Everyone Knows This is Nowhere

Seeking out the rarefied air of eastern Bolivia brought me to Santa Cruz. While the country may posses two seats of government the cultural capitol is undoubtedly the city of Santa Cruz. It is a classic east/west dichotomy. Geographically it´s close to sea level, the Cruceños seem closer to Brazilian than they do their Andean compatriots of the Altiplano. Santa Cruz espouses capitalism and if the graffiti is any indication they appear to be very concerned with the socialist policies of the government in the east. There is a sense of Gastronomy as the food is good here. The dialect is also different, the Cruceños Spanish called "Camba" which to my ears sounds like some form of exotic mumbling. The weather is semi-tropical and the city of Santa Cruz itself feels equal parts modern and banana republic.

Retreat from the tropical heat of the city can be found 2 hours south west of Santa Cruz in the Pueblo of Samaipata. It is a dusty, sleepy place blessed with beautiful weather all year round. The mercury rarely leaves the 70 degree zone. There are few cars on narrow cobble stone streets and the only thing above two stories is the steeple of the church in the plaza. The landscape is alive with colors of ferns flowers, fronds, birds, blossoms and bougainvillea. There is never not a gentle breeze blowing. Samaipata inspires if not demands laziness. Two curious phenomenon here are the round prickly cactus that adorn the phone lines like some dessert Christmas ornament. The other is the what is known as "El Chacqueo" which occurs when the prevailing winds come from the south. This phenomenon occurs during September when the farmers on the Amazon Basin begin the burn part of their slash and burn agricultural technique. With millions of fires burning at the same time the smoke forms a canopy all over Santa Cruz that looks like haze or a marine layer.

So far the one thing I have to add to my almost non-existent list of accomplishments in Samaipata is a long drive to the village of Villegrande. Villegrande is not far La Higuera where Che Guevara made his final stand. Here he was captured by the CIA trained Bolivian task force, taken to a small yellow school house and executed. His body was then taken to a laundry room at the Knights of Malta Hospital and put on display for the world press. Not far from the hospital next to a now defunct air strip is a small memorial paid for by the Cuban government. It is in this spot that the bodies of Che and his comrades were placed in an unmarked grave under the airport's tarmac. The bodies would remain here until a Bolivian General who participated in the original military operation revealed the location of the grave in 1995. A year later Ernetso Guevara´s remains would be moved to Cuba.


Bolivia is a strange, beautiful and fascinating place.