Population: 1.2 million inhabitants.
Altitude: 400 meters (city center).
Average temperatures: 24°C from April to September 28°C from October to March.
Rainy season: from October to March.
Santa Cruz de la Sierra has become, in a 20-year span, the development center of Bolivia. A unique example of urbanization in Latin America, the city is constructed around seven concentric rings (anillos) according to which the different neighborhoods are organized around the city center, the “Casco Viejo”. Santa Cruz is the entryway to the other Bolivia - a different Bolivia, complementary to the one of the Andes and the valleys. And it is true that here the traditions are quite different. The “Cambas” (the inhabitants of Santa Cruz) are open, like partying and with their jolly character seem at the opposite side of the spectrum from the seemingly harsher closeness of the “Kollas” (the inhabitants of the Andes in general). Located a hundred kilometers to the West of Santa Cruz, the surprising fortress of Samaipata marks the limit between the Cordillera and the Amazon.
Also from Santa Cruz, you can visit the Jesuit Missions de Moxos and a little further the Pantanal and Beni. This cosmopolitan city is an excellent base to organize escapades to the Oriental part of Bolivia. It is also a great location for a business trip as most Bolivian enterprises are starting to open their headquarters there. The region of Santa Cruz is rich in natural gas and the town should expand even more now that the construction of the pipeline towards Brazil has started. “Santa Puej” might disappoint the church and urban poetry connoisseur… Nonetheless it is a pleasant city (offering delicious local and international gastronomic options) that will allow you to discover Bolivia the way it is, with it’s opposites, Andean and Amazonian at the same time! Santa Cruz is a business city, also the base of the start of excursions towards the fabulous Amazonian national park (Amboro and Kempff), the Pantanal and the Jesuit Missions of Chiquitos and of Moxos, a place perpetuating the Baroque style of the 18th century, via an incredible epic, that for once, has a happy ending.
History:.
Founded in 1561 by the Spanish captain Nuflo Clavez, the city of Santa Cruz was moved twice before settling along Rio Piray. The city counted about 20 000 souls at the beginning of the 20th century. Rapidly, it turned into an enormous city (for Bolivia) with the highest demographic growth rate in all of the Americas. This economical miracle is attributed to the petroleum reserves, the agriculture (Soya, sugar cane, rice, cotton) but also to the affluence of narcotic money… The city is known for the beauty of its women, but reality is that the whole of Beni and of the Orient fight for this title. |
