When you come to Bolivia, you most certainly want to visit the capital Sucre, the "white" city. And right you are, because this city is one that must be seen. The centre is beautiful with its white painted, pristine Spanish colonial houses and State buildings.
The setting as well is excellent, close to the mountains of the Cordillera de los Frailes.
But what makes a tour to Sucre even more valuable is going there via the Old Trade Road from Samaipata.
This tour can be done best in 3 or 4 days.
We also offer a 4 days tour from Sa. Cruz. The 1st night you will stay overnight in Vallegrande then, the 2nd night in La Higuera and the 3rd night in Villa Serrano. The programme is a bit different from the below described programme of the 4 days tour.
We would strongly advise you to keep in mind that on Sunday morning a colourful market takes place in Tarabuco when you´re planning the date of departure for this tour. This market is one event that you shouldn´t miss.
3 days tour:
- 1st day:
This day we will focus our attention on the legendary Ché Guevara.
In Vallegrande we will visit the well documented Ché Guevara museum and the hospital. Here we can see the laundry basin where Ché Guevara's corpse was shown to the world press and his last letter to his children painted on a wall. We will also go to the mausoleum where Ché was buried for over 30 years, and the place where Tania Bunke, the only female guerrilla fighter that was killed during the combats, was buried.
Between those visits we´ll have lunch in Vallegrande.
In the afternoon we´ll drive via picturesque Pucará to the community of La Higuera. This is a beautiful part of the day where we regularly see condors. In Pucará we´ll make a stop to stroll through the small streets and maybe you would like to have a chat with the friendly inhabitants.
Time permitting we will take a scenic route with views to the Río Grande via Abra de Picachu to La Higuera.
We will spend the night in La Higuera in the quiet and romantic hostel, which used to be the telegraphists house in Ché´s time. There is no (good functioning) electricity in La Higuera so we will enjoy dinner by candlelight!
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2nd day:
Today you have three options to choose from:
- We visit the school where Ché got executed in 1967. Nowadays the school building holds a small museum.
On the small square we will have a look at the three statues in honour of Ché.
Then we will make a hike of about 3½ hours via de Abra de Batán to the Quebrada del Churo, the place where Ché was captured. We will have to descend and climb up quite steep during this hike.
After lunch we will drive down to the Río Grande. - After visiting the museum and seeing the statues you go downhill biking to the Rio Grande. La Higuera lies at an altitude of appr. 2040m and you will descend in more or less 2 hours to about 1000m. At the Río Grande you can have a rest or go for a swim in the river. We will take a pack lunch with us.
Someone will follow by car to drive your bike back up again and you will be picked up on the bridge over the Río Grande to continue the tour. - After visiting the museum and seeing the statues we will drive down to the Río Grande. Our goal is to make a hike to a 90m high waterfall in the surrounding of Nuevo Mundo later on (road- and weather conditions permitting). We will take a pack lunch with us. The hike to the waterfall from the place where we will leave the car behind will take 45 minutes more or less.
- We visit the school where Ché got executed in 1967. Nowadays the school building holds a small museum.
The landscape between the Rio Grande and Nuevo Mundo is beautiful and varied; cacti, black earth, red rocks, river and mountain views. We will pass the community of El Oro with its white houses, red roofs, black earth, green banana trees, and sugarcane. If you chose for this option we will make the hike to the waterfall close to Nuevo Mundo.
Later on we will try to visit a woman in Nuevo Mundo that makes hand weavings.
From Monday till Friday it's possible to visit an evening school where the children learn to make and to play the charango.
We will have dinner and stay overnight in Villa Serrano.
- 3rd day:
If possible we will make an appointment with the charango teacher to visit him in his house/workshop where he makes the charango. Here he will explain how the instrument is made, what materials he works with, etc. On the road again we will appreciate a constant changing landscape consisting of higher mountains, different style of houses and costumes.
Via Tomina and Zudañez we will drive in the direction of Tarabuco. We will pass a beautiful gorge where, time permitting, we will walk in to enjoy nature and to search for fossils.
If this last day of the tour falls on a Sunday, we will pay a visit to the famous and colourful market which Tarabuco is famous for. After lunch we´ll continue to Sucre where we will bring you to the hotel or hostel of your choice.
- 1st day:
This day is equal to the first day of the 3-days tour.
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2nd day:
Today we will visit the museum in La Higuera and see the statues at the Plaza.
Besides this you have the following options:
- We will make a hike of about 3½ hours via de Abra de Batán to the Quebrada del Churo, de place where Ché was captured. Followed -after lunch- by another hike to a cave with human skeletons from which the origin is still unknown, this will make a full day program.
- You go downhill biking to the Río Grande where you can have a rest or go for a swim after which you will be picked up and brought back to La Higuera.
In the afternoon we will make one of the two hikes mentioned at the first option.
Stay overnight in La Higuera.
- 3rd day:
Today we will depart after breakfast and descend by car from La Higuera to the Río Grande. We will enjoy beautiful landscapes and probably we will see many parrots, vultures and other birds. On the impressive bridge over the river we will make a stop.
The landscape between the Río Grande and Nuevo Mundo is beautiful and varied; huge cacti, black earth, red rocks, river and mountain views. We will pass the community of El Oro with it´s white houses, red roofs, black earth, green banana trees and sugar cane.
Close to Nuevo Mundo we will make a hike to a 90 m high waterfall. Possibly we will meet a woman in Nuevo Mundo later on that makes hand weavings.
We continue to the pleasant town of Villa Serrano where we will see the biggest charango in the world. This guitar-like instrument is played, only twice a year, by a group of musicians at the same time.
From Monday till Friday it's possible to visit an evening school where the children learn to make and to play the charango.
We will have dinner and stay overnight in Villa Serrano.
- 4th day:
If possible we will make an appointment with the charango teacher to visit him in his house/workshop. Here he will explain how the instrument is made, what materials he works with, etc.
On the road again we will enjoy the constantly changing landscape, higher mountains, a different style of houses and customs.
We will drive via Tomina and Zudañez to Tarabuco. We will pass a beautiful gorge where time permitting, we will walk in to enjoy nature and to search for fossils.
If this last day of the tour falls on a Sunday, we will pay a visit to the famous and colourful market which Tarabuco is famous for.
After lunch we´ll continue to Sucre where the tour ends when later in the afternoon we will bring you to the hotel or hostel of your choice.
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