Santa Cruz

Introduction

Plaza 24 de Septiembre

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Santa Cruz de la Sierra, or Santa Cruz for short, is one of the biggest cities in Bolivia, located on in the central part of the country on the transition zone between the high altiplano and the lower Amazon Basin.

Sights and Activities

Santa Cruz de la Sierra offers many places for the tourists. The most visited are the Metropolitan Cathedral, Museo Catedratico de Arte Sacro, Iglesia de San Andrés, Iglesia de San Roque, Parque El Arenal, Municipal Zoo, las Cabañas del Piraí, Santuario de Cotoca, Lomas de Arena del Palmar and Los Espejillos.

The recently inaugurated Guembe Biocenter is a natural paradise of 24 hectares, located only 10 minutes away from downtown, where the Butterfly House, the Aviary, the Orchid Exhibit Center, the Apiary and the Island of The Monkeys are among its main attractions. Furthermore, the Yvaga Guazu Ecological Park, located 12 kilometres from Santa Cruz de la Sierra, is a paradisiacal site with 14 hectares of exuberant natural beauty.

Of cultural interest, Santa Cruz holds the Jesuit Missions, recognized as a Unesco World Heritage Site, where since the beginning of the second half of the 17th century and with the influence of the Jesuit missionaries, the natives built beautiful chapels. The cultural tourism of this location focuses on the architectural originality and ornamental designs of the Mission churches, which have been restored:

• San Xavier, a baroque style church, built between 1749 and 1752, belonging to the first Jesuit Mission of Chiquitos founded in 1691
• Concepción, a Baroque style Jesuit Church, built between the years 1752 and 1753. Its doors are open to contemplate the beauty of its construction in the three naves, lines of columns carved in wood, altars and hand paintings produced by the natives.

Further away but equally beautiful are the Noel Kempff National Park (also a Unesco Site) and the Amboró National Park, a park with the most species of birds in Bolivia, the Bolivian Marshland, a great reservoir full of wildlife.
Santa Cruz forms the base from where to explore these parks.

Events and Festivals

Bolivia Traffic

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Getting There

By Plane

Viru Viru International Airport (VVI) is where all planes arrive and depart. LanChile, LAN Peru, Aerosur, Aerolíneas Argentinas, Gol (to Brazil), TACA Peru and TAM Mercosur (to Paraguay) all have connections to and from Santa Cruz. Destinations include Lima, Buenos Aires, Asuncion, Santiago de Chile and many domestic cities. Also, American Airlines, Copa Airlines, Avianca and Aerolineas Argentinas fly from Miami, Panama City, Bogota and Buenos Aires respectively. Aerosur also has flights to Washington, D.C. and Madrid.

By Train

Santa Cruz is the starting point (or terminal) for the famous Death Train, travelling east towards the border with Brazil. There are several ways of getting from Santa Cruz toward Puerto Suarez and vv. Connections are daily and there are a number of trains you can take: normal, express or ferrobus services.

The Santa Cruz train station is co-located with the long distance bus station on the corner of Avs Canoto and Irala.

By Bus

Santa Cruz Bus Station

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Long distance buses arrive at the terminal on the corner of Avs Canoto and Irala, a 15 Bs taxi fare from the centre of town. From this busy, chaotic bus station you can purchase reasonably priced tickets to almost anywhere in Bolivia as well as onward international connections.

There are direct daily bus services to La Paz, Sucre, Cochabamba, Yacuiba (on the Argentina border), Foz do Iguacu, Asuncion in Paraguay, and Trinidad. The Bolivia Vice-Ministry of Tourisum has a bus schedules on their website, however bus timetables are constantly changing, so often your best to check at the bus station the day before you plan to leave.

Although you can take a bus to almost any destination from Santa Cruz, be warned - Bolivian roads are amoungst the
worst in South America. Less that 5% of the roads in Bolivia can be considered 'paved' and the remaining 95% are often in poor condition, closed in wet weather and make for an extremely rough journey.

Sleep

Budget

The Bolivia Hotels and Hostels Directory lists accommodation throughout all of Bolivia and reservations are free.

Keep Connected

Internet

There are at least three internet cafes located on Plaza 24 de Septiembre.

Phone

See also International Telephone Calls

Bolivia's national phone company is Entel. You will find Punto Entel outlets throughout the city; one of the most central is on the corner of Espana & Junin. Punto Entel shops also have internet-connected PCs, typically Bs4/hr.

While traditional payphones still exist, they are few and far between in Santa Cruz. Another option to make local and national calls is to use the "walking phone booths" - look for a guy in a yellow or green vest with cellphones attached to him on a chain. These hawkers will be loudly selling minutos, allowing you to make calls from the mobile phone he/she is carrying.

If you are staying for a while, consider buying a SIM card for your cellphones. They are quite cheap and you get good network coverage in all main cities and towns.

Post

The main Post Office in Santa Cruz is located just off Plaza 24 de Septiembre.