Teresa Convent was founded in 1685 and is still home to a small community of Carmelite nuns. One of them is an architect, and has directed a superb restoration project that has converted part of the sizeable building into a museum. The excellent guided tour (Spanish & English) explains how girls of fifteen from wealthy families entered the convent, getting their last glimpse of parents and loved ones at the door.
Entry was a privilege, paid for with a sizeable dowry; a good portion of these offerings are on display in the form of religious artwork.
There are numerous fine pieces, including a superb Madonna by Castilian sculptor Alonso Cano, and severa…
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Rhythms of Life
Australian artist Andrew Rogers, not content with sculpture on a conventional scale, has included Potosí as one of the sites for his fascinating global 'Rhythms of Life' project, where enormous, fluid, powerful, stone forms have been built in sites as diverse as Sri Lanka, Australia, and Israel.
Rogers has endowed Potosí with three geoglyphs. Two adjacent ones, Circles and Presence, have their inspiration in ancient rock art found in the Potosí area. The third, on a hill near Cerro Rico, and the artistic centerpiece, is a complex, inspirational abstract figure named Rhythms of Life and derived from a Rogers bronze sculpture in Melbourne. But on a massive scale - the stru…
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Parque Cretácico (Cal Orck'o)
It seems that 65 million years ago the site of Sucre's Fancesa cement quarry, six kilometers from the centre, was the place to be for large, scaly types. When the grounds were being cleared in 1994, plant employees uncovered a nearly vertical mudstone face bearing over 6000 tracks - some of which measure up to 80cm in diameter - from over 150 different species of dinosaur.
While you once could go right up to the tracks, these days you have to be content with gazing at them from the brand-new Parque Cretácico (Cal Orck'o). This slick, family-friendly visitors centre has a couple of dozen scary life-size models of dinosaurs, as well as an audiovisual display and a restaura…
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Cathedral
Just east of the main plaza, the cathedral has fine stained-glass above the altar. The adjacent tower was constructed by the Jesuits as part of a church before Oruro was founded. When the Jesuits were expelled, it was designated as the cathedral of the Oruro bishopric.
In 1994, the original baroque entrance was moved and reconstructed at the Santuario de la Virgen del Socavón (Virgin of the Grotto), which presents a grand city view. It was here that 16th-century miners began worshipping the Virgen de Candelaria, the patron of Oruro miners. The present church, which is a 19th-century reconstruction of the 1781 original, figures prominently in Oruro's Carnaval as the site w…
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Ingenio Dolores
On the banks (la ribera) of the Río Huana Mayu, in the upper Potosí barrios of Cantumarca and San Antonio, are some fine ruined examples of the ingenios, or smelters. These were formerly used to extract silver from the ore hauled out of Cerro Rico. There were originally 82 ingenios along 15km of the stream. Some remaining ones date back to the 1570s and were in use until the mid-1800s.
Each ingenio consists of a floor penetrated by shallow wells (buitrones) where the ore was mixed with mercury and salt. The ore was then ground by millstones that were powered by water that was impounded in the 32 artificial Lagunas de Kari Kari.
The Ingenio Dolores, on Calle Mejillones, s…
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Museo Arqueológico
The Museo Arqueológico has an excellent overview of Bolivia’s various indigenous cultures. The collection is split into three sections: the archaeological collection, the ethnographic collection and the paleontological collection. The first deals primarily with indigenous culture from the Cochabamba region. Look out for the Tiwanaku section; their shamans used to snort lines of hallucinogenic powder through elegant bone tubes. The ethnographic collection provides material from Amazonian and Chaco cultures including examples of non-alphabetized writing, which is from the 18th century and was used to bring Christianity to the illiterate Indians. The paleontological collect…
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Convento de Santa Teresa
The most interesting building in town is the noble, timeworn Convento de Santa Teresa. Visits to this timeless and gracefully decaying complex are by guided tour only and provide a snapshot of the extraordinary lives led by the cloistered nuns that inhabit it. You see the peaceful cloister, fine altarpieces and sculptures (from Spanish and Potosí schools), the convent church, and even get to ascend to the roof for a glorious view over the city. The convent was founded in 1760, then destroyed in an earthquake; the new church was built with an excess of ambition, and was too big to be domed. The existing church was built inside it in 1790. There’s still a Carmelite communit…
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Calacala
The atmospheric Calacala makes a worthwhile trip from Oruro. The site consists of a series of rock paintings of llamas and humans in red and orange tones, presumably dating to the first millennium BC. It’s located under an overhang 2.5km beyond the village of Calacala, which is 26km east of Oruro. Stop in the village to locate the guard who has the keys and collects the fee; she can often be found in the small cafe marked by a rusted Pepsi sign. The site itself is a 30-minute walk past the village, near the old brewery. The views from the site of the exceptionally beautiful valley, which provides some of Oruro’s water, are spectacular. There’s no public transport unless i…
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Museo de la Catedral
This museum - Museo de la Catedral holds one of Bolivia’s best collections of religious relics. There are four sections, ritually unlocked as your visit progresses. In the entry room is a series of fine religious paintings from the colonial era. Next, a chapel has relics of saints, and fine gold and silver chalices. The highlight, however, comes in the Capilla de la Virgen de Guadalupe, which was completed in 1625. Encased in the altar is a painting of the Virgin, the city’s patron. She was originally painted by Fray Diego de Ocaña in 1601, but the work was subsequently coated with highlights of gold and silver and adorned in robes encrusted with diamonds, amethysts, pe…
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Calle Quijarro
North of the Iglesia de San Agustín, Calle Quijarro narrows as it winds between a wealth of colonial buildings, many with doorways graced by old family crests. It's thought that the bends in Calle Quijarro were an intentional attempt to inhibit the cold winds that would otherwise whistle through and chill everything in their path. This concept is carried to extremes on the Pasaje de Siete Vueltas - 'the passage of seven turns'.
During colonial times Calle Quijarro was the street of potters, but it's now known for its hat makers. One millinery worth visiting is that of Don Antonio Villa Chavarría (Quijarro 41).
The intersection of Calles Quijarro and Modesto Omiste, furth…
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Pulacayo
At this virtual ghost town, brilliantly colored rocks rise beside the road and a mineral-rich stream reveals streaks of blue, yellow, red and green. The silver mines north of the village finally closed in 1959, and today only a few hundred hardy souls remain. There are several kilometers of mine tunnels to explore.
Also worth seeing here is the mill that spins llama wool into cloth, and the mansion of the 22nd President of Bolivia, Aniceto Arce Ruíz. Nearby is a collection of decaying steam locomotives that were originally imported to transport ore. They include Bolivia's first steam engine, El Chiripa, and the train that was robbed by legendary bandits Butch Cassidy and …
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Museo de la Catedral
The four sections in the museum are unlocked as your visit progresses to reveal Bolivia's best collections of religious relics. In the entry room is a series of religious paintings from the colonial era. Next, a chapel has relics of saints, and fine gold and silver chalices. The highlight, however, is the Capilla de la Virgen de Guadalupe, completed in 1625.
Encased in the altar is a painting of the Virgin, the city's patron, and a woman of means. She was originally painted by Fray Diego de Ocaña in 1601. The work was subsequently coated with highlights of gold and silver and adorned in robes encrusted with diamonds, amethysts, pearls, rubies and emeralds donated by wealt…
reviewed
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Museum Casa Arte Taller Cardozo Velasquez
A family of seven artists – Gonzalo (sculptor), his wife María (potter) and their five daughters – open their whimsical little house and art studio to visitors. The tour includes a peek into their workshop, the many nooks and crannies with artsy bric-a-brac and a leafy patio with Gonzalo’s fascinating sculptures (check out the one in the middle, devoted to Pachamama). If you’re lucky, you may even get a tea made with medicinal herbs from their courtyard garden. On Sunday mornings, the family goes out to the streets to paint with children. Every first Friday of the month, they hold a k’oa ceremony, an Andean ritual that pays respect to Pachamama, which you are w…
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Mina San José
There are numerous mines in the Oruro area, most of which are abandoned or operated by cooperativos (small groups of miners who purchase temporary rights). One of the most important is Mina San José, which has been in operation for over 450 years. Now run by six cooperatives, they have opened a part of the mine to tourists. The tour lasts about three hours and costs B$50. It’s available in Spanish only; English tours are available through Charlie Tours for B$250, with transport and guide. To get there take a yellow micro (marked ‘D’ or ‘San José’) or the light-blue mini (B$5) from the northwest corner of Plaza 10 de Febrero.
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Museo Sacro, Folklórico, Arqueológico y Minero
The Museo Sacro, Folklórico, Arqueológico y Minero is an excellent double museum attached to the Santuario de la Virgen del Socavón. Access is by guided tour only, which descends from the church down to an old mining tunnel with various tools from both the colonial and modern mining eras as well as representations of the devilish El Tío, spirit of the underground. The tour then goes upstairs to the other part of the museum, which has a variety of exhibits, from Wankarani-period stone llama heads to Diablada costumes. Guides are knowledgeable but you should be aware that they don’t speak English; however, some exhibits have bilingual explanations.
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National Mint
The National Mint is Potosí’s star attraction and one of South America’s finest museums. Potosí’s first mint was constructed on the present site of the Casa de Justicia in 1572 under orders from the Viceroy of Toledo. This, its replacement, is a vast and strikingly beautiful building that takes up a whole city block. It was built between 1753 and 1773 to control the minting of colonial coins; legend has it that when the king of Spain saw the bill for its construction, he exclaimed ‘that building must be made of silver’ (expletive presumably deleted). These coins, which bore the mint mark ‘P, ’ were known as potosís.
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Museo Antropológico Eduardo López Rivas
At the south end of town adjacent to the zoo, the Museo Antropológico Eduardo López Rivas is an anthropological and archaeological museum well worth a visit. The fascinating hodgepodge of exhibits includes mastodons, Carnaval costumes, stone-carved llama heads, mummies from the chullpares (funerary towers) that dot the region and skulls exhibiting the horrific cranial deformations once practiced on children. Take any micro (minibus) marked ‘Sud’ from the northwest corner of Plaza 10 de Febrero or opposite the train station, and get off just beyond the old tin-foundry compound.
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Museum of Religious Art
Located in the Santa Clara Convent, this museum of religious art, founded in 1639, contains several works by Bolivian master Melchor Pérez de Holguín and his Italian instructor, Bernardo de Bitti. In 1985 it was robbed, and several paintings and gold ornaments were taken. One of the canvases, however, was apparently deemed too large to carry away, so the thieves sliced a big chunk out of the middle and left the rest hanging. The painting has been restored but you can still see evidence of the damage. Guides may also demonstrate the still-functional pipe organ, which was fabricated in 1664.
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Casa Vieja
The best patero (foot-stamped) wine, is at Casa Vieja. Its atmospheric Bodega Casa Vieja (admission free; photo permission around US$1) is in the village of Concepción, about 30km from Tarija. You can have a reasonably priced lunch in its lovely restaurant decorated with adobe arches, large fish heads and hanging plant pots, and hosting traditional Chaco dances during the Carnaval. Check at the Tarija office for updates on opening times.
There are buses to Concepción every two or three hours from Plaza Sucre in Tarija (US$0.30; 30 minutes).
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Museo de la Recoleta
Overlooking the city of Sucre from the top of Calle Polanco, La Recoleta was established by the Franciscan Order in 1601. It has served not only as a convent and museum but also as a barrack and prison. The highlight is the church choir and its magnificent wooden carvings dating back to the 1870s, each one intricate and unique, representing the martyrs who were crucified in 1595 in Nagasaki. The museum is worthwhile for its anonymous sculptures and paintings from the 16th to 20th centuries, including numerous interpretations of St Francis of Assisi.
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Museo de los Niños Tanga-Tanga
On the same square as La Recoleta, and set in a beautiful building, this excellent interactive children's museum focuses on renewable energy sources. Highlights include the botanical gardens and explanations of Bolivian ecology. The museum also hosts cultural and environmental programs, including theater performances and ceramic classes. The attached Café Mirador is a great place to relax while enjoying the best view in town.
The adjacent Ananay handicrafts shop sells unique high-quality artesanías, including especially cute children's clothing.
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