The Rough Guide to Bolivia 2 (Rough Guide Travel Guides)

468 Pages·2008·32.81 MB·English

by  Rough Guides, James Read

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I SB N 978-1-84353-859-2
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The Rough Guide to
Bolivia
written and researched by
James Read
with additional contributions by
Jen Foster, Brendon Griffin and Ewan Rose
NEW YORK • LONDON • DELHI
www.roughguides.com
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Contents
Colour section 1–24 Contexts 387–422
Introduction ............................... 6 History .................................. 389
Where to go ............................. 10 Wildlife and ecolog y............... 409
When to go ............................. . 12 Books .................................... 412
Things not to m iss ................... 15 Bolivian music........................ 416
Basics 25–68 Language 423–432
Getting ther e............................ 27 Pronunciation......................... 426
Getting around........................ . 31 Words and phrases ................ 426
Accommodation....................... 38 Food and drink ...................... 428
Food and drink ........................ 40 Glossary................................. 431
The media ................................ 44
Fiestas ..................................... 45 Travel store 433–444
National parks and reserves ... . 50
Health ...................................... 52
Crime and personal safety ....... 56 Small print & Index 445–456
Culture and eti quette .............. . 59
Travel essentials ..................... 60
Ancient beliefs and
Guide 69–386 modern mysticism
colour section following
La Paz and around .............. 71 p.152
Lago Titicaca,
the Cordillera Rea l
and the Yungas ................. 127 Outdoor activities
The southern Altiplano ...... 179 colour section following

Sucre, Cochabamba and p.312
the central valleys ............. 249
Santa Cruz and
the Eastern Lowlands ....... 293
The Amazon...................... 349
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Musicians at Carnaval A view of Lago Titicaca from Isla del Sol
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| CONTENTS |
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| INTRODUCTION | WHERE TO GO | WHEN TO GO
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| INTRODUCTION | WHERE TO GO | WHEN TO GO
Introduction to
Bolivia
Landlocked and isolated at the heart of South America,
Bolivia encompasses everything that outsiders find most
exotic and mysterious about the continent. Stretching
from the majestic icebound peaks and bleak high-altitude
deserts of the Andes to the exuberant rainforests and vast
savannas of the Amazon basin, it embraces an astonishing
range of landscapes and climates. The strangeness and
variety of this natural environment are matched by the
ethnic and cultural diversity of the country’s population:
the majority of Bolivians are of indigenous descent, and
the strength of Amerindian culture here is perhaps greater
than anywhere else in Latin America.
Indeed, to think of Bolivia as part of
“Latin” America at all is somet hing
of a misconception. Three centuries
of Spanish colonial rule have left
their mark on the nation’s language,
religion and architecture, however
this European infuence is essentially
no more than a thin veneer overlying
indigenous cultural traditions that
stretch back long before the Conquest. Though superfcially embracing the
Catholic religion brought from Spain, many Bolivians are equally at home
making oferings to the mountaing ods of their ancestors orp erforming other
strange rites, such as blessing motor vehicles with libations of alcohol.
And although Spanish is the language of business and government, the streets
6 of the capital buzz with the very diferent cadences of Aymara, one of more
than thirty indigenous languages spoken across the country.
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| INTRODUCTION | WHERE TO GO | WHEN TO GO
Fact file
• Named after the South American
independence leader Simón
Bolívar, Bolivia became an
independent republic in 1825,
following nearly three centuries as
a Spanish colony. Since
independence, Bolivia has lost
almost half its territory, including
its Pacific Ocean coast, which was
captured by Chile in a war in 1879.
• Bolivia has a population of
around nine million, the great
majority o f whom are o f
indigenous descent. Over hal f
speak an indigenous language,
principally Quechua, the
language of the Inca Empire,
Supporters of President Evo Morales spoken by a third of the
population, and Aymara, which is
Geographically, Bolivia is domi- the mother tongue for about a
nated by the mighty Andes, the quarter o f Bolivia’s inhabitants
– another thirty or so indi genous
great mountain range that marches
languages are spoken by small
through the west of the country in
minorities. Spanish, Quechua and
two parallel chains, each studded Aymara are all official languages,
with snowcapped peaks which soar though in practice Spanish
to heights of over 6000 metres ; remains the language of
government .
between these two chains stretches
the Altiplano, a bleak and virtua lly • Bolivia has enjoyed relatively
stable civilian rule, with
treeless plateau that has historicall y
democratic transitions between
been home to most of Bolivia’s
presidents since 1982.
population, and whose barren and Historically, thou gh, the country
windswept expanses are perhaps the has been a byword for political
best-known image of the country. instability. Between 1825 and
1982, Bolivia ex perienced 188
Northeast o f the Altiplano,
coups d’état – a statistic that won
the Andes plunge abruptly down
it a place in the Guinness Book of
into the tropical rainforests and Records. The political and
savannas of the Amazon lowlands, a commercial centre of Bolivia is
seemingly endless wilderness La Paz, which has been the seat
of government and de facto
crossed by a series of major rivers
capital since the end of the
that fow north to t he Brazi lian
nineteenth century. Officially,
border and beyond. East of the though, Sucre remains the capital,
7
Altiplano, the Andes slope down at least in name, and is still home
more gradually through a drier to the Supreme Court.
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| INTRODUCTION | WHERE TO GO | WHEN TO GO
region of fertile highland valleys that give way eventually to the Eastern
Lowlands, a vast and sparsely populated plain covered by a variet y of
ecosystems, ranging from dense Amazonian rainforest in the north to the
dry thornbrush and scrub of the Chaco to the south.
This immensely varied topography supports an extraor dinary diversity of
plant and animal life – Parque Nacional Amboró, for example, is home to over
830 species of bird, more than the US and Canada combined – and new plant
species continue to be identifed every year. Bolivia’s underdevelopment and
lack of infrastructure have in some wyas been a blessing in disguise for the
environment, allowing vast wilderness areas to survive in a near-pristine
condition, serving as home to a variety of wildlife, ranging from the stately
condors that glide above the high Andes to the pink freshwater dolphins that
frolic in the rivers of Amazonia.
Though it covers an area the size of France and Spain combined, Bolivia is
home to just nine million people, most of whom live in a handful of cities
founded by the Spanish. Some of
The country’s underdevelopment these, such as Potosí and Sucre, were
has been a blessing in disguise once amongst the most im portant
for the environment, allowing vast settlements in the America,s but are
wilderness areas to survive in a now half-forgotten backwaters,
near-pristine condition basking in the memory of past
glories and graced by some of the
fnest colonial architecture on the continent. Others, like La Paz and Santa
Cruz, have grown enormously in recent decades as a result of mass mgiration
from the countryside, and are now bustling commercial cities where
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traditional indigenous cultures collide with modern urban environments.
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Ice cliffs
| INTRODUCTION | WHERE TO GO | WHEN TO GO